Buying Advice Buying from one dealer / Using another for repair

[ejkessler]

Tractor dealers like most any kind of dealer will have good and bad. The above post by the previous dealer implies that whatever price they set is okay because you have to back to them. That is a relative form of extortion. If the differences in price are a couple to several hundred dollars than I would agree, but that is not the point here. Charging whatever the market will bare and then feeling resentful when you don't get it and then to blame the customer for going elsewhere is just another form of white collar welfare. We the consumer work for our money, even harder now with the economy so why should we want to pay more than what is REASONABLE. The American way may be to gouge away but I look for the ones that want to make a living and not a killing. Make money on the sales of a number of tractors and not just a few. Everybody would love to less for more money but it ain't easy getting it to do so.

 

[devildog1]

As a former dealer of JD, this was always a hot button for me. Most of the time a person buying from another dealer miles away was for price. But then they thought they could have us do the warr. work. I am a big advocate of doing business locally. If it was a price issue as mostly it was, I told the customer to be prepared to take the machine back to where he bought it for warr. work. Why? #1, we take care of those who patronize us. #2, warranty almost always underpays. Contrary to popular opinion, warranty very seldom pays what we have in it. Companies only pay flat rate which is usually less time than the actual job, plus only a fraction of the regular labor rate plus only a medium mark-up on parts. So warranty definitely is not a money maker. That is why you need to go back where you bought it. It's not fair to your local dealer and like slapping them in the face. In essence, you're not good enough to buy from but you're ok enough to do my warranty work. The other dealer rmade the profit and part of that profit is for warranty absoption down the road.

Now if you want to pay them for service, that's a different story.

Yes, a dealer is obligated to do warr. work by the manufacturer but nothing says when they have to do it. Those jobs always go to the back. The paying customers come first. They pay the bills. So give the local guy your business. You want their convenience so give them your business. That's how they will be there for you.

WoW with that type of attitude I'm glad I don't live any where near you, but for sure I'd never buy from you shop. Imagine if car or truck dealers had that type of attitute with all the miles people put on and break downs happen far, far from home, Glad your not in business anymore.
DevilDog

 

[crazyal]

Years ago I bought a new Chevy that had a vibration at speeds around 65 mph. I brought it to the local dealer (I was working out of state when I needed the car and had no choice but to buy where I was) and they balanced the tires and washed their hands and said that's all they could do. That didn't solve the problem.

I called Chevy directly and said I wasn't happy with their service and she said thake it back and have them fix it. I asked if I could go somewhere else and she immediately checked around to the other dealers in the area for times when they had openings. Within a day another dealer had it and found the driveshaft was loose and needed to be replaced.

The first dealer who worked on it called back asking if the problem was solved even though I already told them it wasn't only a day before. It sounded like Chevy called the dealer and must of said something. Since that day I have never used that dealer for anything.

I work hard for my money. Even if I don't buy my first tractor from a local dealer treating me like (someone who posted above) would assure that I would never buy my second or any parts from them in the future. Plus I would share my experience anytime the subject came up.

 

[milkman636]

If a dealer is a jerk about servicing tractors he didn't sell, he's probably not much of a peach to deal with on the tractors he did sell either.

Purchase price and service support are two seperate issues for me. A dealer can earn my business for either or both if he wants to.

If your local dealer declines an opportunity to sell you a tractor for the same (or at least close) price as another dealer, why would you purchase there?

 

[Mike Costello]

As a former dealer of JD, this was always a hot button for me. Most of the time a person buying from another dealer miles away was for price. But then they thought they could have us do the warr. work. I am a big advocate of doing business locally. If it was a price issue as mostly it was, I told the customer to be prepared to take the machine back to where he bought it for warr. work. Why? #1, we take care of those who patronize us. #2, warranty almost always underpays. Contrary to popular opinion, warranty very seldom pays what we have in it. Companies only pay flat rate which is usually less time than the actual job, plus only a fraction of the regular labor rate plus only a medium mark-up on parts. So warranty definitely is not a money maker. That is why you need to go back where you bought it. It's not fair to your local dealer and like slapping them in the face. In essence, you're not good enough to buy from but you're ok enough to do my warranty work. The other dealer rmade the profit and part of that profit is for warranty absoption down the road.

Now if you want to pay them for service, that's a different story.

Yes, a dealer is obligated to do warr. work by the manufacturer but nothing says when they have to do it. Those jobs always go to the back. The paying customers come first. They pay the bills. So give the local guy your business. You want their convenience so give them your business. That's how they will be there for you.

I worked for a company that had 170 stores providing tires and automotive services. All warranties were good at any of the stores. Some of the store managers practiced your philosophy regarding warranty work, and almost always wound up being the loser in the long run.
At my store, we took the customers as they came: no back of the line crap, no delays or excuses, and gladly performed all work warranty or not. That was the way I wanted it done and it paid off generously. I had more goodwill than you could shake a stick at because everyone (local or not) knew my store would give service. I knew I was winning when people would actually drive out of their way to let us take care of their needs. Word of mouth is a powerful thing.
As for the bottom line--I saw the P & L every month and it always did fine. I knew because my yearly bonus depended on it, and I usually did well. If you give service in the proper way, profit will take care of itself. I never saw a businees (regardless of type) go under because they warranteed themselves to death, but I sure saw alot of them go out of business because they got too hung up on the bottom line and missed the true meaning of service. Mike.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

As a former dealer of JD, this was always a hot button for me. Most of the time a person buying from another dealer miles away was for price. But then they thought they could have us do the warr. work. I am a big advocate of doing business locally. If it was a price issue as mostly it was, I told the customer to be prepared to take the machine back to where he bought it for warr. work. Why? #1, we take care of those who patronize us. #2, warranty almost always underpays. Contrary to popular opinion, warranty very seldom pays what we have in it. Companies only pay flat rate which is usually less time than the actual job, plus only a fraction of the regular labor rate plus only a medium mark-up on parts. So warranty definitely is not a money maker. That is why you need to go back where you bought it. It's not fair to your local dealer and like slapping them in the face. In essence, you're not good enough to buy from but you're ok enough to do my warranty work. The other dealer rmade the profit and part of that profit is for warranty absoption down the road.

Now if you want to pay them for service, that's a different story.

Yes, a dealer is obligated to do warr. work by the manufacturer but nothing says when they have to do it. Those jobs always go to the back. The paying customers come first. They pay the bills. So give the local guy your business. You want their convenience so give them your business. That's how they will be there for you.

Glad I buy Kubotas instead of JD's. Former, I wonder why, not!!!

 

[TripleR]

I owe a dealer absolutely nothing. If they want ANY of my money, they have to EARN it with customer service/satisfaction, not by virtue of where their store is located. I do buy local, but not at the closest.

 

[Volfandt]

I can see TractorTidy's point of view and I don't necessarily have a problem with it, to an extent.
As he said, theres some warranty $$$'s built in to the purchase price but theres none in a unit that his dealership didn't sell. Basic business 101, make a profit....
I didn't work in the tractor field but I did work in the automotive field and I know for a fact that flat rate doesn't cover the majority of repairs, especially the infamous "intermittent" ones. Sometimes you make out, many times you don't.
Lets look at an example. Happy low price buyer purchases a nice shiney new Kubota at vastly discount prices from a dealer so far away that the likelyhood of this dealer haveing to provide warranty labor services is pretty low, hense he can offer the unit at a lower price. Thats a win win for both parties involved. especially if one can provide their own repairs and the selling dealer ships the repair parts under warranty.
But, lets say the tractor somehow escaped their normal high quality dealer prep and the tractor was delivered w/very low front axle grease or MMM gearbox grease or low to no MMM spindle grease, of very low HST fluid etc. This new owner isn't a mechanic and expects that his new tratcor was setup correctly and he runs it like he owns it. Before his 50 hr maintenance hits he has a catasroptic failure and has a major component failure, or even worse, he starts to hear clicking and clanging and feels it ain't right and suffers performance issues (the infamous intermittent problem).
Does the nearest dealer, a dealer this new owner opted not to purchase from because of purchase price, be required to loose $$$'s on troubleshooting and repairing a unit he didn't sell and didn't have the chance to set it up properly in the 1st place?
Kubota USA say's he does, but can you blame him if he puts it behind his customers that have contributed to his business' well being? I don't....

Big dealerships w/a large service staff are much more inclined to take on any and all types of service as they are probably self supporting. They can afford to hire well trained and knowedgable service staff whereas the smaller dealerships probably aren't as well equipped and concentrate their business on the sale and subsequent service/maintenance business.

When I was trading for a new tractor I looked at more than just the purchase price. I also looked at what any additional monies involved in a particular dealers price would bring me and if it was worth it. In the end I didn't go w/the lowest price but the couple $100 more $$'s it did cost me upfront was justified to me as I liked their service dept much better than the lower priced dealer. I liked walking in to their business, shooting the breeze, seeing whats new and purchasing my maintenance items from friendly knowledgable folks. Oddly enough, my little BX23 has never required any warranty work and if it had I probably would have done the repair myself. They made a profit on a quality product, set it up correctly when they delivered it to me and they continue to get my business on maintenance items. btw, their maintenance items are eitehr equal to or less than competing dealers of the same brand, I know, I checked and continue to do so
Still a win/win for both parties in my particular instance.

Bottom line, you just may get what you pay for.....

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Given the margins that are in a "bargin priced" deal, one substantial warrenty claim can burn every dollar of profit and even turn the sale into a loss very quickly. Thats part of why long distance deals are cheap.. because the selling dealer has little concern that the machine will actually be brought back to them in the event of a money loosing warrenty claim. They also don't do the campains that come up frequently for product improvments and safty issues.

For example... I had a local guy here who I've sold 3-4 pieces to. He bought one machine 3 hours away to save $200-300. Turned out that machine had a campain for bad engine mounts that the selling dealer was responsible for but never did. The engine slid into the radiator and did thousands in damage. We did the job and the warrenty claim came up $600 short of covering our expenses.

 

[Turbys_1700]

I normally buy used so it's a mute point...
If I bought new I would price check on the net and then compare with my local dealers...
If they were close I would purchase locally...
If they were not close I would purchase out of town...
If I needed repair work I would check with the local dealer to see how they would handle it...
I can understand the dealers point of view...
I would hope that they would understand my point of view...
I guess that I am lucky in that all the used stuff I've bought has not needed anything other than regular maintenance which I do myself...
Too tight to pay someone to service my stuff when I can do it myself for less...