“Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated

   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #111  
slingha said:
When I was looking for a new tractor I kept seeing posts that you should be less picky on brand and more picky on your dealer. This is such antiquated thinking imho.
Buy the tractor that feels good and provides the best combination of quality and price, wherever and whatever it is.
Do you buy a car that costs 2 grand more from a local dealer because he’s local? I know I don’t.
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I have two tractors: New Holland TC26 DA and Kubota GR2120 lawn tractor, both diesel. Both dealers went out of business shortly after I bought them. The dealers I ended up going to for service have been decent to me, but it's not the same as if I had bought the tractors there. I'm now in the market to trade up for a slightly larger, and new, tractor, and it's a tough decision. I don't want to go to a dealer that's 50 or more miles away, but the only two dealers (NH and MF) less than 30 miles from me don't appear particularly anxious to sell me a tractor. To add to the problems, with the computers on the machines now requiring taking the tractor to the dealer for even small repairs, not having a truck or trailer big enough to tow a tractor there means serious expense just for the hauling. To top it all off, in the current environment, there is no way to ascertain if the dealer is ready to go out of business. Both places I bought the tractors from were busy places with inventory and customers galore. If your car throws a code, and you have a reader, and it's something that doesn't affect the safety or mechanics of the vehicle, you can hop into it and drive it 30 miles to the dealer. Tractors, not so easily.
We used to have two tractor dealers in town. One handled John Deere, and the other about anything else. With concentration the local dealers are gone, and we're stuck with distance. And yes, 30 miles. vs 100 is a HUGE difference, even if you have a trailer to take it back and forth yourself. 50 miles is my absolute limit on that score, and the whittles me down to Deere, NH, MF, and Kubota. 30 miles gets me down to NH and MF, and it makes a difference.
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #112  
Unless a person at the dealership is a friend how would they know who you are? They have no clue where you were living when you bought the tractor in question. If one gave me the run around about how I didn't buy it there so I was going to be shuffled to the back of the line (or not work on it at all) I would tell them "thank you". I would then explain that since I didn't live here when I bought the tractor I now knew where not to come to buy a tractor and how I was going to pass on our conversation with anyone if the subject of tractors came up. If they have enough customers to push away new customers then I have no problem letting other people know it.
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #113  
My Dad always believed in buying base vehicle, on the lot. Find out what the asking price was, make saleman a 'CASH" offer, which was always refused. My Dad would bid the salemans a good day and proceed to leave with the salesman following at his heels like some irritating little dog. A deal was always reached.

Unless it's a sellers market, every dealer wants to move inventory. They may make very little, but if my Dad goes to the next dealer and makes a deal, it won't be them making even a little.

I did that when I bought an Accord for my Mom. They wanted to play their games but I played mine instead. I won, but they were clearly, not happy. Maybe, it's why they once charged my Mom an outrageous sum, to "clean" her brakes.
 
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   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #114  
Industrial Toys said:
My Dad always believed in buying base vehicle, on the lot. Find out what the asking price was, make saleman a 'CASH" offer, which was always refused. My Dad would bid the salemans a good day and proceed to leave with the salesman following at his heels like some irritating little dog. A deal was always reached.

Unless it's a sellers market, every dealer wants to move inventory. They may make very little, but if my Dad goes to the next dealer and makes a deal, it won't be them making even a little.

I did that when I bought an Accord for my Mom. They wanted to play their games but I played mine instead. I won, but they were clearly, not happy. Maybe, it's why they once charged my Mom an outrageous sum, to "clean" her brakes.
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I would never do business with that dealer again. Car dealers who pray on ladies to do not deserve to be in business.
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #115  
For me, it was the dealer first and price a close second. I have a JD dealer 2 minutes from home and a Kubota dealer 30 minutes away. The JD dealer was just bought by a huge dealer and some of the longtime employee left when they changed hands. I talked to my neighbor who just purchased a new Kubota and always bought JD. He said he had two different problems with warranty work on two different tractors from the new JD dealer.....so he was done with them. The Kubota dealer is a family owned and run dealer that has been in business 47 years.
When I went to the Kubota dealer and he offered what I wanted at a fair price, I asked him to also throw in the filters and fluids for the first required service....he said yep I can do that.
In my situation the L series seemed superior to the JD E series.
I also heard good things about this Kubota service dept....seemed like a no brainer to me.
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #116  
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #117  
They became a Defense Contractor.
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #118  
My last tractor purchase was a typical reverse of buying off of the local dealer.
In my case, I bought, then the dealer was GONE!!

I bought my JD 4105 used 3-4 years ago,, the salesman said I would be back before that summer was out, as the tractor was in need of BIG repairs,,
(He and the service manager was convinced the hydrostatic transmission was shot, and needed replacement, I found that out about 6 months later)

Well I wanted the tractor, and I was willing to risk a problem, the tractor was so cheap.

What happened was about 9 months after I bought the tractor, the dealership was bought out.
ALL records of previous sales were tossed out,, the dealer went from JD to JD ,,
I would have thought that it would have been a benefit to the new dealer to keep the records of previous customers??

Anyways, my tractor needed a simple linkage adjustment of the hydro foot control,,
the machine has been 100% solid,, the tractor even still has the original OEM installed battery.

So,, I am glad I did not buy a tractor based on the need for that dealer to take care of me,,
 
   / “Buy the dealer, not the machine” is outdated #119  
Some on here would no doubt still suggest sending oil away for analysis, changing all fluids and filters, after opening it up to check for filings, just in case. lol Best change out the battery too for an AGM. It's old!

Good for you.(y)
 
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