Not sure if anyone still cares, but here is the latest in my tractor buying experience!
I visited 3 dealers yesterday: 1 Kubota / NH dealer and 2 JD dealers. Overall, I was very impressed with one of the three.
First stop around 4:00 at the Kubota / NH dealer
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Walked into the main store area and was soon approached by a salesman. I tell him i've been looking seriously at a JD 790 and that I wanted to see what he could offer me in a similar size both in the way of features and price. I stressed that price was the bottom line and that I didn't want all the bells and whisles. I also stressed that because of this, anything over 30 or so HP was out unless he could beat the price of a 30 HP unit with one that had more power. There were 3 machines that I had in mind when I went and he recommended none of them. His first recommendation was a NH TC48 with SuperSteer. If I'm not mistaken, this tractor is MUCH more tractor and therefore much more expensive than the JD 790 type tractor... And he would have sold it to me to the tune of around $29K. What a deal! I get to spend twice almost twice as much for a machine I dont' want! YAY! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
So... we try the approach of "Gee. That one looks nice (pointing to a TC30 gear). What's that?" Oh... the light bulb flickers in his head for a moment. (I'm not trying to be harsh. This guy was either very uninformed or just plain lacked common sense.) So he went and got the keys to let me "Try" the tractor. Now, I was under the impression that "Trying" the tractor involved driving it. So I get on, sit down and almost fall off. "Oh ya" he says. We took the bolts off that seat for a customer. You'll have to stand. Right. Clutch, brake, shift, steer and stand. Can I have some more legs??? So I do get to start the tractor, and while balancing on the seat I kinda put it in gear. "Wohhh" i hear from behind me. Where are you going? Oh. I see. Trying the tractor means listening to the nice new engine for a few minutes while he yells specs at me. I shut down and follow him back inside. Meanwhile, the vibration from the motor caused the seat to be precariously balanced on the side fender so when I get off, it falls off as well. At which point he turns to me and asks "Are you trying to break it?"
My initial impression of the machine was good. It was a beefy looking machine which seemed to have a lot of power (from as much as one can tell while balanced on it). But I was very interested with the location of the shifter. I asked the guy about it and he said that it was fully synchronized and I quote "So you can switch from forward to reverse on the fly with just pressing the clutch". While this sounds nice, shouldn't one STOP in between these operations? Oh ya. You have to stop before shifting in any of the gears. Lets see... must stop, must press clutch, that doesn't sound very synchronized to me! Plus, with the shifter on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, it seemed a little awkward to me being right handed and all.
Now we get down to figures. The guy quoted me me $11,673 for the tractor which he assured me would come with all of the bolts to hold the seat in place. Looking good so far I thought. But for the loader he quoted me $4,296. Are the NH loaders really that much more expensive? I know the new version with the curved arms is supposed to be good but I didn't know if it fit this model tractor so I asked. He told me that he isn't putting them on any model until he gets rid of all the old style ones he has. No mention if it even fit the TC 30. In the end, he wanted something like $17k for the Tractor, loader and 5 foot cutter. And to top it off, delivery would have been $150 since I was 30 miles away.
Also, as far as Kubota pricing, I did ask. He wanted $13k for a
L2800 and $16k for an
L3400. Seemed HIGH!!!!
By the time I was done with this guy, I headed straight over to the Deere dealership. THey closed at 4:30 and I got there right at this time.
John Deere Dealership 4:30
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Completly different feel than the Kubota / NH dealer. A very nice salesman comes out and asks if he could help me, ushers me into an office and we are soon discussion what tractor would be the safest and most useful for my property. And he even asked me if I had a preference between gears and hydros. Apparently around here, gears are just as common. He thought the 790 was a good fit and offered to let me test drive one. I felt a little bad since he was supposed to leave at 4:30 and since I have already driven one, I figured i'd come back if I decided to buy from him and drive it then if I still had question regarding operation or anything.
After much discussion, he said he could give me a quote on paper. Here is what he worked out.
JD 790 MFWD, R4 Tires
JD 419 Loader w/ Hoodguard and Ballast Box
JD LX5 Cutter with slip clutch and safety chains
Total delivered = $15.5k.
He made sure to tell me that they always throw in a ballast box (not standard with the 419) or filled tires with the loader. He also said that he perfers to throw in the slip clutch model cutter since it seems to be less hastle and in his opinion protects the PTO from damage better. While not necessarly the best quote I've heard of, it was way better than any other quote i've gotten and I really liked the dealer. Seemed that I'd rather spend my money there.
After leaving this place, i tried to make it to one last deere dealer who closed at 5:30 but arriving at 5:15 was told that the salesman only comes in for a few hours each day. To top it off, they only had about 2 CUTs there and both were 4310s.
Anyway, Overall, a very good day for tractor shopping after I left the NH dealer.
If all goes well, and I get approved for financing, we may yet see a tractor before fall!
I'll keep updating if people are interested! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
