Deere DDealers Disappearing - Time to Change Colors?

[rScotty]

I'm a weekend tractor guy, mowing 5 acres of fields, fixing stone walls, setting up gardens, and the rest of the week I'm far away in an office somewhere.....snip

The nearby JD dealer that I bought my 4115 from 5 years ago got cut off by JD three years ago.....

I'm unhappy with how long it takes to get parts and service through these former JD dealers ....

Well I don't blame you for being unhappy. I would be too with a 5 year old tractor doing that sort of work that is needing any type of parts or service at all. What's up with that? Hmmm....doggone, it, that sentence doesn't sound right after writing it, but it's meant as an honest question. Why do you care where the dealer is located? Or is it a social thing?

I've had various brands of compact tractors since 1980, and I do regard visits to my dealer as a social occassion. We look at new models, have breakfast, talk about everything from finances to hybrid seed....that sort of thing. That's what a dealer is to me. I don't think I've never had a real mechanical reason to visit them immediately. Like a lot of rural people, most routine maintenance parts are ordered via telephone and come either via UPS or else the dealer delivers when he has a lad up this way.

So that's my question (again)...why do you care where the dealer is located?
rScotty

 

[Builder]

Same happening in my area. Local dealer of 100 years was forced out because they were too small. Now I have to go to a chain of Deere stores all owned by same conglomerate (Atlantic Tractor).

 

[coobie]

Small John Deere dealerships around my neck of the woods are still going strong.coobie

 

[Arcane]

So that's my question (again)...why do you care where the dealer is located?
rScotty

Scotty, I'm not lazy, but I don't have the know-how, the time, and possibly the tools to diagnose and fix hydraulics. (In this case, what broke was a hydraulic pipe with a nearly 90 degree bend just coming out of the block.) I only have a day and a half at my place, once every two or three weeks. So I rely on a dealer. Its a good way to meet and support local businessfolk. Also, when I have to pay someone by the mile to haul the tractor two roundtrips, it adds up.

 

[rcrcomputing]

Yep. The truth is, they would never even convince themselves that they got a great deal no matter how loud or often they bragged about it.

While I understand your upset by getting ripped of by John Deere, that's no reason to dis those of us who did not and are quite happy with our purchase.

 

[Willl]

I only have a day and a half at my place, once every two or three weeks.

Your profile loc under your name says "MA/CT", may I assume you travel back and forth from home to "my place" ?

 

[two_bit_score]

While I understand your upset by getting ripped of by John Deere, that's no reason to dis those of us who did not and are quite happy with our purchase.

Keep on being happy, my friend. You still aren't very convincing.

 

[ccsial]

I'm fortunate to live in a agriculture area. There are three huge JD dealers within 30 miles of me. I deal with them.

My Stihl dealer was a JD lawn tractor dealer and he lost that. He picked up Simplicity instead. He also got several ZTR brands. I never felt comfortable using him for JD because I don't think his service guy was near as good as the AG dealers.

I'm thinking that since the box stores are selling JD they want to dump the small guys. I hope the big AG dealers will still sell lawn tractors in the future. I think CUT's are safe since a lot of farmers around here have one.

It's a changing global world. I don't like it, but that's not going to change it.

 

[whistlepig]

For small tractors John Deere has some catching up to do. For the big AG tractors John Deere is second to none. We live in farm country and there are some big John Deere's out here that will take your breath away. You won't see these big tractors on the compact tractor posts. For my small farm I have a Kubota. Small farms is what Kubota does best. For a real workhorse on a farm a John Deere is still the 800# gorilla in the forest.

 

[Ken45101]

"The dealer model that Deere is moving towards is larger dealerships with multiple locations. The smaller dealers with lower volumes are being encouraged to sell out to some of the larger conglomorates. Unfortunately, it seems it will continue."

The bad thing about this is, if the dealer that happens to have all the franchises in a given area sucks, you have to travel a long distance to get away from them to one that you like dealing with....

Certainly agree. When asking about a new tractor, the JD salesman told me what direction they were, that's all. So.....I have a new Kubota M9540 on order. There are a half dozen Kubota dealers around here and only one of them sucks, the rest seem good to deal with.

Ken