Dealer Advice from a Newbie

nephromancer · Feb 5, 2005

I am new to Tractors, I am getting ready to buy a 40Hp +/- CUT. I have had lots of help from the memeber of this forum for the last month for which I am extremely grateful. It has also been instructive to visit the local dealers. I thought I would share the essence of a recent PM reply to one of the TBN members.

I work in Frederick and Hagerstown and I live in Myersville. That makes it simple since both offices are only 15 minutes apart. Both Frederick and Hagerstown are transitioning from large crop farm/dairy farming communities, to bedroom communities for DC/Baltimore. We raise a lotta roofs, not much corn.

I am a novice, and I'm trying to come up to speed on tractors. For better or worse I have no brand loyalty,(yet). Seems to me that the best brand may be the one with the best dealer, or at least the best service. Green is the most popular farm color here but the farmettes are mostly buying Orange , and some Blue .

Unfortunately the dealers here in Frederick strike me as being in flux. They are losing their long time Ag base and gaining a more affluent?? suburban base. They don't all handle it well. They sure as **** aren't going to be selling alot of the big 100hp +/- beasts they used to sell. Now it's all CUTs and sub CUTs.

As far as sales I guess I am glad that they aren't as aggressive as the car dealers, (yet). Unfortunately they also seem to be a bit lazy and complacent, (sorry). Like, they have the machines, and you have nowhere else to go, and if you want it, you will buy it from them, at their price. They don't even try to go the extra yard to ask about your needs and your property, (much less visit it). As an example of the current market I got a bid from the local dealer for a 40 Hp tractor with FEL and another from a dealer I found online through TractorByNet. The difference in price was $2000-3000 depending on the options. That's a **** of a lot of flex. I agree that for a couple of hundred it's by far best to deal local, if you like the dealer, or perhaps more importantly his service division. Also another bad sign was that the local guy had never heard of TRACTORBYNET.COM.

One of my customers is a salesman for the local Massey dealer. He is the only one to suggest that he ought to see my land to advise me on what I need. ****, I used to work retail sales, I bent over backward and did backflips to sell $5 items. This is a $20-25,000 deal plus the service work for 10 years, and maybe more sales. Heck, maybe I ought to open up a dealership! Unfortunately for my friend I am not shopping Masseys, but maybe I ought to reconsider.

I am not sure which of my other posts you read but I have been all over the site regarding HST, LG Montana tractors, eBay tractor scams, etc. I think TBN is a great resource, taken with a dose of salts, (to purge the brand loyalties). I hope to get enough posts to advance from New Member to Member soon. Even better I ought to buy a tractor. I am going to a Cochrane auction today and I am going to try out the Hagerstown dealers next week. Gotta love that 0% financing on new machines!

I don't mean to offend anyone but if you want to sell the product you have to know not only your inventory, but also your clientele. you also need to know your competition, which is increasingly internet based.

Bill

aardvark · Feb 5, 2005

I found several types of dealers when I was looking. The ones in the suburban areas of West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, FL had mostly transitioned to smaller CUT and SubCUT machines, and large construction type equipment. I called some dealers in Okeechobee FL and Belle Glade FL, and they stil had the larger agriculture machines for real farm work. The dealers selling the big machines really didn't know too much about the machines I wanted, and were pretty up front that they really didn't sell many of them. The machines I was really most interested in were the Kubota BX23 and B7610, and the Massey GC2310. The Cat-Massey dealer said they weren't going to be able to get a GC2310 for a couple months. However, the Cat-Massey dealer was very up front with pricing. They asked "how much was the BX23?", and then they quotted me a less for the GC2310, and then faxed me a written quote. It's was the simplest "negotiation" I ever had. The Kubota dealer was very helpful as well, that's why I bought my tractor from them. There was a two day wait for a BX23 vs a couple month wait for a GC2310.

v8dave · Feb 5, 2005

Good info post. Keep us posted on what happens. Much the same market change happened at my dealer here in California.

Still lots of full scale ag business here in California. The big citties keep growing out and pushing ag further away from the city centers. Sacramento keeps on growing out and my dealer in Sacrament has seen the same change you describe. Although, my dealer has made the jump. Sometimes it requires a change of staff or ownership to adjust. At my dealer it was the son taking over the business.

You make the jump to member at 25 posts. Keep on contributing, you'll get there.

RalphVa · Feb 6, 2005

I ended up buying from the dealer who is very close by, about 6 miles away. He also deals with the smaller tractors like I wanted.

The one over the hill deals more with the larger tractors. He didn't even have the one I wanted but gave me a price that was about equal to the close-by dealer's.

The close-by dealer apparently won't work with you to determine what you want. My neighbor said he couldn't deal with them. He went over the hill, and, of course, ended up with a bigger tractor because that is primarily what they deal with. That dealer quoted me on the 4010 but mentioned that I could get a 4110 for ONLY $2,000 more. Think he probably had one of those. Incidentally, my neighbor has less property than I do. Don't think he really needs the 4310.

Ralph

rozett · Feb 6, 2005

( Unfortunately they also seem to be a bit lazy and complacent, (sorry). Like, they have the machines, and you have nowhere else to go, and if you want it, you will buy it from them, at their price. They don't even try to go the extra yard to ask about your needs and your property, (much less visit it). )

That is exactly the same experience I had when I bought four years ago. The sales manager could barely be bothered to even give me a quote. He never asked me any questions about what I was going to be using it for. That drove me to seek the same model in the used market. I bought a one year old machine (90 hours) for $7k less than the local dealer quoted a new one, plus $1k to ship it up from Alabama. My experience has been that the 'bugs' of a new machine were already worked out and I have never had to take it to the local dealer for service (knocks on wood /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif).

I would not rule out the Massey. I've heard very good things about it.

RoyJackson · Feb 6, 2005

"Both Frederick and Hagerstown are transitioning from large crop farm/dairy farming communities, to bedroom communities for DC/Baltimore."

Boy, that's a real shame...used to be a really nice area out in west central MD. My mother was from that area. Before she passed on, we went to visit her old stomping grounds. Yep, bedroom communities...yeech!

We're seeing the same thing here in southern York County. It's driving land prices way out of sight.

tough451 · Feb 6, 2005

With the Massey salesman wanting to look at your land first tells me he isnt just trying to sell you a tractor because you want one. He trying to sell you what you need. It would be a shame to buy a cut if what you really need is a utility or a sub cut.
Also dont rule out Massey they are one of the most innovative brands on the market they had Indepent pto and shuttle shift ,hydrastatic drive over thirty years ago.
Its just that at the time most farmers didnt see a need for these features. But now with round baling and land scaping every where its now almost a necessiaty.

Varmintmist · Feb 6, 2005

That is my question.

A. you know the guy
B. He is a dealer.
C. He said (important) HE SAID that he should look at what you have before he reccomended a tractor.

Why are you not shopping Massey??? Even if you dont buy it you will learn something.

BTW, I wasnt shopping Mahindra either at first, but I bought one.

jltrent · Feb 6, 2005

If you want a 40 hp. tractor don't get a cut. Take a look at the JD 5105 economy trators. I about bet they sell less and burn less fuel than the little souped up cuts. Then you have a tractor with a lot more potential and the real popular 179 cu. in. JD engine not the Yammer.

frank_f15 · Feb 6, 2005

( One of my customers is a salesman for the local Massey dealer. He is the only one to suggest that he ought to see my land to advise me on what I need. ****, )
take a look at the MASSEYS there are a fine tractor, you just may find u like them and it never hurts to check out all your options.