Buying Advice A dealer looking for your input

[Morgan Kubota]

I am a Kubota Dealer in the NE area. I have been at this for over 6 years now and absolutly loving the results. Great people that have filled my customer slots and a great product to equip them with. But I dont want to get comfortable with where I am. Like any good dealer I want to make sure I get better and giving people the buying experience they deserve.

Here is my scenario: I spent 6 WEEKS with a guy discussing a tractor. He was clueless and that is more than fine. I took at least 4 hours every week to get him on different machines driving around and using the attachments until we found the machine he was comfortable with and we both felt would do the jobs he had lined up. We then moved onto discussing attachment options and then getting his wife on board and excited. All in all it was going great, ( I even stayed 3 hours after close one night ). When the time came for him to buy he had me write up a formal quote and I gave him the best price I could, i did that right up front. Three days later I call him up to see if there were any more questions I could answer for him and I find out he bought the package from a dealer in PA because he butchered my price just to dump the tractor.

My question to you guys ( the buying market ) : Is service no longer important to people? Is a cheap price more important than Unbeatable service?

 

[MMagis]

That just depends on the individual’s integrity. Price is more important than ever, but I couldn’t do what he did. At the very least, you deserved one more shot. That being said, you don’t say what the price difference was. At some point a person has to do what is best for them and their situation.

 

[keyman1808]

It also depends on how much difference the price was. Knowing what I know now I might have bought outside the area but I would have given my local dealer a chance to come close. When your talking about a couple of hundred dollars no big deal I would stay local but if it were 1000.00 or more then I may be hard pressed to buy from my local dealer especially if I feel I am about to be raped. I know everyone needs to put food on the table but I dont want to put lobster on my dealers table everynight.

 

[brin]

I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker....Welcome to my world !

 

[TripleR]

I agree with MMagis to a certain extent, you should have been given the opportunity to go with a counter offer, but since you say you gave "him the best price you could" that would have been a moot point.

Sadly, I have found that in almost every case when it comes right down to it, the "best price you can do" is a moving target so to speak. When I am "negotiating", I tell the dealer right up front to give me the best possible price as I do not haggle, if the price is right I will buy it and if not I won't. I can think of no occasion in which after I left the lot I did not receive a call with a counter offer. I never go back.

That being said, I now make an exception with tractors/equipment as I have a dealer and salesman I trust with an excellent service department and when I ask him what his best price is, I take into account the quality of service as well as long term relationship and buy even if I believe I can get it a little cheaper elsewhere.

However, as MMagis points out if the disparity in price is great enough, then it does become the preeminent factor.

Most of us work very hard for our money and loyalty, customer service is only going to get you so far.

 

[magicheater]

My question to you guys ( the buying market ) : Is service no longer important to people? Is a cheap price more important than Unbeatable service?

A lot of times the cost IS the most important thing. I looked at tractors locally when I bought my second one and they were beat up and over priced. I as a consumer expanded my search and found a deal to my liking out of state. Not only did I save the sales tax but I got a tractor with fewer hours and in much better shape than what I could have purchased locally. I see that the local tractors are still for sale also. If the difference in price on your tractor versus what your potential customer got elsewhere was only a few hundred dollars I would have bought from you or if more, given you a chance to better your offer. Service is important, I still go to my local dealer for parts when I need them even though I may be able to do better online. I bought my first tractor from them. It does SEEM now a days that pricing IS everything.

 

[tractorshopper]

I am in the market for a new tractor and have been looking hard, test driving, and reading a lot. I am down to a decision between two tractors of different colors, one of which is a Kubota.

My local Kubota dealer has treated me much like you have treated your customer in this case. The other dealer is very honest and reputable and has been in this business a long time also, but has not given me the same treatment.

In all honestly, I like a few features on the other tractor enough to sway me in that direction and the price of the other color is considerably better too, but I'm fairly certain I'm buying the Kubota and mostly because of the dealer.

I believe he deserves my business and I look forward to excellent service after the sale. I checked his price against a reputable Internet dealer and he was not as low, but also not too far off. I'm sure he does less volume and I'm okay with the difference if I know he'll still be around for parts and service.

I will say say, however, that if his price on the same machine was a lot higher than the Internet dealer, I would have had to consider going with the long distance sale. On some level (probably different for all of us), initial purchase price is still important to a customer. I want to know I got a fair deal. You just have to find that balance between good deal/keeping your dealer in business and short-sightedness (purchase, but not thinking about future service needs) and long-term strategy (both).

 

[crazyal]

You win some you loose some. I'm sorry but price does matter to plenty of people. If it was me I wouldn't have spent much time with you before hand trying to decide what was right for me. That just seams wrong. I would just of asked your best price and then decided. Hopefully when they need service, parts, and oil they still come to you. Maybe when it comes time to replace it he'll think twice or maybe the extra costs will not seam as large.

The difference in price can easily mean a couple of attachments that you were going to hold off on. Or it could mean the difference between being able to afford the correct tractor or settling for less.

 

[tommu56]

A bearing supply business that I use has a sign shaped in a triangle are the words

price ,delivery, service

pick any 2


I feel if you go for the bottom dollar you will be sacrificing some thing.
Again that is my opinion.

tom

 

[KeithInSpace]

I am very sorry to hear this happen to you. No doubt, this same individual will come to you for service needs and beat you up when you put tractors that YOU sold in line in front of service items you DID'T sell, including his.

I have no clue how your price compared, nor is it particularly relevent. I'm a Land Development Engineer and have seen $80,000 contracts decided over less than $500 difference...staggering decisions, in my opinion, where relationships and capabilities are much more important considering they're spending $10 million and more on improvements as shown on those plans.

Taken to your level, the difference could have been $100 or $3,000. Only two people know...the purchaser and probably the other dealer considering he probably "played" based on your quote.

For my part, I got a package cost from my local dealer and checked around, as a matter of education, to make sure it was a decent price. It was a few hundred higher than the lowest prices I saw "out there", but that was money well spent to have the support of my local shop. If the difference started getting over $1,000 (on a $15k purchase), for example, for the "pleasure" of buying local, it may have been a smidge more difficult.

So on one hand, I want to say ABSOLUTELY I would always purchase from my local dealer. But at the same time, the price has to be in the ballpark.

For this to happen to you over a 12% swing in cost...dunno. Would have been a tough call for me, as the purchaser, to get past that. Hate to say it.

For this to happen to you over $180? An absolute travesty and I hope you never need to interact with that poor soul ever again.

Don't know if that helps other than knowing that at least one person (me) will pay a premium (not a BLIND premium, but a premium nonetheless) to work out of a local shop.

Wish all the best success to you.