Are steel price increases going to raise PT prices

[blackwell]

As most of you know steel prices have jumped 25% to 30% since the first of the year with projections of another 20% to 25% coming soon. Power Tracs have a lot of steel in them. Are prices getting ready to jump in the next month or two? I think we will purchase now instead of waiting.

What are you hearing?

 

[pajoube]

In the past Power Trac has done their price increases close to April of each year. You may want to call Power Trac and talk with Kristi or Scott, they would tell you of any price increase that they may know about.
PJ

 

[dannygw]

I am in the same situation as you are blackwell, and I too have been worrying about a price increase in light of the steel price increases. I think that PJ is correct. I called Power-Trac today, Thursday, and talked to Scott in sales. He informed me that prices are adjusted only at the beginning of the year and that he did not foresee any new price increases until at least next year.
I will be making the trip to Tazewell in early May to purchase a PT425, 5 cu ft bucket, 10 cu ft light bucket, 48" mower, 48" tiller, snow blade, and forks. I am considering the 48" box blade also.
Scott informed me that Power-Trac has 9 or 10 PT425's in stock now. He said that if they get down to 3 or 4 he will call me, and that I can put down 10% at that time to place a hold on one. You may want to ask Scott, or someone in sales, to do the same thing for you.
Hope this helps.
Danny

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Power Trac is, of course, a small manufacturer, so they don't have production lines running for all models all the time. They do a run of each model on a set schedule, although I assume they adjust the schedule when they need to rebuild inventory. That does mean that sometimes you have to buy one of the last few on the floor or wait until the next production run of that model.
Although it has been the case that they do only annual increases in price, it's always possible that a big steel cost jump will cause them to revisit that policy as they lay in stock for a production run. I hope Scott's right, but the steel price runup may not have been predictable when they set the '04 prices.

 

[blackwell]

Thanks for the posts.
Talked to Kristie at PT, and PT management is discussing raising prices due to steel prices increasing. It seems that most of the current inventory was built with lower priced steel, however all future production will probably see increases to reflect steel increases. The amount of steel used relative to the cost of other components in some items such as buckets, forks,etc. will cause them to reflect a greater percentage increase than other items. I take this to mean everything will be reviewed constantly throughout this year and beyond with price increases varying from one tractor or attachment to another. I understand orders are coming in fast, Better get your order in now to save. I still believe PTs have the best bang for the buck! Bar none!
We are going ahead with our 1460 purchase now.