Advantages to buying a used tractor.

[newbury]

You also buy someome elses problems that are not obvious until you get it home and put it to work. There are great advantages of buying something that has been abused and improperly maintained. What you may have saved may cost you more to restore it to useable condition. Remember the old saying "penny wise and dollar foolish. Got burned myself. Too many crooks out there flipping junk off e-bay and craigs list. I don't trust any of it. Its gotten to a point you have to make the transaction in a public place or police station parking lot for the fear of getting robbed.

Gee, reads like someone has been paying a lot for an education on how to use ebay and Craigslist. If you don't know what your doing don't do it.

Operators of used equipment have the privilege of paying to repair or replace parts worn out, lost or broken by the previous owner.

But if they have enough knowledge before they buy then it probably doesn't cost much to repair. If you are going to buy something you need to check it out or get it checked out. I've two tractors and most of the "stuff" in my sig bought used. My biggest expense has been about $3k on the Ford F350 7.3, tires, brakes, ujoint.
My tractors have only needed front tires, hoses and a FEL cylinder.

and if you are not afraid of doing mechanical repairs- and just plain Cheap ( includes me) You can have 2 or more tractors of different sizes for less than one new machine... different strokes for different folks...

Yup, and save enough enough to still buy a lot of attachments so you can do many different things.

Downtime and space are reasons to go with newer or less used equipment. I also wouldn't have been able to get the financing I did outside a dealer. JD financial was VERY reasonable - my bank would've required I got a more expensive car to get close to the rate I got on my tractor, and cars depreciate faster yet.

If your buying for a business downtime can be critical. If you are buying for home use of 200 hours a year downtime is often flexible.

I see it EXACTLY the same way as you!
More than one (used) tractor!
and .....No tractor payments!

Yup.

Sure it's nice to have plenty of money to buy new. But a lot of us have plenty of other stuff to spend $$ on. And when you get two tractors of different sizes you can accomplish more things. There's places I can't get my M4700 into that my B7610 fit's fine, and tasks my B7610 can't do, like lift two tons, that the M4700 can.

Buying used is a skill and takes time. You have to judge the seller as well as the equipment. I've walked from a number of deals when I didn't trust the person trying to sell. If your running a business and you need a tractor for plowing or ROW work for 1,000 hours a year it's far different than Harry Homeowner with 2 acres and a SCUT using it 40 hours a year.

 

[SARG]

For the record....... I consider myself lucky.
Bought the T1030 from a dealer with under 50 hours. The original owner traded it in on a bigger machine. Got the machine with a back hoe plus a never used mower deck and added a 52" Meteor blower later. I don't remember what I paid now but it was much less than new.
Got the T1530 with under 500 hours from a nasty private seller with a tiller included for $15K and it was exactly what I had wanted for several years. I think it's a 2013 or 14 machine and was the last year NH produced the T1530. The seller checked all 150 C notes with a counterfeit pen.

 

[sd455dan]

Gee, reads like someone has been paying a lot for an education on how to use ebay and Craigslist. If you don't know what your doing don't do it.


But if they have enough knowledge before they buy then it probably doesn't cost much to repair. If you are going to buy something you need to check it out or get it checked out. I've two tractors and most of the "stuff" in my sig bought used. My biggest expense has been about $3k on the Ford F350 7.3, tires, brakes, ujoint.


Yup, and save enough enough to still buy a lot of attachments so you can do many different things.

That is a good point imo, the money freed up with a good running used tractor(s) purchase can be substantial, and there must be quite a few TBNers who have pretty much covered most of the bases on attachments that were immediately added because of the money they did not spend on a new tractor.
My guess is many of these implements were bought used as well, (auctions and craigslist and the like)


Obviously, used and in some cases well used- is not the best path for non mechanically inclined first time tractor owners.






Wife and I brush hog a few properties every year, and it sure goes quicker when you are cutting with 2 tractors at the same time.
When mowing -she drives the bigger Rhino and I run the smaller Ford




Sure it's nice to have plenty of money to buy new. But a lot of us have plenty of other stuff to spend $$ on. And when you get two tractors of different sizes you can accomplish more things. There's places I can't get my M4700 into that my B7610 fit's fine, and tasks my B7610 can't do, like lift two tons, that the M4700 can.


Two used different sized machines is nice also for setting them up for different jobs and also if something does go wrong with one machine, it is nice having a spare...