Having tradtor hauled.

[Professor Marvel]

I like the idea of a sunny day and a cup of coffee. Showing off my tractor as I take a jaunt to the dealership riding on the "beast".

I guess how much it leaks and what it is leaking might play a part in that decision. Otherwise I like that idea too.

 

[DavesTractor]

I find this sort of discussion interesting. Dealers do not get reimbursed for hauling on warranty. A dealer needs to figure out his strategy. He can pack some $$ into the price and haul under warranty for "free", but that isn't really free, it is "pre-paid", even if the customer does not know it. But a customer that wants a Mahindra will often shop hard and wants the very best price. You can't do free pickups and deliveries for service work and still have the lowest price. It costs about $0.85/mile to run a 1-ton and a trailer, plus the driver. And time needs to be calculated from the time he leaves the shop until he gets back. 25 miles might take 40 minutes, depending on if this is part town or all highway. Then he loads, speaks with the customer, ties down etc. Another 30 minutes. Then 40 minutes back to the shop, then unload. You can't do that in under 2 hours normally. If you pay your driver $20/hr and have another $10/hour in taxes and benefits, that is $60 for employee cost and $40 for truck/fuel/maint/depreciation. That's $100 to do that 25 mile run, and the dealer has made nothing. If that same driver would have instead stayed in the shop and serviced tractors, he would have made us money.

We sell a lot of tractors and keep a couple of trucks busy with deliveries and picking up service work, and even at $2/loaded mile with a minimum we lose money on delivery each and every month. To make any sort of return on investment, delivery needs to be about $3.50/loaded mile and $100 minimum. But people see that as way too high....and unless you really analyze it, it does seem high.

For a while we offered a loaner trailer for no charge. But rarely would anyone use it. Once they calculated a few hours of their time, fuel usage, the responsibility of hauling the unit, etc., hardly anyone took us up on the offer to use the trailer.

I like the idea of charging more for the tractor upfront and giving free hauling and even a free loaner....but remember, free isn't free, it must be included in the initial price. That might work with JD, people pay for the brand, but if you are Mahindra or LS or Kioti, folks often shop price.

One last thought, if a tractor is delivered and the next day or a week later a guy calls and says oil is running out of it....a dealer just goes and gets it and apologizes. To do otherwise will cost you a customer, and I think that is different than a problem that arises down the road.

Just my thoughts, and I always appreciate hearing opinions on this.

 

[Capricious]

Assuming no one has posted it already, you might read this thread:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/buying-pricing-comparisons/319517-would-you-pay-extra-have.html

 

[alafarm]

I also find this interesting for a different reason! I worke for GM for 30 years and listened to people complain about having problems with cars and how they were a piece of junk! Every vehicle maker out there will haul a vehicle that cannot easily make it to the dealer for free for the entire time it is under warranty. Tractors are different in the fact that they cannot as easily be driven to the dealership. I find it odd that people think it so strange that I thought it to be excessive to pay almost $40,000 dollars for a tractor that leaked from day one and then get charged $200.00 to haul it back to the dealer for something that should have not happend in the first place. I have 3 GM cars and trucks one is 14 years old another 9 years old and those have not leaked a drop of anything since new! I have purchased 9 new vehicles in my days and never been out a cent under warranty! I don't neccesarily blame the dealership, but there would be alot more incentive for the tractor manufacturers to get it right the first time if they knew they would be out money on the warranty! I am paying the $200.00 to get it hauled in, one because at the rate it was leaking coolant I might run out before I got there, and the safety factor of driving a tractor 2 hours each way in very busy traffic and through town. If you end up having alot of problems during warranty, you could end up being out alot of money on a brand new tractor!

I had a friend that bought a Honda accord a few years back. It would quit on her about once a week just going down the road. This went on for about a year, and they ended up buying back the car. It was hauled in a dealer expense at least 8 or 9 times. I've never bought alot of tractors, I guess they may have done it this way for years. It just kind of suprised me at the expense to haul in a tractor that should have been right from the begaining. I purchase a commercial lawn mower a few years back and had a part fail 2 weeks out of warranty. The dealer made up the part at his own expense, because he said, that he would take care of me and the part should not have failed even 2 weeks out of warranty. I still buy parts from this guy.

 

[Navasot]

Dave I agree 100%... the miles add up quick and we are right inline with the $ situation on our service calls..... hard to pull a guy off finishing a customers tractor that has brought it to your shop and waited in line to run and do a service call..

.

 

[Capricious]

A related question: does the tractor have to go back to the selling dealer for warranty work, or can it be taken to a different dealer?

 

[DavesTractor]

A related question: does the tractor have to go back to the selling dealer for warranty work, or can it be taken to a different dealer?

That varies by brand as far as the warranty contract, but as a practical matter a dealer for xyz brand can get reimbursed for warranty work on any xyz tractor, so he will generally do the warranty work as it is good business (although generally not profitable) to do so. But if a dealer is really busy, a customer that bought from him will generally get his work done before a customer that did not. And a dealer will sometimes "goodwill" a minor problem that isn't actually covered under warranty at his own expense for a good customer. So there are advantages to going back to your selling dealer.

We will do Mahindra warranty work on any Mahindra as long as it was legally purchased/owned and registered, etc. To do otherwise just looks like sour grapes and never ends well. The exception is if a local guy runs over the state line to avoid sales tax and then brings it to us for warranty, we do require that he show us proof of paying "use tax". If so, we are on it, if not he evaded tax, not avoided tax and we won't touch the tractor. We won't get sideways with the tax folks for any reason....they can make or break a small business and it isn't worth a little bit of warranty reimbursement income. But I think I have opened up another subject, and we probably should not get off track.

 

[Capricious]

"...We won't get sideways with the tax folks..."


For good reason.

Taxes due in Louisiana for items purchased in Texas - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

 

[Navasot]

I always recommend taking it back to the original dealer for warranty work. But any dealer will take care of you but will take care of their customers first

 

[Capricious]

If the customer is paying to haul by the mile, that's a financial incentive to take it to the closest dealer, whether it was purchased there or not.

As to getting "second class" treatment on warranty work, will that sour the tractor owner on becoming a potential purchase customer??