Dealers Not Accepting Some Brands on Trade

[Yander]

Good point! I don't know why some people think dealers are obligated to take a questionable unknown product off of someone's hands just because they no longer want it. I have worked at dealers and have seen the junk people want to pawn off on them.

Or in the case of the Ford 6.0 a known product. Lol

 

[Yander]

I never tell a dealer about trades until after a deal has been made.

That’s the only way you are going to get a honest appraisal of the deal, the salesman and the sales manager never likes it, but I’m not in it to make other people happy. I only want the best deal I can get for myself.

Trust me, you're not pulling anything over on them, they've seen you before.

 

[lilranch2001]

Trust me, you're not pulling anything over on them, they've seen you before.

Maybe do but I’m not gonna make it easy on them

 

[mo1]

we agree on a lot of that but the parallel is that the 70s auto industry also had there heads in the sand and did not catch on that the cars they had disdain for started having appeal to the changing us market (for various reasons). to day i see the same attitude in JD and Kubota and i fully expect them to wake up to the same reality ie that there product is not worth the inflated cost over the competition or there attitude towards the customer (ie it is our way or the highway).
I disagree on the point that there is not room for competition to come in and sell something better for a better price (there always is in the free market), i think we are starting to see that now with the growth of the 2nd tier tractor manufacturers that are selling very good tractors at better prices. the same thing recently happened to Harley Davidson.

also the foreign auto manufacturers of the 70s had to deal with the exact same changing regulations and did so more successfully

i own several pieces of JD, IH and Ford/NH equipment so it is not like im down on any of them but i do observe trends and this is what i'm seeing.

i just went back and confirmed my data, when i was searching for current tractor i sent my list of requirements out to all of the likely suspects and got hard quotes among them was JD who i had an established relationship with the parts department, they quoted a 4052M which met my specifications but was less than (about 20% in the things that matter to me) the specs for the Mahindra 5145 that i bought and was 30% more expensive.
Kubota was even worse and when I went back to discuss the quote with JD and Kubota the attitude was "it is what it is" so ok i bought the Mahindra.

I am fully aware that this is my experience and someone else may have a different one but i keep hearing the same from others.

The Deere dealer would have done a better job if they quoted you a price on the 5045E which is a little larger than the Mahindra, rather than the 4052M which is a little smaller. The 5045E is a noticeably simpler and less expensive tractor than the 4052M and matches up to the Mahindra in price and features much better than the 4052M does. Generally the dealer pays somewhere between 70-80% of the MSRP for the tractor. They should have given you a quote that was less than MSRP. 30% less than their quote would be quite a bit less than what they paid, they would be selling at a decent loss. Your number was so low that they probably didn't say much because they were so far apart on numbers with you.

There is always room for competition but it looks like there isn't nearly as much room for (another) foreign tractor maker to come in and clean up like there was in the domestic auto industry in the 1970s. The foreign automakers in the 1970s didn't just sell cheaper versions of the current American large sedans, they sold something that was primarily completely different and more applicable to the current situation and was also cheaper. The smaller tractor manufacturers sell either noticeably simpler machines for noticeably less, or sell a comparable machine for a little bit less. Making simpler machines won't make a big splash in the market as unfortunately the buyers generally keep wanting fancier machines (just look at what is posted here, there are people who won't mow their yard unless they are in a cabbed machine) and there are generally enough simpler tractors already out there to take care of much of that market. It would take something the big players aren't making to really break into the market. For example, if a foreign tractor maker figured out how to meet Tier 4 emissions with a regular ol' Stanadyne injection pump and nothing between the exhaust manifold and the end of the exhaust stack except a muffler, and made the same power and got the same efficiency as everybody else, they would clean up.

The foreign auto makers did have to deal with emissions like the domestic auto makers, but it was easier to push a little tiny, light crackerbox of a car with an emissions-strangled engine than a big, heavy full-sized car. There was also the expectation of poor performance right out of the box. You expected poor performance out of a cheap little crackerbox, so when you got it, you weren't disappointed. You were disappointed when the 1975 version of the same model you got in 1970 was a dog in comparison.

 

[grsthegreat]

honestly, who would ever trade in a tractor...and take a low ball price. you can sell it private party for so much more. when i bought my Kioti i tried traiding in my older JD870 at a few dealers. the most i was offered was $5,000. i sold it on Craigslist for $14k.

 

[two_bit_score]

Now that brands are getting better, many don't want their customers to see the quality side by side as it undermines their false narrative about competitors being junk.

Yet that bargain shopper traded his “junk“ in on a more recognized brand. Fact is the off-brands just have little demand at name brand dealerships and the dealer does want to be stuck with something he will have to run through a ‘no reserve‘ auction to get rid of.

And if the off brand tractors were in any serious demand as used equipment why wouldn’t owners just sell them outright on the open market themselves before going to the name brand dealer to get their new tractor?

 

[5030]

I never, ever trade in. I always sell it myself and then deal on the replacement. Years ago I was dealing on a car and when I mentioned maybe a trade in, the price went up. Learned my lesson. I don't mind them making money, just don't take ALL of mine!

I equate new car salesmen (and women) to door to door vacuum cleaner sales people, IOW, not much. When we are looking at a new vehicle, we shop on Sunday so no idiots to bother us. We decide what we want and go back on Monday and skip all the BS and buy it. Of course being Fords family, we always get the employee price and no BS.

 

[two_bit_score]

honestly, who would ever trade in a tractor...and take a low ball price. you can sell it private party for so much more. when i bought my Kioti i tried traiding in my older JD870 at a few dealers. the most i was offered was $5,000. i sold it on Craigslist for $14k.

Exactly! If there is a market for it you will get more money.

 

[Hay Dude]

I can tell you the view from an auto dealer.

We are not allowed to take Ford 6.0 or Ford 6.4 trucks on trade in. Here is what happens:

1) A guy wants to trade his Ford 6.0 and we're not allowed to keep those on our lot (not starting a brand war, but if you know, you know.)
2) So we have to look at auction results on similar 6.0s. And offer 20% less than those auction results to cover our time and our risk.
3) When we go back to the customer and offer him 20% less than auction results, he gets mad and storms out. So we lost the sale and a potential customer is mad.

Much easier to just say we can't take those in on trade.

In 2020, I was given $11,000 as a trade for my 2012 F-550 on my Ram 5500. I drove it to the dealer, it was leaking oil and smoking when I pulled in, so I drove it to the back part of the dealers lot. That was a huge relief to get rid of. I was delighted to get 11K as a trade. Not much interest as a private sale. Best offer I got was 12k and the guy interested was shaky at best.

I took the 11K and ran for the hills.

 

[arrow]

Maybe do but I’m not gonna make it easy on them

You aren't making it easy on yourself either.
That's an old trick that worked about 2 times.
Here's how this goes: " sir, do you have a trade"?
you: "nope"
"Ok, I can sell you this $35,000 item for $32,000"
You: "oh I just had a call from my wife asking to trade in our old whatever"
Sales: "no problem, your trade is worth $5000". That brings the total price to $27,000.
You " what! my trade is worth at least $8000"
Sales: "So you want full retail for your trade sir"?
You: "yes I do"
Sales: "no problem if we're going to do full retail" $35,000 - $8000 = $27,000.
You: "You said $32,000"
Sales: " Yes I did but that was a discounted price without the encumbrance of going through your machine, fixing whatever is wrong with it, putting it on the floor with a warranty and standing by the customer if something goes wrong". "You don't have to do that if YOU sell it but we are governed by law to take care of the customer if we sell it". "That takes money and we don't know how much it's gonna take" "So because we are not in the business of losing money, this is what we have to do to guard against that and deal with the 50 more people behind you who want the same type of deal".
If you go into a sale scenario that becomes derisive and contentious, nobody wins.
It is much easier if you do your homework, know what you want for your trade and request if the dealership is able to handle what you want.

So it goes like this: You: I have a trade and would like to get $8000 for it and pay $32,000 for your whatever." "That brings my total price to $24,000.
"Are you able to do that"? This way you stay in control of the sale and it will be a yes or no answer.

Everything is up front...no dissension...honesty abounds and hopefully, you get what you want. If not, you at least get an education you can bring to another dealership or remain where you are.
Unless you simply like the sport of dickering, the method I just describe is way easier with no ill feelings or negativity manifested for all parties concerned..

And, allow me to relate something else to you. The mark up margins of yesteryear no longer exist today with autos, tractors or refrigerators. They have been reduced because of increases in costs for manufacturers. I mean the Burger King kid is now making $17 an hr. Margins are getting tighter and tighter.
The manufacturers say to the dealers: "if you want more money, you're gonna have to sell more stuff". Add to that what's happened to borrowing rates, insurance increases, wage increases, the lack of workers and the general malaise and distrust our entire culture seems to be living with these days, makes for one big, lousy soup.

It has become vicious out there with the dealerships on the low end of the totem pole and the sales people lower than a rattle snake's belly in a wagon wheel rut.