Got to sit in 5030 HSTC today

[slowzuki]

Wow I'm surprised how small this tractor, it is packing a lot of power into this package.

It was setup with a front blower for a woman who clears 80 driveways and does landscaping. There was a loader and a pile of attachments with it with an invoice of 62 000 $ Can! The grand cab sure is nice but it is a pile of $.

Got to drive a 3130 HST and a 3830 DT, both very nice rigs. It was near freezing and both started immediately with a tiny little puff of smoke, nothing like the International I normally use.

Ken

 

[cokeman]

My dealer has one on the lot. It wasn't sold yet so it wasn't set up with implements. Beautiful cab on it though but I didn't look inside.

 

[art]

Even with the exchange rate I can't fathom that price! Wow there must have been enough to farm 150 acres too!

 

[slowzuki]

The pile of attachments was really only a weight bucket for the back, a commercial duty front blower (8k alone!), 853 loader with QT, hd bucket, forks, another qt implement but no divertor valve on the tractor. Industrial tires and CD player, hmm, not much else.

That is about 45 000 USD? For ref a plain 3130 HST w 723 and ags is 26000$ (19.5 usd) right now at the same dealer. A 3430 HSTC w 723 and ags is about 39 000 (29250 USD)

Makes me curious as a bare MX5000 is 24000$ (18000USD) and is a much bigger tractor.

Ken

 

[ledebuhr1]

Thoes prices tell me you need to shop around some more.

 

[slowzuki]

I did! The 2 next best prices on the 3130 HST w 723 were both 29500 Can (22125 USD)

I've shopped around and there are only 3 dealers so far allowed to sell me a tractor. They have assigned areas to sell to. I have to "misrepresent" my address to even get quotes from other dealers.

One was nice enough to explain Kubota Canada is not warehousing many tractors now. They get shipped directly to dealers to reduce inventory costs. As a benefit they take 6% of the dealer cost if the unit sits a year or more.
Ken

 

[_RaT_]

Ken, your post makes me curious about Canada and the incredible price difference. Do wages in Canada also reflect the cost difference. I paid about $22K for a L3830 HST loader. TnT, R4's etc. I would have passed on this tractor if I were purchasing it in Canada, I think. However, maybe I am missing the boat here and am not taking some things into account. While on a photography forum I notice folks from around the world be it Australia, India, Germany etc. pay considerably more for "stuff" then those of us in the US. They surely do mention the price difference and only wish they could get a camera or lens for the price we pay. Perhaps you can straighten me out on this one, Thanks, Rat...

 

[slowzuki]

The wage gap isn't huge I don't think, if I was full time at my job as a junior engineer I would bring in 40K Canadian a year and pay about 37% income tax on that.

If I worked out west it would be about 50K /yr I'd bring in.

I recently bought a chainsaw and was shocked at the price differences, the US saws were 1/2 the price in some cases. I still prefer to buy local but I am near the border and could drive across to buy.
Ken

 

[EastTexFrank]

I can straighten you out on this one because it's one of the reasons I moved to the good ol' US of A. (Apart from the fact that my wife was transferred back home). It's all due to lack of competition and TAXES ... lots and lots of taxes. Most European Governments are a lot more socialist then even our Democrats and all those programs have to be funded so .... more taxes. It's not uncommon for income taxes to be at least 50% higher than in the US and sometimes more. Social Security and Health Care deductions are also higher. When I left the UK it wasn't unusual for my take-home pay to be 40% of my gross. The other 60% was government deductions in one form or another and it doesn't stop there. There are also Value Added Taxes (VAT) paid on nearly all goods and services. When intoduced it was a 7% tax and my son now informs me it is running at 17%. So add another 17% to the 60% you're already paying and it doesn't leave you much for all your hard work. That's also why things like gas in Europe costs betwen $5-$7 a gallon - Taxes. Add that to a lack of competition and the poor little citizen of Europe is getting right royally screwed. Since it's so difficult to accumulate wealth during your working life it forces the citizen to rely on the Welfare State. Once started, it's self perpetuating. It's also why we need to be very careful in this country of politicians who advocate introducing a VAT or a National Health System because they don't know what they are talking about or what the final costs involved will be. To them it just sounds like a good idea and an easy way to "buy" votes.

I did'nt mean to turn this into a political rant but it annoys me when I hear people criticise this country or advocate programs that have failed in other countries when they don't realize or appreciate the freedom and opportunities they have here. God, I love this country.

 

[_RaT_]

Thanks Frank and Ken. I surely did not intend this to turn political. I say we count our blessings and move on. Rat...