Dealer Kubota Dealers Going Out of Business ? What Gives ?

[brain55]

The last attempt at a Kubota dealer that I know of was in Livermore. They were a forklift dealer that bought a small reputable OEM engine dealer and then added Kubota. They had no CUT experience and tried to charge customers for every minute of time while they were learning. They alienated quite a few of my customers in the process. They ended up getting bought out by another forklift dealer who promptly moved the store out of the area and dropped Kubota. Before that there was a guy, also in Livermore that tried to take on Kubota by starting out as a Kioti dealer, back when the only thing you had to do to become a Kioti dealer was buy two tractors. His financials fell through as he soon discovered his hot new wife was robbing him blind.

Brian

 

[gaylonw]

Hey Mechanicsburg!


'Messicks' is right down the road from you. We have a store in Carlisle on RT74.

No one in our area has gone out of business. There has been a lot of buying and selling of dealerships as of late due to owners retiring. There would be a lot of new names out there. O.C. Rice and York Tractor come to mind. We bought Peterman Power about two years ago. Stauffer bros had their contact pulled and given to someone else. Its a tough business, but no one has 'gone out of business' for financial reasons.

I am in the market for a BX1870 and I have been working with Mark at Messick and another fella at another K dealer closer to my home.
Mark has been instrumental along with some folks on this forum helping me to change from the GR 2120 to the BX1870.
Mark has been right there with the info, prompt responses and trade values.
The price is very competitive, but I am proceeding with the purchase with Messick because they have earned my business over the last 3 weeks of due diligence.
This isn't a $50000 purchase but the folks at Messick have responded like it was a top priority.
My $.02, $2.07 more and you can get a grande coffee at Starbucks!!?.gm

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I am in the market for a BX1870 and I have been working with Mark at Messick and another fella at another K dealer closer to my home.
Mark has been instrumental along with some folks on this forum helping me to change from the GR 2120 to the BX1870.
Mark has been right there with the info, prompt responses and trade values.
The price is very competitive, but I am proceeding with the purchase with Messick because they have earned my business over the last 3 weeks of due diligence.
This isn't a $50000 purchase but the folks at Messick have responded like it was a top priority.
My $.02, $2.07 more and you can get a grande coffee at Starbucks!!?.gm

Looks like you've found your buying dealership.
Being a big or little dealership doesn't in itself make a dealership automatically better or worse/good or bad. There are good/great/bad/horrible dealerships big and little. Size itself, just like a tractor, doesn't mean/make one (is) better or worse it just means it is bigger or smaller. No more than one Orange/blue/green dealer makes the brand better or worse.
Messicks/Barlows do not affect the quality construction or performance of a Kubota. They can make your satisfaction good or bad when your Kubota needs problems after about 20 years of use. They are/were good/great dealerships when they were small and are still great/good now that they are bigger. Size does effect their methods of operation and they may have spent 5 hours with a tire kicker before they learned how to identify tire kickers which they'll learn or work 20 hour days. Some businesses are small because they want to be and some are small because they don't have the desire/knowledge/abilities that will allow them to get bigger/grow. If 5 customers go to a small one man dealership at the same time and the tire kicker gets there a minute before the other 4, who will probably eventually leave in disgust/ill feeling. How many of these individuals/people will give a thumbs down and how many will give a thumbs up concerning this small individual attention to customers small dealership?

 

[ultrarunner]

The last attempt at a Kubota dealer that I know of was in Livermore. They were a forklift dealer that bought a small reputable OEM engine dealer and then added Kubota. They had no CUT experience and tried to charge customers for every minute of time while they were learning. They alienated quite a few of my customers in the process. They ended up getting bought out by another forklift dealer who promptly moved the store out of the area and dropped Kubota. Before that there was a guy, also in Livermore that tried to take on Kubota by starting out as a Kioti dealer, back when the only thing you had to do to become a Kioti dealer was buy two tractors. His financials fell through as he soon discovered his hot new wife was robbing him blind.

Brian

Team Power of Hayward and then Livermore is where I would go to buy maintenance items after my dealer closed and Team did go out of their way to see to it I got the upgraded BX seat that Kubota was offering.

When they were no longer affiliated with Kubota I started to order from Neil at Messicks which is very far from California...

 

[gaylonw]

Looks like you've found your buying dealership.
Being a big or little dealership doesn't in itself make a dealership automatically better or worse/good or bad. There are good/great/bad/horrible dealerships big and little. Size itself, just like a tractor, doesn't mean/make one (is) better or worse it just means it is bigger or smaller. No more than one Orange/blue/green dealer makes the brand better or worse.
Messicks/Barlows do not affect the quality construction or performance of a Kubota. They can make your satisfaction good or bad when your Kubota needs problems after about 20 years of use. They are/were good/great dealerships when they were small and are still great/good now that they are bigger. Size does effect their methods of operation and they may have spent 5 hours with a tire kicker before they learned how to identify tire kickers which they'll learn or work 20 hour days. Some businesses are small because they want to be and some are small because they don't have the desire/knowledge/abilities that will allow them to get bigger/grow. If 5 customers go to a small one man dealership at the same time and the tire kicker gets there a minute before the other 4, who will probably eventually leave in disgust/ill feeling. How many of these individuals/people will give a thumbs down and how many will give a thumbs up concerning this small individual attention to customers small dealership?
View attachment 387228

JT,
I agree with you that a person's perception about the relative worth of a dealership is a moving target that is all to often affected by the last experience that you had with the organization.
I also agree that I have found the sales person that I have connected with.
He, like you, has taken the time to listen to my needs and offer me some good choices.
I have a sales team that reports to me and I can tell you that that listening is a great talent!(2 ears,one mouth)
When someone can listen and then offer some constructive advice that is when value happens- a beautiful thing!
Thank you for the assistance that you have given me- I appreciate it very much.
As for the product, I have had my '93 Cub Cadet for 21 years and the 3 cylinder K gas engine has been great!
My 2003 B7800 has been bullit proof as well, so I have been spoiled by these K experiences!
Wish me luck with the BX1870!,,,,,gm

 

[bigcut]

Hey Mechanicsburg!


'Messicks' is right down the road from you. We have a store in Carlisle on RT74.

No one in our area has gone out of business. There has been a lot of buying and selling of dealerships as of late due to owners retiring. There would be a lot of new names out there. O.C. Rice and York Tractor come to mind. We bought Peterman Power about two years ago. Stauffer bros had their contact pulled and given to someone else. Its a tough business, but no one has 'gone out of business' for financial reasons.

Thanks for the clarification....What I meant to say was when I did the Internet search, some of those Kubot Dealers came back as "CLOSED". To me, that means they went out of business. I have no way of knowing if they were acquired, retired, filed chapter 11, etc.

But I do appreciate your clarification. I thought it might be Kubota forcing certain Dealers out. As I said in the original post, when I searched for JD, I don't think I got any closed listings. So my question was from more of a curiosity point. What sparked my interest to begin with was the survey results, based on polling of Dealers. My original perception was that JD lead the back, but, after reviewing the survey results, I was surprised to see that Kubota beat JD out in just about every category or point. I guess that shows my unsubstantiated bias. It's caused me to rethink things....thanks again for the input.
John

 

[TravisD]

Thanks for the clarification....What I meant to say was when I did the Internet search, some of those Kubot Dealers came back as "CLOSED". To me, that means they went out of business. I have no way of knowing if they were acquired, retired, filed chapter 11, etc.
John

Just curious what kind of search results are you talking about? Some search engines are incorporating hours into their results, and may display "Closed" when it's after business hours for an establishment.

 

[930ck]

Just curious what kind of search results are you talking about? Some search engines are incorporating hours into their results, and may display "Closed" when it's after business hours for an establishment.

Thought the same thing, searching websites after hours shows being closed. This is at stores I know are not shut down.

 

[Fluid]

Bota is doing the same thing Kioti did a few years back, pulling their dealerships from mom and pop shops that do not meet their very high standards for visabilty of facility.

Thats what they want you to believe. Theres more to it then that.

 

[lilranch2001]

ok, Ill bite, do tell