Best John Deere Dealer: Do They Exist ?

[bigcut]

John Deere strongarmed changes through their whole dealer network some years ago, and they culled/shut down small dealers or forced assimilation with larger ones. I'm sure they thought hard before doing it, but it makes a statement about the esteem small business/low volume holds with their company at a corporate level.

Made me sick to hear of longstanding small family businesses getting kicked to the curb because their location couldn't support targets established in a boardroom states away.

When the locations owner is in the shop, knows the line, sells the product, there simply is more confidence from the consumer and crew, and they demonstrate personal pride in the integrity of the product and business success... they make great products, and have huge brand recognition, but when the owner is a nameless, faceless conglomerate or an individual with multiple locations, doing "whats right" may not be in alignment with whats right.

Loyalty requires wanting to gain, satisfy and retain every customer looking for your products, from the one spending millions a year on new equipment to they guy looking for a seal from a line discontinued in the 1950's , and the message conveyed with ushering out the small dealers was: "we don't waste time with small business".

I think there are great dealers out there, who still have a mentality of serving every customer, but clearly it is not a corporate tenet, so shop around, and ask where the owner is!

Brown, I think many of us share your sentiments. May I ask, how you know these things ? Or, what source of information did you use ? I think it would support or lend credence to your post.
Thanks,
John

 

[JimRB]

Bigcut, the only statement of Brown40 I believe is true and can be supported is the force out of small dealers. He has other statements that may be true but I could not prove it. Maybe the big corporate style dealers have too much money to wave that they can buy out the smaller dealers. Go to Deere.com and search for a dealer in 30014. There used to be probably 20 somewhere close to me. Close defined as 100 miles. Now AgPro owns many dealerships, 7 or 8 of the 15 listed.

That said I have had good counter help at the shop I bought my tractor from 17 years ago even thought they are now part of AgPro. I think my salesman is still there. The dealer closer to me had moved from a small location to a bigger new fancy location off I20. They got bought out by AgPro. Now their inventory is much larger with big small tractors instead of almost all small 2-4,000 pound tractors. I have had no problem getting parts before or after the sale to AgPro. Now some of the young parts counter people do not know parts they way the guys my age do but if they hang around enough they will learn.

 

[ultrarunner]

It's happening all over and not just in tractors...

My friend is the 4th generation in his families Men and Boy's wear clothing stores...

Since day one they carried Levi, Pendleton, Arrow plus others... today, only Pentleton has stayed the course.

Others in the auto franchise side of things have had to consolidate or get bought out with very few exceptions.

I do have a friend that owns a GMC Dealer in the middle of nowhere... looks like something from the 30's and 40's

Asked him why corporate hasn't pulled the plug and he said it is because they are so remote and do a lot of GM warranty work...

 

[brown40]

Personal experience: my dealer was assimilated. Catered to lawn & homeowner versus Ag, and didn't have the volume to avoid assimilation. Takes a lot of mowers to equal one harvester.

The rest is simply opinion based on experience in seeing owners leave the shop (retire), become assimilated, and also noticing the collective nameless corporate "they" gets referenced more and more for why things aren't made right, when past experience was "I will make this right, because that's My name on the sign, I stand behind my work, My Integrity earns Your Loyalty, and You are why My business exists."

No one at a JD dealership has ever made me feel I was not held in regard; my opinion about Deere corporate is because of forceout of small dealers, not experience onsite. Their action made an impression on me, not any words. Those with power have an obligation to those without... I think the quote is something to the effect of: Judge a man by the kindness he shows to one who can in no way improve his station in life, and you take his true measure.

 

[AKfish]

I've had very good experiences with the smaller dealership's (Mutton's - 5075M) and great experiences with the chain-store dealerships (Grossenburg's in Nebraska and GreenSouth in Thomasville, GA) in the past 10 years. Some of my worst experiences have been with my local guys. And just recently, a pretty poor experience with Leading Edge Equipment in Devils Lake, ND where I bought a 2011, cab model JD 4720. Hard to figure the ND guys except they're busy enough with the big money farmers and don't really want to/care to deal with the 5-figure purchase guy! My local guys have no competition from other JD dealers in the small market that is Alaska and consequently, most of their business and profits do not come through JD equipment sales. Their attitude is... well, if you don't like our prices or our service - too bad - put it where the sun don't shine!

Long story short - IMHO - money, profit, sales; none of that - either alot of money or just enough to keep the lights on really means the dealership is either a great one or a royal pain-in-the-@ss! It's just plain, good hearted people! And those kind of folk's can be found at dealerships that generate $50 million in sales every year or $2 million.

You just gotta take the grain with the chaff... or chafing - as the case may be!

AKfish

 

[MR PLOW]

JD Owners,
I noticed that the Kubota owners just rave about Barlows in terms of pricing, responsiveness, integrity, and ease of doing business with.

I was curious if, in your opinion, there are any JD Dealers who, in your experience that fit the profile of Barlows ?

Anyone care to offer opinions and please include your favorable experience with examples.
John

I see you live in central Pennsylvania As I do. West Central equipment, particularly the Martinsburg PA store, has treated me pretty well over the years. Awesome service and parts department.

Agricultural & Lawn Equipment Dealer in PA | West Central Equipment

 

[amartha]

i really think that the service and parts dept are going to sell the next piece of iron no matter how good the sales dept is.
The salesman knows nothing about parts or service and if they got out of the wrong side of the bed too many times ,i am walking and not coming back.

 

[RoyJackson]

I dealt with Southern York Turf and Tractor (in Shrewsbury) for years. Bought my first and third tractor from them and they have always provided great service and reasonable pricing.

So far, the local Vermont Deere dealers have been, at best, OK... I did buy my Gator, Zero-turn mower and current tractor form Vermont dealers. New England prices tend to be higher than most of the country, BTW.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

I think that there are some really good dealers that are part of large owner operations, and I think there are some really bad dealerships under a single store (& vice versa, as well as any color). Amartha nailed it on the head imao, product support sells the machine, Again & again & again. Without the men and women in the background the salespeople have nothing to sell, they are not really selling a machine, but the support people behind them.