Montana Troubles Continue

[Dallas_Lilly]

So what brand(s) of tractors are you selling now?

I am a EX-Farmtrac dealer, when farmtrac began to get in trouble, we saw most of the things Montana dealers are experiencing now. Tractor swaping, dealer loading and increases in credit limits without dealer knowledge and units billed before delivery. We have since uncovered evidence of a scheme by Farmtrac and Textron to shift farmtrac's debt to Textron to the dealers. it is an issue that will be decided it lawsuits now underway in Rhode Island.At the time it was happening, FT dealers failed to recoganize it as it really was because, no one had witnessed this type of failure on the part of any tractor distributership in the USA. and of course, we were as proud of our brand as any other dealer is proud of theirs.
I was asked to sign with LS but, have steadfastly refused because, they insist on GE floorplanning and with GE, I would be required to give up all my rights under the law. I had several attorneys read the GE financing agreement, each told me the same thing,DON'T SIGN THIS THING!!!
So I'm back where I started 25 years ago except that we now own our facilities, have good employees and are once again making and keeping our profit and best of all, we are once again our own boss.Lo and Behold! turns out we didn't need them after all.Its Great to be an AMERICAN and not to have an overseas boss telling us what we must do for them.
If I fail, I want it to be because I didn't do what I should have and not because someone in another country or a crooked finance company in this one screwed me.:thumbsup:

Taxpayer

 

[taxpayer]

So what brand(s) of tractors are you selling now?

We have the snapper line of lawn equipment, several implement
lines. we buy and sell all brands of used tractors and/or heavy equipment. with the ecomomy as it is right now, I seem to be able to sell used equipment better than new. another point is that the finance companies have set the bar so high, it is hard to get customer financing on new equipment.we are fortunate to be located in the middle of the Hanesville shale natural gas find
in NW La., so there is a lot of cash money in play here.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against signing with a new tractor company, I just think that any company that wants me to use my facilities and experience to sell it's product should be willing to take an equal risk, as I do, by In-house financing or consignment. I think thats fair, what say you?

Taxpayer

 

[Dallas_Lilly]

We have the snapper line of lawn equipment, several implement
lines. we buy and sell all brands of used tractors and/or heavy equipment. with the ecomomy as it is right now, I seem to be able to sell used equipment better than new. another point is that the finance companies have set the bar so high, it is hard to get customer financing on new equipment.we are fortunate to be located in the middle of the Hanesville shale natural gas find
in NW La., so there is a lot of cash money in play here.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against signing with a new tractor company, I just think that any company that wants me to use my facilities and experience to sell it's product should be willing to take an equal risk, as I do, by In-house financing or consignment. I think thats fair, what say you?

Taxpayer

Makes good sense to me and sounds fair. The livelyhood of you and your family depends on selling and servicing tractors and that was jepordized by greedy mistakes made by others. I sympathize with you and hope it works out in the end for you. I also would not be crazy about jumping back in bed with a floorplan company.

I do not sell tractors, just own one. The dealer I purchased from started with Jinma's, went to Montana, went to Farmtrac and then to Kioti, eventually closing doors after being arrested for identity fraud. In a impound lot there is probabbly 10 blue farmtracs sitting gathering dust, they must be atleast 2 years old now.

So do the larger companies, the Kubota, Deere etc... do thier own floor plans for their dealers. I would think it would have to be a larger company to handle that burden. LS is supposed to be a large company and are selling their product in the US now. I would think they could floorplan their products with out GE?

On a side note I write bid specifications for large equipment for the county. I noted in the last dump truck bid I would pay for the chassis when it was delivered to the body builder and then paid the remaining amount once the truck was delivered. In the past we did not make any payment until we had complete truck in our hands. Allowing for the chassis to be paid for before delivery saved us 5K per truck because the dealer didnt have to pay floor planning costs.

 

[taxpayer]

Makes good sense to me and sounds fair. The livelyhood of you and your family depends on selling and servicing tractors and that was jepordized by greedy mistakes made by others. I sympathize with you and hope it works out in the end for you. I also would not be crazy about jumping back in bed with a floorplan company.

I do not sell tractors, just own one. The dealer I purchased from started with Jinma's, went to Montana, went to Farmtrac and then to Kioti, eventually closing doors after being arrested for identity fraud. In a impound lot there is probabbly 10 blue farmtracs sitting gathering dust, they must be atleast 2 years old now.

So do the larger companies, the Kubota, Deere etc... do thier own floor plans for their dealers. I would think it would have to be a larger company to handle that burden. LS is supposed to be a large company and are selling their product in the US now. I would think they could floorplan their products with out GE?

On a side note I write bid specifications for large equipment for the county. I noted in the last dump truck bid I would pay for the chassis when it was delivered to the body builder and then paid the remaining amount once the truck was delivered. In the past we did not make any payment until we had complete truck in our hands. Allowing for the chassis to be paid for before delivery saved us 5K per truck because the dealer didnt have to pay floor planning costs.

Since LS' parent company is LG a 80+ billion company, I think they could well do in house financing. in fact they hinted at this when they first began to try to entice dealers.I don't know why they decided to farm it out to GE, especially after the treatment they recieved at Textron's hands. I would have thought they would have been leery of dealing with any Floorplan co.
One thing I am sure of is that I don't feel comfortable with any Korean mfg product as my main line product given the high tensions between north and south korea at this time. at 68 yoa I don't have enough time to recover from another hit like the farmtrac fiasco.maybe some of the younger guys and gals might be willing to risk it.but at my age one tends to be a bit more conservative and a lot less likely to fall for a line of BS these jokers can dish out.

Taxpayer

 

[mojoinco]

One of GEs most profitable divisions is the finance side of the house. Even if LG was the name, GE would be a likely underwriter. GE has been the in house financier for a number of large outfits (HD, Nissan, etc). GEs finance/insurance side is huge. LS is likely conserving cash liabilities/risk until the US division is large enough to make it worthwhile to bring it all in house.

But if one can make a good income without the risk of a questionable product line, why have the headaches?

 

[Mike120]

Since LS' parent company is LG a 80+ billion company,

Don't be overly impressed by their size until you REALLY understand their balance sheet. Korean companies cross-guarantee each other and as a result have piles of off-the-books liabilities.

 

[trac]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when a dealer orders tractors, and finances them through GE, LS gets paid for those tractors. GE now owns the tractors and the dealer has to follow the terms of the contract, they signed. It can't get any sweeter for LS. They move product, and have more operating capital for production I read the GE contract, and have no intentions on giving GE my business. I was nearly stung once. Don't plan on going by the bee hive again.

 

[wampum]

Did anyone notice that LS was taken from their own thread here, to the All Brands thread. I am not trying to make anything out off it,just thought it was interesting. They must not be having much traffic here for them,to have their own thread.

 

[dskemp]

Gentlemen,
I am a long time reader of the TBN forum but this is my first time in the Montana tractor section. My situation is this...live on 9 acres, have horse pasture and woods. I have been looking for a small subcompact for some time and my father (a farmer in Iowa using JD equipment) informed me of the Montana brand and some of the deals they were offering at this time. He has a dealer that is located within 5 miles. I have heard of the Montana brand along with TYM but had never considered it seriously until now. The pricing he gave my father yesterday on a 2008 2734 demo with 25 hrs and FEL was $9k. I thought that seemed like a good deal, so thus my first place to review it was in TBN.

My question/concern is less whether this might be a good deal or not but more in regards to the information that has recently been posted about the Montana brand/dealers and availability of parts and tractors. I do not know the history of this brand or Branson or Farmtrac or LS (all names I have seen in this posting). As mentioned previously, this will be my first subcompact tractor. I want to ensure I am making the correct decision concerning tractor realibility and part/dealer availablity.

If someone might be so kind as to explain what this "Branson, Montana Tractor discontinue JV discussion" means, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, I searched the Montana website and found a dealer located about 30 miles away from me. I may also speak with him on Monday. Thank you in advance for your help and information for a newbie like myself.

 

[204saskman]

I was in the same boat as you, i just kind of weiry about buying one too, but i bit the bullet the other day and bought a 2009 2844R montana. Here in canada there was other dealers that wanted 23,995 for the tractor. I got a 09 for 15,500 with tax and everything. I really liked the fact that they are affordable and have alot of options that others dont. I dont think i will be worried as the dealer is 7 hours from me but he said any problems and they will look after it.