Buying Advice Buying a Bobcat as they exit the business

[Agent Blue]

I feel pretty safe with John Deere. They maintain parts for tractors twenty plus years old. Its a basic reason many farmers stick with them. Really doesn't matter what brand you have.... if the whole line is discontinued I would say you have a very large problem.... parts plus resale. I don't plan on keeping tracters past the 12-15 mark. Resale IS important to me as well as consumer interest. Can you say Edsel ?

 

[BuilderML]

Hello mcashman,
Just wanted to let you know that i was looking at the bobcat brand for my tractor purchase (kioti twin) also.Bobcat had great prices a couple years ago when i first started looking but they never ran those specials again. Just alittle info for you after alot of research that i have done for my own purchase i ended up buying a cub cadet / yanmar sx3100 great machine from what i can tell. Also the same machine as the JD 2720 but has even more options on it then the JD.
If i was you right now in my view i would look to find a cub cadet/yanmar i believe they make a 450 line if your looking for bigger. There are some great prices along with great warranty. The company has split up and now they are selling just under the yanmar name same units but different stickers. Like i said they have some great pricing if your shopping around. Hope this helps. I know its not the bobcat you were talking about but i would give them a serious look.
Goo luck with your search !!!!

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

cub cadet / yanmar sx3100 great machine from what i can tell. Also the same machine as the JD 2720 but has even more options on it then the JD.

Sorry to tell you, but the same thing happened here as happened to Bobcat. Cub Cadet is no longer in the compact tractor business and their relationship with Yanmar is over. Yanmar is now out trying to setup their own dealer network.

 

[BuilderML]

As i stated above Cub Cadet and Yanmar have split. You can not tell me that Yanmar won't be around for years to come. Yanmar was, is and am pretty sure will always be in the tractor business. Just look at what everyone thinks of JD people love them great reliable machine, what people should look into is who makes most of the JD's. Like i said the CCY SX3100 is a twin to the JD 2720 so i don't think parts or support will ever be a problem for me. I could of purchased a JD2720 if i wanted a green unit with less options and paid about 5K more. I must say the black and yellow does make one **** of a pretty machine.:drink:

 

[joe t]

I wouldn't buy it for commercial if I planned to keep it for awhile. Imagine sending one of your lacky workers who is only good for running errands to a different dealership and having him trying to explain to another lacky parts counter guy that he needs a part crossed over but in a different color. No thanks. I have a hard enough time getting an oil filter crossed over. I remember sending my brother who has a masters degree to get a filter for an old case we had, it took 5 phone calls, 30 minutes on the internet on my old flip phone (wow), and 3 hours waiting around.

I should have just ordered it from the dealer and had it delivered to my house.


Even worse, imagine if it breaks down or a filter gets clogged and one of your workers has to figure out how to fix it in a couple years when Bobcat isn't dealer stocking parts anymore. Talk about throwing a wrench in your day, gotta stop what you are doing and what your worker is doing and figure out how to get parts or talk a different brand dealer into fixing it which they will want a premium for.


Sounds like a good deal though for tooting around on the farm or something you plan to run hard for a couple years and unload before Bobcat labeled parts become astronomical.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

As i stated above Cub Cadet and Yanmar have split. You can not tell me that Yanmar won't be around for years to come.

We deal with this exact senerio every day with Cub Cadets prior venture with Kioti and Mahindra. Let me tell you, its far from a good situation and something that would be foolish to choose to be part of. Parts support problems are the biggest reason we chose to stop selling the machines to being with, and the units that are out there haunt us to this day. I don't disagree that it maybe possible to find the parts under other vendors, however you should expect possible fit problems, confusion from the parts counter, higher prices with OEM's that are no longer contacted with, availability problems, etc, etc. Its going to be very interesting to see how the split with Yanmar works out for these companies as years go by and support contacts expire. While I am sure Yanmar will be around, their incentive to please Cub\Deere\etc is going to diminish every year and their motivation to stock odd parts that don't turn a profit will plumit. We've seen it with Cub Cadet, and are already seeing some of it with CNH and ISM.

 

[murphy1244]

We deal with this exact senerio every day with Cub Cadets prior venture with Kioti and Mahindra. Let me tell you, its far from a good situation and something that would be foolish to choose to be part of. Parts support problems are the biggest reason we chose to stop selling the machines to being with, and the units that are out there haunt us to this day. I don't disagree that it maybe possible to find the parts under other vendors, however you should expect possible fit problems, confusion from the parts counter, higher prices with OEM's that are no longer contacted with, availability problems, etc, etc. Its going to be very interesting to see how the split with Yanmar works out for these companies as years go by and support contacts expire. While I am sure Yanmar will be around, their incentive to please Cub\Deere\etc is going to diminish every year and their motivation to stock odd parts that don't turn a profit will plumit. We've seen it with Cub Cadet, and are already seeing some of it with CNH and ISM.

There's plenty of profit in parts, I have a Yanmar Cubcadet dealer near me now.

 

[hdmyers]

This reminds me of my lawn tractor (if you could call it that). I have a Sears model that is a rebranded Husqvarna model (which is i dunno what really). You have to service at sears. took to an indy and I had to personally source out the belts required as Sears won't tell anyone... mine were mangled/destroyed and not too useful to figure oout the sizing from.

Bobcat and Kioti not taking is par for the course. I won't buy a sears rebrand ever again....for that very reason. Sears' marketing strategy doesn't work for me.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Look on the Yellow side of the fence - Construction equipment.

Hitachi / John Deere for example. Hitachi makes all of Deere's excavators. Ordered parts from my deere yellow dealer for my ZTS50... They came painted blue, in a Hitachi box.

Why Blue? So you could paint it either Yellow or Orange.

As long as you know the part, you'll be able to get it. Just gotta find the right dealer to deal with.

And a NH dealer should know. NH heavy equipment is a joke, try to get parts for any of their equipment. It's a guessing game of who made it, since they didn't. Kobelco made their excavators, which trying to get Kobelco parts for some series, is hard enough. Let alone anything else.

I wouldn't be scared of getting a Bobcat tractor. The parts should be there at least 10 years or so. If you plan on using it commercially for more then 10 years, I wouldn't pick it up.

If you're planning on home use... There is no problem in my mind.

 

[crazyal]

So I have to ask, has anyone actually gone into a Kioti dealer and asked if they are willing to sell Kioti parts for a Bobcat? I ask because I know some companies will refuse out of liability reasons. It could be each Kioti dealers decides for themselves or maybe Kioti will just provide all the dealers with the manuals to make sure they get the correct part. How often do you read threads about a dealer not wanting to do work on a tractor bought somewhere else even though it's the same brand? Or how grey market tractors get treated. Remember, for a lot of us any purchase will be a 20 to 30 year investment, I would want to verify I have more than a 10 year supply of parts. I wouldn't rule a Bobcat out but I would do my homework now to try and avoid frustration down the road.