Dealer All warranty service at purchasing dealer?

Bird · Jul 9, 2004

( I don't know about Kubotas', but it's very hard to "beat the book" time-wise on autos - especially when no time is allowed for diagnostics and Murphy's Law )

I don't have any experience or knowledge where tractor mechanics are concerned, and I may not have as much experience with auto mechanics as you and coonbone, but I do have a fair amount of experience with auto and RV mechanics and know quite a number of them who routinely beat the book and make very good money doing it. As with many things, I think it just depends on the mechanic's training and experience.

gsxr1100 · Jul 9, 2004

If any dealer is losing money something is wrong with there process for product repair. If it is because of tooling that is there problem and a tax right off. To date unless something changed, you do not need a lot of tooling to fix my BX22. When a person needs warranty work many shops LOVE it since it is like free $$$$.

My in-laws own 2 garages and I have had repair work done there at various times. The “book” time values are very generous (padded) to their workers. Like 1 hour to install front pads! Give me a break. You can do it in half that.

Also my close friend works on tractor trailers and it is the same thing. Example, 6 hours to do a oil pan when you can haul and get it done in 3.5 to 4. So the shop makes 2 hours on labor (expensive). No fancy tools just a floor jack and some sockets.

Bird - hit it right on!
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

brinet · Jul 12, 2004

( I'm shopping for a BX23, and was told by a dealer today that Kubota requires you to have all warranty service done by the dealer that you purchased the tractor from. Is this true? )

I called Kubota (Atlanta) on this same issue. For the first 30 minutes of the conversation, he sympathized with me and was concerned that the dealers in this area were stating that it was a "Kubota" policy. He made it absolutely clear that it was a dealer policy. Our next 30 minutes were discussing my problem and a solution. When it came to getting the parts for the solution, he would only ship the replacement parts to "dealer I purchased the tractor from....." bunch of lousy snakes in the grass.... ALL of them!

If I didn't like my Kubota so much, I would tell you to save yourself the hassle and go buy something else. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif (did I just say that????)

BTW, you WILL have to take it back to the dealer for SOMETHING!

Junkman · Jul 12, 2004

( ........... When it came to getting the parts for the solution, he would only ship the replacement parts to "dealer I purchased the tractor from....." bunch of lousy snakes in the grass.... ALL of them! )

I believe that this is an absolute lie. They don't send replacement parts. The dealer supplies the repair parts from his inventory or he will order in the parts necessary for the repair. Then when the repair is completed, he will submit a warranty reimbursement claim listing the labor and parts used. If that claim is honored, then they will reimburse him for both the labor costs and the cost of the parts that were used. Usually they do allow the dealer a small margin of profit on the parts used. I have never heard of any dealer getting the parts for a warranty repair "free of charge" in advance of the repair being done. Many times, if the repair is a small one, not requiring much in the way of parts, the selling dealer will absorb the cost as part of the cost of doing business, because the warranty reimbursement claim forms can be time consuming and difficult to process.
All of these questions could be quickly put to rest if the few Kubota tractor dealers that frequent this forum would just tell us what the truth is. I fear that they want to keep the mystery going, for personal reasons. Why disclose the truth when you can keep a bunch of us typing and guessing.. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

DannyD · Jul 13, 2004

I am giving mine a bunch of money today, maybe her can shed some light on the subject. I will ask. He might just be a mood to answer.

om21braz · Jul 13, 2004

( I don't have any experience or knowledge where tractor mechanics are concerned, and I may not have as much experience with auto mechanics as you and coonbone, but I do have a fair amount of experience with auto and RV mechanics and know quite a number of them who routinely beat the book and make very good money doing it.)

Not to high-jack the Kubota issue thread, but I'll agree Bird - there are a fair amount of jobs that a experienced mechanic can beat the clock on - but in a independent shop where you work on whatever pulls though the door be it Nissan, GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, etc. - it's tough even with top notch tools, Modus Scanner, etc. Lots of quickly diagnosed and fixed jobs come from being familiar with that particular make/model/engine.
As for the Kubota warranty repair issue, unless we gather more info, it just boils down to one thing - how good of a dealer do you have. I believe my local dealer would do whatever is required within reason to please a customer - had a friend or two he has done it for. They've lent many a machine to folks, some brand new, to make sure the customer's work got done if he had problems. You just don't see many newer machines in their repair shop though.

MessickFarmEqu · Jul 13, 2004

(

When it came to getting the parts for the solution, he would only ship the replacement parts to "dealer I purchased the tractor from....." bunch of lousy snakes in the grass.... ALL of them!

)

I have never heard of this....

brinet · Jul 13, 2004

( ( ........... When it came to getting the parts for the solution, he would only ship the replacement parts to "dealer I purchased the tractor from....." bunch of lousy snakes in the grass.... ALL of them! ))

( I believe that this is an absolute lie. They don't send replacement parts. The dealer supplies the repair parts from his inventory or he will order in the parts necessary for the repair. Then when the repair is completed, he will submit a warranty reimbursement claim listing the labor and parts used. )

Junkman,

I'm dissapointed. Especially that you called me a liar. However, I understand that I condensed the whole, long, drawnout story enough to get to the point that maybe something was lost in translation.

The point was (as it relates to this thread) that the Kubota Rep for my area and the local Kubota dealers have two different conflicting stories in regards to warranty repair. The Kubota rep even had a conflicting policy during the same phone conversation. As for warranty repair, it's best to expect on driving to purchasing dealer. At this point, it doesn't even matter if it is a Kubota policy or a dealer policy. In fact, until this was brought up on this forum, I had just about assumed that it was a "gentlemens agreement" between the dealers in my area.

As for whether Kubota will ship a part to a dealer for a customer to do a repair, please send me a PM with your phone number. I'll describe to you exactly what happened, but out of respect for the Kubota rep, would rather not post here. After all, it was very kind of him to accomodate my needs. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

But to be honest, I could have ordered the parts off tractorsmart.com and had them delivered (thus saving me two 50 mile trips (one way distance) and the time on the phone with the dealer, lost time waiting on parts (first time wrong parts were available...) etc. However, the manner in which it was handled restored some of my faith in Kubota.

Like I say, let me explain before jumping to conclusions. Send me a PM.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Junkman · Jul 13, 2004

( I'm dissapointed. Especially that you called me a liar. However, I understand that I condensed the whole, long, drawnout story enough to get to the point that maybe something was lost in translation.
)
I too am disappointed. My disappointment is that you didn't understand my post. I didn't call you a liar. I was referring to the Kubota Representative that made the statement "they only ship replacement parts to the selling dealer". That was your statement that you related as having been said by the Kubota Representative isn't it???
I have said it many times in the past, I will disagree with someone, but I will never knowingly insult or flame another person. If I have offended you, I apologize, but the person that made that erroneous statement is the person that I refereed to as having made a lie....
As for jumping to conclusions before you have had a chance " let me explain before jumping to conclusions", I only posted a reply to what you had posted. I can't know what other facts you have left out and will later decide are relevant after I make a post. My crystal ball is out of service and in the repair shop waiting for parts to be shipped to the selling dealer. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

hennydamule · Jul 16, 2004

Well, I bought from Neil over at MessickFarm... as none of my local dealers were even willing to discuss price, I live in Southwest CT. I'm sure I won't have any problem with parts being shipped, but man, I hope I don't have to end up driving to PA!
Unfortunately, Bob in Woodbury doesn't deal with Kubota anymore, 'cuz I'm sure he would have helped.