Cost of owning a tractor

[repete]

I was just thinking, after reading some posts here this morning, about the cost of owning our little L2550DT. This is roughly what it has cost.

The original cost was about $14,000. It was purchased used in 1990. It was about three years old I believe. It came with a backhoe, bb and a couple other minor items.

It is now 2015, 25 years have gone by with about 5,500 hours or so put on the unit. I will assume since it still runs well it is probably worth $4000 or so.

So, $14,000-$4,000 makes the total expense of the purchase $10,000. 25 years of ownership makes the annual cost about $400. 5,500 hours for $10,000 is about 55 cents per hour.

I will assume it costs me about $300 per year for maintenance as well so the cost of ownership for a year is roughly $700.

Thy that with a 2015 charger...

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought my Dozer used 17 years ago and sold it for $3,000 less than paid.

Annual maintenance worked out to be $100... things like hydraulic line, brake bands, batteries... etc.

There are new cars that appreciate...

My Boss bought a brand new 2005 Ford GT... full warranty and kept it 7 years and sold it for 60k more than paid.

Maybe a Dodge Hellcat for appreciation???

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I bought my Dozer used 17 years ago and sold it for $3,000 less than paid.

Annual maintenance worked out to be $100... things like hydraulic line, brake bands, batteries... etc.

There are new cars that appreciate...

My Boss bought a brand new 2005 Ford GT... full warranty and kept it 7 years and sold it for 60k more than paid.

Maybe a Dodge Hellcat for appreciation???

How many miles/hours did your Boss put on that Ford GT? My guess is very few. I'm a car guy and have bought over 160+. In that 160+ there may be a few that would bring more than I paid but that was also not driving them as regular drivers. The 67 Corvette Fastback has appreciated but well maybe the 1970 240Z but not by much. Course I drove mine as regular drivers and the more they started going up the more uncomfortable I became driving them but........I use my Kubotas.:cool2:

 

[big bubba]

purchased Massey TO35 used in '78 for $3250. Used it for 28yrs & got $1500 trade in value for it w/kubota purchase. Spent $500 for injector pump rebuild along the way. so including repair & trade in worked out to around $80/year.....trusty little workhorse...

 

[Creamer]

Not really sure what I paid for my 1710 as it came with the house in 1993 when it was 10 yrs old. I am guessing it was somewhere around $5500 at that time. I am betting I could get the same for it now after 24 years albeit in inflated dollars. Other than engine oil and filters (engine and hydraulic) and adding hydraulic oil to compensate for some loader and implement leaks - I have put on a muffler and two front tires. Not much cost thus far although the rear tires are starting to look kind of ugly - they will $750 for the pair.

I would bet most people with five year old tractors have put more than i have into them.

 

[ultrarunner]

How many miles/hours did your Boss put on that Ford GT? My guess is very few. I'm a car guy and have bought over 160+. In that 160+ there may be a few that would bring more than I paid but that was also not driving them as regular drivers. The 67 Corvette Fastback has appreciated but well maybe the 1970 240Z but not by much. Course I drove mine as regular drivers and the more they started going up the more uncomfortable I became driving them but........I use my Kubotas.:cool2:

Less than 5,000 miles... he sold his original GT40 for some crazy price and bought the new 2005 GT... also has original Cobras from the 1960's, Super 7 and a Lola... his passion is retired race cars and it has been extremely lucrative... His name is in the Cobra and GT registries...

I'm just about with you on number of vehicles... have over 50 right now with 24 insured... the rest are projects... never sold a car for less than I had in it... many are convertibles going back to 1905... with lots of Fords Model T's and A's all the way up to Mustangs of the 1960's... only one Corvette, a 1962.

One of the reasons my other thread about Mom's car being stolen hit us hard as car people... spending the day watching her car being made and the VIP treatment we got... doesn't get any better!

Don't know going forward what the future holds for tractors with emission and electronics.

A tractor is something most of us own to do a job... and there are some very capable older tractors AND they are proven reliable.

When I bought my Kubota new... I really didn't want to. I was looking used and simply had slim pickings and those I did find were not that far off price wise from new if I was able to buy new RIGHT...

I've had my BX23 about 10 years now... great tractor... paid $14,900 out the door for it... my neighbor was tractor shopping last year and offered me 12k for it... that's $2,900 less than I paid so under $300 a year depreciation... did not matter because it is not for sale.

When my brother was tractor shopping I told him not to waste time looking used... he was able to cut a good on a 105 hour L3800 Harvest Return and is very pleased with it.

Tractors more than other things tend to hold value... part in due to inflation and part because some simply prefer a model or engine that is no longer made and simply because they can still do the task at hand.

 

[millsan1]

Being a new tractor owner, I can't comment on the expenses, etc, but in looking around, I was finding 3-7 year old units with 500ish hours on them for only a few thousand less than a new unit. It made my decision easy. Unless I upgrade, my BX will live and die on my property, and I have a lot of years to go. Truly the best vehicle purchase I have ever made.

 

[crazyal]

Never tried to figure out the cost. Since mine is my main snow removal tool with my plow truck now in a back up roll it's hard to add in the cost of peace of mind knowing that I have a reliable option. For a business it's easy, equipment's job is to make you money but how can you put a price on personal time saved by having the right tool for the job? If you are just going to do the amount of dollars per hour then you also need to figure in fuel and maintenance costs. Don't know about you but I've never kept track of how much diesel I've used or how much I've spent on filters and grease. Plus until you actually sell or retire it you will have to guess at when you will no longer own it.

I'm planning on keeping my Kubota for 30 or more years. Using 30 that works out to about $500 a year but not knowing what a 30 year old tractor will be worth 25 years from now means that number could be as high as $1000 a year. I'm not sure about hours as some years I barely use it while others I'm using it almost weekly. 25 years is a long time to try and pick an average but my guess would be anywhere from as low as 3000 to twice that.

 

[millsan1]

On a side note, I am very impressed with how fuel efficient the BX is.

I have about 20 hours on the machine and have used less than 15 gallons of fuel.

Works out to less than $3 an hour, in that regard.

Another offsetting factor is the amount of work you do yourself vs. hiring out.

One of the main reasons I could rationalize the purchase was I got some quotes for various work around my property. Estimates for all the work came in north of $70K, with at least $45K of that being labor/equipment work. Since I bought the tractor for less than $20K out the door with 0% financing, I will do that work. It will take longer and be slower, but at the end of the day I will have all the work done and own a tractor to boot. I estimate I will use about $5000 in labor on top of my work, so call it $25K. That is a $20K savings, ignoring that I will own an asset work $10-15K when I am done.

 

[The Deerslayer]

On a side note, I am very impressed with how fuel efficient the BX is.

I have about 20 hours on the machine and have used less than 15 gallons of fuel.

Works out to less than $3 an hour, in that regard.

Another offsetting factor is the amount of work you do yourself vs. hiring out.

One of the main reasons I could rationalize the purchase was I got some quotes for various work around my property. Estimates for all the work came in north of $70K, with at least $45K of that being labor/equipment work. Since I bought the tractor for less than $20K out the door with 0% financing, I will do that work. It will take longer and be slower, but at the end of the day I will have all the work done and own a tractor to boot. I estimate I will use about $5000 in labor on top of my work, so call it $25K. That is a $20K savings, ignoring that I will own an asset work $10-15K when I am done.

And the added satisfaction of looking at the completed work knowing you did it yourself.....priceless.

 

[Baby Grand]

To really appreciate the cost of owning a tractor, I like to first consider the cost of not owning a tractor:
All those trips to the chiropracter.
Every job hired out a crap shoot if it will done right - or if it will rain the day the work is scheduled.
Every job done by me becoming a full week undertaking:
> Like taking down an 18" diameter tree, deep in the woods, at the bottom of the hill. Cutting & splitting it and then getting it up the house.
Priceless, indeed.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ Exactly the way I see it...

 

[cartod]

^^^^Yep^^^^^

I see no cost in owning a tractor. The money it has saved me has paid for the tractor 10 times over.

 

[Creamer]

I see no cost in owning a tractor. The money it has saved me has paid for the tractor 10 times over.

that does not mean there are not costs it just means there is a return on the investment. Owning a tractor or any other piece of equipment is not free.

 

[Deere Dude]

It cost me a hernia by not having a tractor with me a few years ago. Every time I need to lift something big and heavy the first thing I do is try to find a way for my tractor to do it.

 

[IslandTractor]

that does not mean there are not costs it just means there is a return on the investment. Owning a tractor or any other piece of equipment is not free.

My tractor paid for itself in a few years given the land clearing that did not need to be contracted out. It doesn't cost much to operate, maybe $300/yr in fuel, fluids and filters/parts. I buy used implements periodically and those generally pay for themselves within a year or two based on saving contracting costs. Doubt that I'll ever sell it so I just think of annual expenses as the cost of tractor ownership at this point.

 

[smstonypoint]

I was just thinking, after reading some posts here this morning, about the cost of owning our little L2550DT. This is roughly what it has cost.

The original cost was about $14,000. It was purchased used in 1990. It was about three years old I believe. It came with a backhoe, bb and a couple other minor items.

It is now 2015, 25 years have gone by with about 5,500 hours or so put on the unit. I will assume since it still runs well it is probably worth $4000 or so.

So, $14,000-$4,000 makes the total expense of the purchase $10,000. 25 years of ownership makes the annual cost about $400. 5,500 hours for $10,000 is about 55 cents per hour.

I will assume it costs me about $300 per year for maintenance as well so the cost of ownership for a year is roughly $700.

Excuse my language (economics), but your calculation ignores the opportunity costs of the funds tied up in the tractor. As an approximation, you had an average of $9,000 invested in the tractor. If you could have earned 5% on your investments, the annual opportunity cost of your ownership would average $450. In addition to depreciation and opportunity cost of the investment, you would need to include insurance on the tractor and property taxes (if applicable) to obtain annual ownership costs.

Fuel, maintenance, repairs, etc. would count as operating costs. Your total costs would equal the sum of your ownership & operating costs.

Steve

 

[IslandTractor]

Excuse my language (economics), but your calculation ignores the opportunity costs of the funds tied up in the tractor. As an approximation, you had an average of $9,000 invested in the tractor. If you could have earned 5% on your investments, the annual opportunity cost of your ownership would average $450. In addition to depreciation and opportunity cost of the investment, you would need to include insurance on the tractor and property taxes (if applicable) to obtain annual ownership costs. Fuel, maintenance, repairs, etc. would count as operating costs. Your total costs would equal the sum of your ownership & operating costs. Steve

True but that method ignores savings accrued by doing work yourself that would otherwise be contracted out and paid out of pocket.

 

[Sysop]

Nearly $10 of my purchase was on a subframe mounted backhoe. I saved myself from paying out almost $20k for installing my septic and drainage. Took twice as long as the "professional's" estimate, but I worked my normal day job and completed everything in my spare time...

If you have a use for such a tool, it is difficult not to be able to justify the cost. Having the ability to store the tool is something else. If you cannot store the tool, keeping the tool long term may not be wise, no matter what the cost was or how it was covered.

 

[ultrarunner]

The past few years my opportunity costs have averaged less than 1% per year and then there are taxes to paid on that fraction of 1%.

My well thought out plan/goal was to purchase my forever property like so many here on TBN have done... kept reserves in cash and eventhough I had made several full price offers... it simply did not pan out.