Are CUT Manufacturers pricing themselves out of the market?

[ruffdog]

Equipment has never been more capable than it is now. Be it a tractor, utv, snowmobile, tractor, motorcycle, trucks, chainsaws, boats, PWC, etc.....whatever. All that capability brings a price and it is high. If you don't want the latest and greatest toys, buy something old that most people don't want. There are people buying this stuff........until they don't.

 

[etpm]

My neighbor bought a new Kioti CUT a few years ago. It sure looks like a nice machine and he came over to my place to move some dirt for me because he wanted to and my Yanmar had a little problem which has been fixed. It did a great job. I asked him what he paid and he hemmed and hawed so I let it drop. He is much younger than me and has a great job working for Boeing, so even if he is making payments I'm sure it isn't a hardship for him. But just the way he responded to me when I asked about the price leads me to believe it was quite high and he didn't want to brag about how much he spent on the thing. It's funny, even though he has his tractor when he needed some holes drilled for posts he quickly accepted my offer to drill them with my post hole digger. I don't know if his 3 point hitch would work with my PHD, his tractor seems so low to the ground. Anyway, even though I could afford it in my old age I still would not be able to convince myself to spend the kind of money a new CUT costs. My 45 year old tractor works great for me and I'm sure glad there was a used tractor for sale available close by when I needed it. New tractor prices just scare me.
Eric

 

[jyoutz]

My neighbor bought a new Kioti CUT a few years ago. It sure looks like a nice machine and he came over to my place to move some dirt for me because he wanted to and my Yanmar had a little problem which has been fixed. It did a great job. I asked him what he paid and he hemmed and hawed so I let it drop. He is much younger than me and has a great job working for Boeing, so even if he is making payments I'm sure it isn't a hardship for him. But just the way he responded to me when I asked about the price leads me to believe it was quite high and he didn't want to brag about how much he spent on the thing. It's funny, even though he has his tractor when he needed some holes drilled for posts he quickly accepted my offer to drill them with my post hole digger. I don't know if his 3 point hitch would work with my PHD, his tractor seems so low to the ground. Anyway, even though I could afford it in my old age I still would not be able to convince myself to spend the kind of money a new CUT costs. My 45 year old tractor works great for me and I'm sure glad there was a used tractor for sale available close by when I needed it. New tractor prices just scare me.
Eric

Yes, the payments are the same
as a car payment. But my newer tractor may be the last one I buy because they last so long. On the other hand, I’ll probably go through several more vehicles before I give up driving.

 

[tradosaurus]

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To my way of thinking, it's insane for a first time non-business tractor buyer to even consider buying new. They shouldn't be taking a loan out for any machine unless it's going to pay for itself.

Many times a good used tractor isn’t far off a new tractor with 0% financing.
Back in 2021 I bought a new MX5400 for 30K. A good used one would have cost about $20-25k

 

[JasperFrank]

How does one price themselves out of the market?

 

[jyoutz]

How does one price themselves out of the market?

High prices may reduce a seller’s market share.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

How does one price themselves out of the market?

It's like Yogi Berra said, "no one goes there any more, it's too crowded."

One manufacturer can price itself out of the market by pricing their product higher than other manufacturers, and then nobody buys their product. But all of them can't do that. That's just the new market price.

 

[garry1p]

I had a grey market 33 hp tractor that finally wore out and needed a complete overhaul plus all new tires.

In 2021 I bought new, I planed to finance but, I thought the mandatory insurance plus interest was a deal breaker so I paid cash, after all I'm retired and it's my kids money and they really don't need it.

 

[Williy]

When I purchased a new pickup in 1977 the vehicle
prices were double. That's a 2500 to 1500. 77 Dodge
318 auto 24 mpg chevy guys didn't even come close
to the mileage that I was getting

willy

 

[Portuguese Farmer]

As long as people are paying the outrageous prices they will continue to increase, corporate greed.

 

[Yander]

I looked at the used market for months before buying new. I couldn’t find anything for less than about 85-90% of new, unless it was old with a lot of hours.

Same for me in summer of 2022. Now there are a lot of good used deals.

 

[Yander]

I think we can agree that probably 80+ % of the regular posters here are 50+, own property, and their hobby is land/home improvements. Most of us own a tractor, so we tend to get a little myopic in thinking we are like the average US citizen who couldn't come even close to buying a small CUT tractor.

The average TBN guy might be able to finance a tractor, but I'd bet the number who can pen a check for a tractor has dropped a lot in the last 20 years.

I paid cash for a Kubota L-35 and quickly outgrew it and bought a full sized backhoe.
No way I could do that now. Most All my farm equipment is higher hours and well used.

Nothing wrong with financing your livelihood. It's financing your hobby that will get you in trouble if you have too big a wish list.

Big corporations finance their assets. I know you already know this.

 

[Yander]

Never seen any estate where the heirs didn't fight over something and it's usually the proceeds they never earned in the first place. Human nature to greedy when it comes to unearned proceeds.

Better to pass penniless than leave anything for heir's to fight over.

Myself, I plan on blowing every cent I can on myself and my wife and leave this world like I came into it...

This is a pathetic mindset, speaks volumes though.

 

[Yander]

Let’s face it, a lot of people on this forum don’t need a tractor. I don’t make a living with mine like some people do. Haydude obviously is one that uses his for his business as do others.

On the other hand I don’t consider it a luxury item or a status symbol. If I climbed out of a huge hot tub to flip my 3 inch thick steak on a massive grill in my outdoor kitchen, those are luxury items.

Depends on how you define need. I've lived on 2-5acres since 1990. Many of those years never had a tractor with a loader. Finally bought my first loader tractor in 2015.

For the first time I felt like I was self sufficient in managing my 5 acres. I also do a little side work and help neighbors.

I define that as a need in my case

 

[Hay Dude]

In my case it's all about the balance sheet. If I croak tomorrow, and my son sells everything, what's left?
I'm fortunate that in my case, even if he kept 10% for his efforts (which is what he's been instructed to do), my family would do very well.

Even with that, I'm able to take a good salary each year. Expecting to own all your equipment outright in a decent sized farming operation is fantasy. Some well managed debt has allowed me to double in size every 5 years.
Might not work for everyone, but so far, it's done right by me, and that's all I'm worried about along with being right with my Savior.

 

[chim]

Were you eating some type of fluffy Wonder Bread in 1970?

I can't recall what bread we ate but can assure you that each loaf was a major purchase at that time. We were so "monetarially challenged" that we didn't spend 50 cents for something we didn't need.

 

[hayden]

It should not even be possible to get a loan for a recreational fishing boat.

Why not?

 

[hayden]

This was the tradition in New England. Farmers would have big families, 10-12 kids. Oldest son would inherit the farm, the other sons had to find something else -- go west, go to sea, go to the city. The only way a daughter could stay in town was to marry someone else's oldest son.

There would be interesting discussions when the oldest son got to be in his late 20's and was ready to start a family and his dad was in his fifties and felt he still had a couple decades left running the farm. Plus his youngest kids were barely out of diapers.

My farm was owned by the same family from 1683 to 1950, passing only by inheritance, always to the oldest son. There was one owner who had daughters but no sons, when he passed it went to his brother's oldest son and the daughters got nothing.

I sure am glad that my life wasn't prescribed like this, and I would never tell my kids what they must be in their lives.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Inflation only happens if people keep buying, example, I see eggs in the states for ridiculous prices and everyone piles them on the cart, why? Btw a dozen brown eggs here are 2.09€

I was at a local grocery store, local large brown eggs were/are $8.49 a dozen. Commercially grown Egglands Best large white eggs are $3.29 a doz.
I imagine the farm is so big, they can keep bird flu out with preventative measures.

 

[ultrarunner]

Last night limit a dozen and the brown eggs were the least expensive at $9