How Much Extra $$$ To Go With Local Dealer?

[boggen]

if tractor is in warrenty. dealers will charge you to come pickup unit, fix it at there place, and then charge you again to drop it back off.

if new tractor some dealers may do the 50 hour fluid change for free. at say an upfront price.

if you had a truck and trailer combo that could haul tractor, along with say a winch heavy duty enough to winch tractor up on trailer when it is dead. things might be different. but still driving 2+ hours is a long haul.

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if tractor is used. it can be a different story.

looking at tractor you have in your post (left hand side), and if new tractor is = or greater in HP / weight. you may start getting into a bind, of what is needed for hauling tractor yourself legally.

 

[coobie]

Like others have stated share with your local dealer that you can get the price cheaper elsewhere.See if he has any flexibility in his price.Most extra $$ for me would be $500.

 

[boggen]

last thought comment....

as long as i have service manual for tractor, and a internet connection to look up parts manual, and search internet for parts. i can do pretty good. "within reason" i am no mechanic by no means. simple repairs i can handle. some stuff just not my cup of tee.

example recently a couple gears were chewed up in a old 1954 allis chalmers CA tractor. ya i thought i could do it. but ran in a couple problems. thankfully able to order some stuff off internet. granted grass has gotten knee high, more likely up to hips by parts arrive and get things back together. but "shrugs" no biggy for me.

non stop rain lately *arghs* i want my drought years back!! when grass was almost dead at this time of year.

 

[cruz54982]

For me not more than 500 I had a dealer half as far away as the one I purchased from and am very glad I found him ! The closer dealer was so rude I would never buy anything from him = personality would have made all the difference no matter the cost for my money .

 

[EddieWalker]

I went with the closest guy on my tactor because he had the best price, but when buying my truck, a dealer an hour away was $3,500 cheaper then any of the closer ones I contacted, and that was their asking price on the internet. The dealers all said it wasn't a real price and I could never get it for that, but when I drove there, that's the price I paid for it. Granted, they are a dealership and they tried to play their games and add to the price, but I refused to pay more, and eventually they agreed to sell it to me for the price they had listed on the internet.

 

[DavesTractor]

First make sure it is a apples to apples comparison on price. If one dealer quotes 0% and another 2.99% and another 4.99%, prices will vary by over $2000 on some brands due to rebates and incentives.

Then make sure you are not unfairly penalizing the local dealer for charging sales tax if the distant dealer is not including it. You probably owe the tax even if you buy out of state, as most states have "use tax" laws. Then I'd give the local guy a chance to match or come close.

Everyone has a different threshold, but I'd have no issue paying $500 more to support a local dealer that in turn supports the local community, of which I am part. But if both dealers are good full service dealers, the local guy ought to be able to match dollar for dollar.

I just bought a couple new Dodge/Ram pickups for our business last month. I'm in California, but have bought from Dave Smith in Idaho before as they have a huge inventory and low prices, as they are the worlds largest Ram dealer. They are hard to beat and I drive right through Kellogg, ID when I go to see my kids. So I told my local Ram dealer that I needed two new white Ram pickups configured in a certain manner and if they could get pretty close to the Dave Smith price I'd be more than pleased to buy local. They flat out matched the price without any haggling. So I bought my trucks 6 miles from our business instead of 600 miles, and I suspect they will get our business every year as we rotate a truck out and need a new one. So don't be afraid to ask.

 

[namesray]

This is a good question. I went with a dealer over 7.5 hours away because they were over $4000 lower in price and were easier to custom what I wanted as compared to my local dealer to which I have spent lots of money previously.

Someone mentioned to me that "loyalty" works both ways! Boy that sunk in to me and since local dealer didn't seem to appreaciate all my previous purchases, I went with the better deal even though it was 7.5 hours away. They delivered it too.

I can take this example even further as I have had an issue with that tractor I bought 7.5 hours away, under warrenty, and no local dealer wanted to help me out. The dealer where I purchased it, made some calls for me and got a local dealer close by to do the work for me. They even told me they were willing to come 7.5 hours away to "make it right" as a last resort. Now that is loyalty in my book. So in my situation, so far, it was way worth it to save the money and not buy local.

As for where is the cut off point of paying more just to help local dealer, my philosophy is "I will feed them for a week, but not for a month or more." To me I wouldnt go any more then $1500. As mentioned, there is a lot that a local guy can save you in hassle and time if you suffer a break down, providing they are loyal to their customers.

 

[GManBart]

But if both dealers are good full service dealers, the local guy ought to be able to match dollar for dollar.

That assumes a whole lot of things which may not be true. One dealer may simply have a much higher overhead cost than the other. If the dealers aren't in the same state there can be a host of differences that influence cost. Even two dealers that are both "full service" don't necessarily pay the exact same price for machines due to volume, etc. Lastly, shipping costs can vary a few hundred dollars between dealers that are 2.5hrs away from each other....that gets passed along to the customer as well.

Personally, I think $1000 is too much to pay for the convenience of a local dealer, but I'm not making a living with my machines.

 

[DK35vince]

$500 for me, any more than that and I will go 2 hours to deal if necessary..

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I tried local when I bought my Kioti DK50. I knew the owner and met with him face-to-face. My wife and I really wanted to buy this tractor from him. We said - What is your absolute best deal? He gave us the numbers. A few days later, driving by a dealership 50 miles from home, we popped in to compare. They priced their tractor about $100 cheaper but beat the other interest rate by more than a point. We signed the papers on the spot.

When my local dealer called to see if we were going to buy, I told him about the competitors deal. He said - I could have matched that.

Well, too bad.