Bobcat or Kioti

[Slackdaddy]

I hear folks stating that Bobcat is a few grand more,
But there is not a single Kioti dealer in the state of MD.

What to do, get raped by bobcat ?

Slack

 

[IslandTractor]

As I recall Scranton, PA is a short drive north of the Mason Dixon Line. Call Rick Wallace, he'll take care of you. Unless you are unwilling to do simply maintenance like the 50 hr service, you can do quite well with a remote dealer so long as that dealer is responsive and used to providing remote support. From 300 miles away, I've had Rick's staff help me diagnose an apparent malfunction of four wheel drive (it was a loose connector) and I've replaced a seat belt retractor (UPS from Wallace Tractor). Other than that I've just chained oil and transmission fluids. No real need to have a dealer ten or twenty miles away in this era of mobile phones and internet. That might be different if you are a commercial user but I've been very happy with the support and I like doing my own basic maintenance work anyway.

Also, some Bobcat dealers are also Kioti dealers (they sell orange not white tractors). There is one in the Boston area. As parts are the same regardless I'm sure you can get work done on a Kioti in a Bobcat shop.

 

[Dmace]

The Bobcat version has a different loader and backhoe since those are factory built on the Kioti's. I believe the loader is a Rhino and the backhoe is something else (Woods?), it may be worth the extra money. You may be better off with a nearby dealer and can probably talk the Bobcat dealer down plenty since they are new to the game.

 

[kennyd]

There used to be a Kioti dealership near Frederick, but it looks like he closed up or just stopped selling Kioti.

 

[mrutkaus]

I thought there was a Kioti dealer in Lovettesville, VA, near the MD border...

Mike

 

[Dodgeram]

You've got Wertz in Hanover, but I would try Rick & Amy before I even considered anyone around here.

 

[MikeInEburg]

I don't think the Wertz Hanover Hanover location really carries Kioti - you need to go to the Glen Rock location (just outside of Manchester) to see farm equipment.
Mike

 

[tornadowatchranch]

I was just quoted 21000 for the NEW bobcat ct 335 (Read kioti dk35) here in my town and 20100 for the kioti version which is at the closest dealer about 200 miles away. Bobcat has better financing and is including either a string trimmer or a chainsaw as a promo. I haven't tried dealing with either yet.

 

[Gittyup]

Wertz in Lineboro, PA definitely carries Kioti. Seem to be an OK dealer. But you'll save money buying from Wallace. The guy in Lovettsville went bankrupt, but I think there is one in Winchester. I also heard there was one over on Cecil County, or maybe it was just over the line in Delaware.

I bought from Wallace and so far things have been good. He even came here to do warranty work, but I did have pay travel, which is reasonable I guess given the distance.

 

[IslandTractor]

Kioti dealers are a mixed bunch. Some of the smaller shops still seem to think they will strike it rich by charging list price or very close to that. I suspect that is one reason they remain small low volume dealers. A discounted Kubota is usually a better deal than a list price Kioti. There are other Kioti dealerships however that have been built on providing a better value in both price and service. I don't have numbers but I suspect that most of the larger well established Kioti dealers have learned to discount pretty aggressively to consistently undercut JD and Kubota. The question regarding Bobcat is whether and how Bobcat dealers will discount. We can presume that Bobcat and Kioti are paying about the same for the tractors. The loaders and BHs are different but couldn't be that different in price. While I'm sure there will be times when Bobcat dealers undercut the Kioti dealers, I suspect most of the time it will be versus a smaller Kioti dealer who has been content to sell low volume list price tractors in the past. I'd be surprised to see Bobcat dealers undercutting the high volume "mega" dealers like Little or Wallace and the like.