NewEngland Co-op??

[stvman]

It shure would be nice if several of us New Englanders could get together, either on the same brand of tractor or a dealer that sells other brands and see if they want to lower their margins for a multi order deal.

Any dealers want to sell 5+ tractors,multiple implements? Im shure there must be someone out there....

 

[lamarbur]

You're definitely onto something, and it will work.. A friend of mine has a pizza shop. He is originally from Greece. Well, quite a few of the pizza shops around here are Greek. He went to all of them not too many years ago and all of them today enjoy a considerable rate cut when replacing the propane gaw weekly. When all households were paying 1.50 or so, they, as a group, were paying 88 cents.. So your idea will work, with proper planning and set up..

 

[8561]

I'm looking to buy this week. I live in NH but will likely go out of the area because I won't pay the going rate in NH. My father is also in the market, so that might be two. Interested in Kubota.

 

[HayDR]

The average straight sale tractor deal nets the dealer $1000 per unit unless its an extremely hot seller and in short supply. Where does a dealer make enough money to stay in business? Shortline margins are a bit higher. Parts, service & trade-ins are all that's left. Service at most dealerships loses money or at best breaks even. EVERY MFG pays far less that the dealer spends on a warranty repair. A good local dealer is your best warranty not the MFG. Parts and trade-ins are the live blood of a dealership. Reconditioning equipment and then retailing it to end users often doubles the normal profit margin.
You wonder why some dealers can offer normal prices 10% less than others. Often it is because they maximize the lowest purchase price using either cash or volume purchases. On new item sales a dealers profit margin or loss is depending how they ordered the items. I'm a member of a Farmers CO-OP and I also compete against the CO-OP's. In the service sector CO-OP's do not compete as well if it's a price only product. CO-OP's usually do not make good machinery dealers. 5 CUT tractors is not a big deal when you consider the dealer makes more on the CUT purchase than on the larger tractors. The dealer needs the extra margin on the CUT purchase and will not reduce the price much for 5 CUT's. Now 20+ would get some reduction likely as a price reduction from the MFG if the units were listed in one name or company.

 

[stvman]

CCI, If I were in your neck of the woods it would not be an issue. Around here a 1000.00 profit on the dealers part would be a bargin. If you look around on this board you will see people who purchased a tractor in the south paid 8-900.00 dollars to ship it up north and still saved $2000.00

If you ever make it to New hampshire take a look at some of the dealers. When I see a tractor salesman driving a 100,000 dollar Hummer and has a house three times the size of mine something tells me he is making more than $1000.00 on a tractor.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

I am sure that I paid more $ than absolutly necessary. But on the other hand, all those hours spent traveling to distant and or out of state dealers would have cost me a small fortune in lost income, truck fuel, tire wear etc. etc.
Buying out of state would have required, in most cases a sales tax, and shipping / trucking fees.
The distant dealer might have saved you some money on the purchase price, but where is he going to be when it comes time for service or repair. It's not that he wouldn't be there if he could but the distance would make it unfeasable both physical and finacially for both parties.
Yup, I may have paid a little more than I would have had to elswhere, but I feel that I have and will have saved much more in doing business with a dealership that I can get to with reasonable drive time, a salesman that I can get on the phone without long distance toll charges, a service manager who knows me by site and by name and knows my tractor without having to look up my file.
When I think of how many years I will be owning my tractor, my relationship with my local dealer is just as important as how much I paid for the machine.

I am sure that I have told this story before. When I bought my F-150 in March 2000, it lost a motor at 3300 miles. My local ford dealership (not where I purchased ) was more then willing to do all the necessary warrenty repairs and not just because they were required to. BUT, they politely made it very clear that my repair would have to take a backseat to any and all service and repairs for customers who purchased their vehicles from them. And Rightly So !! It took 5 weeks for me to get my truck repaired and returned.
Yup, I might have been able to buy my tractor and package for less $ further away or out of state but at what expense.
You can only squeeze a doller so much before you left with nothing for your efforts.

 

[Justaplain]

What part of Mass. are you from?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[stvman]

Mark, I see your point as far as a commercial operation with several pieces of equipment. In my case I have a 1968 Case backhoe. I have owned it for 14 years and it has never seen a dealer as long as I have owned it.

I hope all my research and shopping will reward me with a piece of equipment at a reasonable price that will give me the kind of service the Case has. A Co-op would provide others with all the experience and knowledge I have obtained. Just as with this site I am shure it has saved hundreds if not thousands of people the heartache of buying the wrong piece of equipment and a lot of money.

I have to say that not every dealer I have been to in New England has been Arrogant but most have. I just feel that a dealer that throws out a retail price on a tractor with a take it or leave it attitude is not interested in my business and will more than likely hose me on service in the future.

I guess all Im saying is there is power in numbers. As an example, the company I work for buys between 150 and 200 Ford vehicles every year when I bring my van for service I am taken care of no matter what dealer I take it to. I have had instances in the past where I was told by a local Ford dealer that the complete failure of the front end (all the balljoints were shot at 20,000 miles)would not be covered under warranty. One call from my vehicle admin. office to Ford changed the dealers attitude real fast. I could not help but feel if I had been on my own I'd be out of luck.

As far as your local Ford dealer they sound a little foolish to me. They are a representative of Ford and making you wait is no way to earn your business. When I have warranty on my product no matter who sold it I work overtime and provide a standard of service that is a representation of the company I work for. Steve...

 

[Chipperman]

CCI

Maybe down south dealers can work on $1000 per tractor and that is great. I think the main reason tractors up here cost more is it cost a lot more up here to operate a business. Everything is more, considerably more. Rent, taxes, fuel, wages etc. Dealers up here that I have seen working on $1000 per tractor do not stay in business very long. People can and will decide to go out of state to make purchases and that is fine but they should realize that dealers up here are not trying to make a killing only a living. As for car dealers, I think that is a completely different story. Unlike tractors dealers they make good money on all service including warranty. If someone knows that is not true please tell me.

Thanks
Chipperman

PS: Please give me a minute to get on my flame proof cloths before responding.

 

[jimg]

A short story on my tractor purchase:
I hit all of the local dealers in NH and got their prices. I then looked out of state and found some great bargains. I the end none of the local dealers cared to even talk about coming down exc the New Holland dealer (Chappell Tractor in Brentwood). He was willing to come close enough that buying out of state made no sense. I found the New Holland dealer to be very upfront and not at all arrogant. Im in the process of buying a box scraper and expect that once Ive shopped around he'll again be close enough to make it worth buying from him. jimg