First Time Tractor Buyer - Yanmar?

[Inspector507]

PAB,
Wayne is not your only option, but it is a very GOOD option if you ask me. I've been to his place, chewed the fat with him, he seems like a great dealer. Has a lot of models in stock usually, only the highest quality. I think he may re-paint one or two here or there, but he doesn't buy the junk that needs the reconditioning.

 

[PAB_OH]

Dick,
Thanks for the reply to this. I did get some pictures from Wayne tonight of some tractors and you are right. They look to be in very good condition.

As withi the last time I tried to do this (buy a tractor) it looks like I won't be able to do it right now. It's going to be a month or two at the earliest.

Sucks!

Phil

 

[PAB_OH]

Inspector,

Thanks for the reply. Wayne seems t be a straight shooting guy. I hope I get to find out firsthand soon. Will be a month or two though.

 

[PAB_OH]

Here's general question for all of you veteran tractor buyers. Did many of you finance? If so with who if you don't mind me asking? Feel free to PM if you don't want to air in public.

I will definitley have to finance and I have a hard time understanding lending institutions not offering longer terms on ag equipment. The stuff is built like tanks and I think it could be safely said will outlast any piece-of-junk car you buy today and yet you can't get a longer term on the loan. Am I missing something?

Has anyone been able to get a long term loan for a used tractor? (60 months+). If I could I would pay cash but that isn't going to be something I can do for a long time. i'm pretty good with my money and have excellent credit so getting a loan won't be a problem, but I would like to stretch the term if I could. That way if hard times do hit I'll have a low payment and when things are going good I can pay more on the loan. I've financed and paid off a few purchases like this and it has almost always helped that I went with the longer term and lower payment. I almost always pay them off early too.

Any input would be appreciated and like I said feel free to PM me if you don't want to talk about in public.

 

[cwarrix]

Hang in there Phil, you'll be tractorin' in no time /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif It was several months from the time I started to look until I was finally able to buy. There were lots of road blocks along the way, home repairs, unexpected expenses, stuff like that. But it finally came!

Chuck

 

[cwarrix]

Hey PAB, the choice to finance has to be a personal decision you make, but I think the general consensus here and other places will be to NOT do it. I think the banks will look at a tractor basically the same way they do a boat or RV. The rate is higher and/or the term is shorter because they figure the risk is higher. If you have to make a decision which payment to not pay because you are short on money or lost your job, its most likely not going to be your car you need for work or your house that you need for shelter. It will most likely be the non-necessity items like your boat, RV, and tractor. Some die-hard tractor lovers on this board might disagree and say they would keep the Yanmar and let the house go /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

But, if financing is an ONLY option, consider your credit union if you have one, or money from a home equity loan. Or (and I know the financial experts will clobber me for this) you might be able to borrow money against your 401k, at least you pay the interest back to yourself. The week before I went to buy my tractor I got an offer from my credit card company to use a convenience check at 0% for six months or 1.9% until it was paid. I ended up keeping the money I had saved in the bank and wrote the check at 0% for the tractor, then paid it off before the 0% offer expired. That worked out great for me, but it is the ONLY way I would recommend using a credit card for purchasing your tractor.

Bottom line, and this is just my opinion, don't borrow money to buy the tractor if you can find ANY other way. That's just my thoughts on the subject, but I'm definitely not a financial expert, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[normde2001]

If you have equity in your home and good credit, I would recommend a home equity line of credit, approx. 6%, and forever, (20 years), to pay off.

 

[LMTC]

Chuck is basically correct from what I hear from the finance folks. Statitically there is more defalt on such loans than on mortgages, etc.

A credit union loan is usually a personal loan, made solely on one's credit history and limited to a much smaller amount than if there were tangible collateral. Usually the rate is pretty decent, but higher than mortgage or auto loan rates. Still, it is often enough to buy one of these tractors.

A home equity loan has tangible collateral of course, and usually a much lower rate. This is often the best way to buy if one has enough equity available. This is how we started our business many years ago. Our first "floor plan" financing for inventory came from a home equity loan at a much lower rate than we could find anywhere else. Usually you can pay just inerest for most of the life of the loan if you want to. It is not uncommon for them to have ten year terms. You withdraw as needed, pay interest while you have principle outstanding, and when you do not it just sits there waiting to be used. Current used equipment rates are pushing the hgh 9% range and I've seen equity loans in the low 7% range.

 

[SteveM]

I will throw in my 2 cents; you are trying to buy a tractor (and perhaps loader and other stuff) for less than 200 bucks a month, perhaps far less; and that is a stretch. No way around it, compact tractors are in high demand and therefore expensive dollar per pound. .. So there are a few options; if you are mechanically inclined, you can be patient and watch lots of classified ads and buy something private party. Older clean compacts are diamonds in the rough, but I have bought 3 so far in the past 6 years or so, all under 5,000 with assorted attachments etc. All were at least 20yrs old in good working shape, but I searched high and low and leaped into my truck with cash in hand when the deals came along. I simply got a 3 year loan from my credit union, slightly higher than an auto rate, but better than a credit card for sure. As I fixed up the first tractor, I sold it and moved onto a better one, etc. I now have a nice little rig with a loader and bunch of implements, and am about to put that one in the paper now that just finished painting her up. Anyhow, I digress...

Even though I like yanmars a lot, and agree there are good reputable dealers out there, it gets a bit foolish in my mind to pay nearly $10,000 (or more) for a 20yr old grey market machine which will be hard to sell on the open used market. please dont kick me off this forum! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

At the $5-6,000 price point for a YM2000 or 2210 with a few attachments, you are getting a good value. But once you put a new loader on and push the price up, you would be better served to spend just a little more on a clean used Deere 755 or such which will be easier to finance, repair and resell if needed. If you are borrowing anyways, have a talk with a few main line dealers first - you may be pleasantly surprised.

Anyhow, I echo that you need 4wd for any kind of a hill with snow removal, and I think a 2210 4wd or similar with just a back blade and a few other attachments would be perfect for your needs. Just my opinion that adding the $2500 loader starts to ruin the savings of the used tractor.

 

[LMTC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( which will be hard to sell on the open used market )</font>
This just never fails to amaze me. So what do we sell on now? The closed used market? There are tens of thousands of grey market tractors that have been imported into this country. Why would otherwise successful business people do that if they are hard to sell on the open used market....whatever that means.