Dealer "relationship" importance

[J F]

As a noob/newb, I've read hundreds, maybe thousands of thread here, on pretty much every subject. I first lurked and then later joined, due to enjoying the myriad of great information and wide range of personalities.

As a hopeful buyer of a tractor/toy tractor/glorified lawn mower (it's fun to hear everyone's opions) at some point in the future (years, maybe), I'm always interested in hearing how anyone's "dealer interaction" has gone, be it for a new purchase, warranty work, service work etc.

It has been interesting to read, again and again, the many disparate views on how important your dealer is. Obviously, many factors come in to play (whether you plan on doing your own maint,/if you prefer to have a dealer in close proximity (for a number of reasons)/you thoughts on future maintenance work, etc).

I'd love to hear everyone's take, thanks.

 

[unbidden]

I'm definitely a "buy the dealer" kind of guy. Lots of good tractors out there and even though I do the routine maintenance myself, I prefer working with a dealer that doesn't forget you purchased a big ticket item from them. Down the road when you purchase a new implement for the tractor, a good dealer will price the product relatively close to the price had you purchased it with the tractor

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I somewhat straddle the fence on this. I got a heck of a deal on my new 5083 Deere (4k less than the next closest deere dealer), but unless I am standing in the shop its pretty hard to get a question followed up on or a part priced out.

I have a kubota that I bought from my dad, never was seen with the tractor at the dealer and I have been to that guy looking for different things (hydraulic hose assemblies, bucket teeth, tie downs, excavator rental pricing) and I have had nothing but great service with them and even follow up phone calls on parts that are not even in their direct line of sales.

Really helpful in deciding right? I think the best way to size a dealer up would be going in with a tough question or some odd ball parts and see what kind of service you get without the factor of a previous bigger purchase coming into play. Sometimes you only source of parts is the oem although you can use john deere's parts website for example and see exploded diagrams of pretty much anything on the tractor and order your parts online and either shipped to your house or a little cheaper to your dealer.

 

[creekbend]

After much research and finding the Tractor that suited my present and future needs, I decided on the Kubota brand. I found a Dealer that offered a good price, was reliable, had been in business for a long time, had a great reputation, friendly, and a busy fully stocked Service Department.

 

[Thomas]

Dealer attitude indeed important..his word only as good as the dealership.

 

[eagle107]

I have been fortunate enough to have two phenomenal dealers where I live: one New Holland dealer and one John Deere dealer. While I too perform the routine maintenance on my equipment, whenever we needed help with repairs, both dealers would either make house calls to help fix a problem or bring the piece equipment back to their shop free of charge to fix it. Never had any problems getting parts from both dealers and all the dealers have friendly people working for them. Sure there are some people at both dealers who are not the friendliest, but that is just how some people are and you just need to deal with it. I find that as long as you treat people the same way you like to be treated, most of the time you will not have too many problems; even those curmudgeonly folks seem to come around and warm up after a while.

 

[TripleR]

The dealership is extremely important to me, my original dealer started out pretty good, but the owner died and when the son took over it went to heck and finally closed down owing me some service work. I then bought a JD and they changed hands and skinned me on some warranty work. By the time I was ready for another tractor a really good dealer had established an additional store in my area and I have bought four tractors from them. They have been great to drop parts off at my house, give me good deals, offer to sell stuff on consignment and even referred people to me when there was no money t be made. They have been one of the main reasons I use Kubotas.

My John Deere dealership is now good also, but most of their stuff is geared towards ago stuff and I don't need any more tractors I hope.

 

[pizzaguy]

When I was looking for a tractor last fall I spoke with the Kubota dealer who was at our local county fair, but his dealership is about 70 mile away and the local John Deere dealer 3 miles from my house. I was going to trade in my 170 Allis Chalmers so I asked for a price from both dealers. I should also add that the John Deere salesman lives 1/4 mile away from me and since he is a neighbor I felt I owed him a chance to earn my business.I was honest with the local JD dealer when I first talked to them and I told them I was looking at theirs and Kubota,which they said that JD would be much better because they are closer for my service needs. The only one I ever received a call or any communication back from was the Kubota dealer. I was dealing with the Kubota dealership owner which maybe helped,but had great communication from him answering questions before the purchase. I got the impression the first time I was into JD that if I wasn't buying a $300,000 tractor that they didn't have time for me. I figured the service from them would be the same. So much for "buy local".

 

[MarkV]

I believe in the local dealer relationship, unfortunately there just aren't any left to speak of around me. Fortunately, I got one of my Kubota's in 2000 with 450 hours on it, the other in 2005 new and have never had a need to go to a dealer. Guess that puts me on the fence also.

MarkV

 

[Ted Summey]

If you spent TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars at a dealer a customer should expect to be remembered IMHO. My dealer remembers my name. Whether that is just a talent or developed skill, I appreciate being called by name when I visit. The owner/dealer reminds the parts guy of my name and tractor model. It is amazing to me because including shopping for a tractor, the purchase visit and picking up parts for maintenance, I've been in the dealership half a dozen times. I remember his name because I have one tractor dealer, he has who knows how many customer,
.