Your Yearly Cost of Tractor Ownership

[pinetree10]

Mostly curios about my fellow residential users- those of us who don't claim a tractor as a business expense. How much does a tractor cost you per year?

I only really *need* my tractor for one thing (snowblowing). Kind of curious to run the numbers to see if a tractor is the most financially efficient way to keep my driveway clear.

I run my tractor about 50 hours a year. Assuming a lifespan of 5000 hours for the tractor- well, it should pretty much last forever.

Initial purchase: $32k (L3901 with loader and SB1064 blower, taxes, etc.) In theory, there's a cost to keeping that much money tied up in something but financed at 0% for 84 months it might actually be making me money at current inflation rates.

Insurance: Required as part of the 0% financing. I get it through a local agent for $275/year.

Fuel: Maybe 25 gallons if that? $100

Maintenance. I think I paid about $200 for all the filters and oil needed for the 50 hour service. Will need roughly that again every 400 hours. Considering that's like an 8 year service interval, maybe we'll do those things more often and call it $200/year to cover things like grease and beer to consume while greasing the tractor.

So yearly operating costs are cheap: $575/year. About $10/hour.

But how to figure the long terms costs of the tractor? Assume I run it into the ground over 20 years and there's nothing left at the end: $1600/year.

For a grand total of $2175/year or $40/hour. I don't think I'm going to hire somebody at that price.

But tractors seem to hold their value very well right now. Even at 20 years old, a garage kept tractor with <1000 hours should fetch a nice price still. Who knows what tractor prices will be like in 2040, but If I can get $10k for it then, yearly costs would be down to $1675/year.

I'm curious how the operating costs for others work out- especially those that have bought and sold a couple tractors. It's pretty unlikely 2040 me is still going to want to be driving around backwards with no cab, blowing snow.

I bought mine brand new then I bought a PTO chipper for it. That's more than $22,000 invested but as others have mentioned it has helped me move hundreds of yards of topsoil, stone, and wood chips, as well as countless loads of snow and firewood since I bought it ten years ago and it's worth every penny. I also used it to move a 300 lb. wood stove from my truck to an outbuilding and hundreds of concrete blocks for a building project in the back of my property. I've always stored it inside and it still looks almost brand new. It only has 160 hours on it and I'd love to know what I'd get for it if I sold it today. I've had to do the regular oil and filter changes and buy a battery for it but I have no regrets at all because it has saved me hundreds of labor hours and helped me completely transform my property. I haven't made any money with it but I've saved money I would have had to spend hiring others to do all the jobs I've done with it. it has definitely saved my back and made a lot of projects more enjoyable.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Its not a expense...
Its a helping hand when you need it.
Entertainment
yard bling
etc

 

[IH2424]

Mostly curios about my fellow residential users- those of us who don't claim a tractor as a business expense. How much does a tractor cost you per year?

I only really *need* my tractor for one thing (snowblowing). Kind of curious to run the numbers to see if a tractor is the most financially efficient way to keep my driveway clear.

I run my tractor about 50 hours a year. Assuming a lifespan of 5000 hours for the tractor- well, it should pretty much last forever.

Initial purchase: $32k (L3901 with loader and SB1064 blower, taxes, etc.) In theory, there's a cost to keeping that much money tied up in something but financed at 0% for 84 months it might actually be making me money at current inflation rates.

Insurance: Required as part of the 0% financing. I get it through a local agent for $275/year.

Fuel: Maybe 25 gallons if that? $100

Maintenance. I think I paid about $200 for all the filters and oil needed for the 50 hour service. Will need roughly that again every 400 hours. Considering that's like an 8 year service interval, maybe we'll do those things more often and call it $200/year to cover things like grease and beer to consume while greasing the tractor.

So yearly operating costs are cheap: $575/year. About $10/hour.

But how to figure the long terms costs of the tractor? Assume I run it into the ground over 20 years and there's nothing left at the end: $1600/year.

For a grand total of $2175/year or $40/hour. I don't think I'm going to hire somebody at that price.

But tractors seem to hold their value very well right now. Even at 20 years old, a garage kept tractor with <1000 hours should fetch a nice price still. Who knows what tractor prices will be like in 2040, but If I can get $10k for it then, yearly costs would be down to $1675/year.

I'm curious how the operating costs for others work out- especially those that have bought and sold a couple tractors. It's pretty unlikely 2040 me is still going to want to be driving around backwards with no cab, blowing snow.

I just try to figure out what my old farm tractor has saved me over the years, then compare that to what I have in it. 35 years of plowing snow @ probably $500 a year, 35 years of producing firewood versus buying it or fuel oil - say another $500 a year. 35K. I have about 6K in it for original purchase and tires and repairs over the years. And if I sold it today I could get almost that 6K back - probably 4K for sure.

This probably does not answer your question. But it might make sense in another 25 years or so. So if your tractor meets your needs and you hang onto it long enough, it should eventually be a "good deal".

Tim

Tim

 

[Jonsdeere]

I really don't care how much it costs....it's worth it just to be able to call it mine.

 

[Ed Weber]

The tractor is paid for, so fuel and normal maintenance is the only cost.
Oil, filters, hyd fluid, grease and general upkeep. I do all the maintenance myself, so cost is less. Long answer short, it varies, but a few hundred dollars usually covers it. Much less than the $10 per hour cited in the OP

 

[Buzzard7]

We have not had a lot of rain over most of the summer, here near the Canadian border, in upstate NY. I only got in a couple acres of RR corn this spring, but it looks ok. It got the rain when it needed it. The deer are hitting it pretty hard now. A couple of inches of rain, over the last two weeks, has been adding bushels faster than they are taking it away.
View attachment 760165

My early sweetcorn (planted at the same time) was a total loss, mostly due to the lack of rain and the weeds. My later sweetcorn planting is looking pretty good though, again thanks to that couple inches rain the last two weeks.

It was pretty dry, when I planted turnips (Whitetail Institute Tall Tine Tubers) shortly before that rain, but they are looking very good now. I see that there is rain in the forecast for this Tuesday, so hopefully we will get a good soaking to get the wheat/clover that I planted Saturday going.

That's purdy.

 

[Lawnranger]

I think as it had been said many times before in this thread, the cost of ownership is worth the satisfaction of self-sufficiency when it comes to dealing with mother nature. You could pay someone to plow, but never know how many storms you will get a year. Would they be able to drag the tree out of the driveway in the wet heavy snow storm? Will it cost more to come back and buck up the tree, move it out of the yard, carry it to the woodpile? How much to grade the driveway after the 'bad' season when they had to plow before it froze?

With all that considered, my first compact was a Bolens Iseki, bought used with gearbox issues and running rough. I changed the fluids, filters, retapped the gearbox threads, added new gaskets and used it for two solid seasons before selling it for 3k more than I bought it. I then bought a used JD 750 gear drive. I used that for almost 10 years, 1000 hours then put it up on Ebay and sold it for $1500 more than I paid for it. Almost covered all my parts over the years. I rolled that into my only new purchase, a 2007 JD 3120. I have over 1500 hours on it, spent a little on fluids, filters, and one major hydro repair, but it has mowed, blowed, moved fill, wood, rocks and repaired more earth than I care to remember. I keep it clean, garaged and I suspect at today's prices it is probably worth used almost as much as I paid for it. My 'labor' cost of operating it as opposed to hiring out is easily covered by the satisfaction of doing the jobs the way I wanted, or no one to blame but myself.

So I don't have a simple clear economic argument for owning a tractor, but I am certainly in the crowd believing it is worth every cent you pay to have one. Good luck with yours!

 

[marhar]

Knock on wood, so far I've had no breakdown issues, so it's just the cost of oil/filter/sweat...whatever that is per year.

I think you have hit upon the "real issue". Fuel, filter and fluids are relatively cheap as is a new battery now and then. When one has a breakdown it can be expensive.

Using a bush hog in a pasture I ran up on a rocky outcrop and bent the piston rod of the front steering cylinder and I have also bent the tail wheel on a bush hog (not as expensive).

 

[seapea]

Initial purchase: $32k (L3901 with loader and SB1064 blower, taxes, etc.) In theory, there's a cost to keeping that much money tied up in something but financed at 0% for 84 months it might actually be making me money at current inflation rates.

Eventually you pay it off, and the money you've put into it is not otherwise working for you as an investment. Let's just assume you pay cash up front. If instead you invested the money and earned 10% a year on stock investments (which is considered about average), you'd double your money every 7 years. That mean 21 years down the road your investment would have grown by 8x, or $256,000. So the decision you are making today is whether you want to plunk that $32k down on a tractor you own for 21 years (and then sell for whatever it is worth), or if you rather have $256,000 saved up for your retirement in 21 years (minus whatever you had to spend to rent or hire out tractor work)

That being said, I payed about $20k for a new tractor and attachments in 2008 that I only use about 15 hours a year to do maintenance around the property. I have no regrets over the decision. It's probably still worth close to what I paid for it, and even though I'd be better financialy off if I chose to rent or hire out on occassion instead, I consider it somewhat of a luxury and convenience item that was worth paying for.

 

[seapea]

The tractor is paid for, so fuel and normal maintenance is the only cost.

Adding to my previous response, this is not the only cost. Loss of investment income ends up being a very big cost. It's overlooked because it's not taking cash out of your pocket, but it is preventing cash from going into your pocket.