If you had it to do over again...

[davrow]

Davrow, do you only have one Kubota dealer in Riverside? Just curious as I know this is a pretty large area and from what I hear it is booming.

It is a huge, booming area, but it is primarily non-agricultural. And the only way to have acreage is to buy in the desert. So very few tractor dealers for compacts and subcompacts. The 3 Kubota dealers are all the same owners. Some JD and Cat, not geared to smaller tractors.

To shop multiple brands I had to go north to the Ag Expo in Visalia (300 miles?). There is really surprisingly little anywhere in Southern California.

 

[Teachu2]

My dealer is head and shoulders above the competition. Long time family-owned dealership, treats me like I'm important to them, extremely responsive whenever I've needed them, excellent parts and service. Even their competitors say good things about them. I'd buy from them again, whatever brand they were selling.

If I had it to do over, I'd buy an HST instead of geared.

 

[JDAOWNER]

I WANTED A TIER 3 TRACTOR SO SHOPED USED. LOOKED FOR A LONG TIME AND FOUND MY KIOTI. I WOULD LIKED TO HAVE A HST, BUT THE SHUTTLE DOES EVERYTHING I WANTED TO DO. THERE ARE SEVERAL DEALERS IN THE AREA ( 50 MILES OR LESS) BUT HAVEN'T NEEDED THEM YET. MINE ALSO WAS MADE TO ENTER FROM ONLY THE LEFT SIDE, I PUT A STEP ON THE RIGHT SIDE AND USE IT OCCASIONALLY, BUT I'M REAL CAREFUL ABOUT THE CONTROLS, AND NEVER WHEN FEL IS UP. ENDED UP WITH A 41 HP INSTEAD OF THE 33-35 I WAS LOOKING FOR, AND GLAD I DID. ONLY DRAWBACK IS WITH AG TIRES I CAN'T USE ON MY LAWN. WORKS GREAT IN THE WOODS.

 

[Atchuuu]

My dealer is head and shoulders above the competition. Long time family-owned dealership, treats me like I'm important to them, extremely responsive whenever I've needed them, excellent parts and service. Even their competitors say good things about them. I'd buy from them again, whatever brand they were selling.

If I had it to do over, I'd buy an HST instead of geared.

Forgot about that. I just got lucky as I found mine used with cab and HST. If it would have had the GST I would have gone that direction too. But now that I know what HST is like I will stick with it should I ever replace my tractor.

 

[SmallChange]

It's true, dealers can make a huge difference. I bought my used Kubota from a Kubota dealer 20 miles from here about 25 years ago and the dealership people just seemed angry -- at each other mostly, but still. Years later I came to think they took advantage of me for not knowing enough. I did go back to them more recently to look at possible purchases but they seemed to think of me more as an annoyance.

I talked to a NH dealer only maybe 10 miles from here and they treated me like I was important, and I bought from them, and remain really happy with them.

There were some other dealers in between these on the spectrum.

About my current tractor, I don't know that I'd do anything different. Still really like it. I was going back and forth about R1 versus R4, first I said R1 definitely, then I started thinking about how they tore up my gravelly clay driveway every spring and wound up choosing R4. Still don't know about that choice. It's not like I can hop back and forth between identical tractors set up with each to do a real comparison. And I still haven't tried snow yet, either.

 

[Atchuuu]

A bit off topic but TBN is full of stories about the importance of dealers. I presume some dealers actually get on TBN but clearly not enough of them. Customer service and a good sales staff is one of the most important things any dealer can do to grow their business. I believe it to be more important than price (within reason). If a dealer or their staff acts as though I am unimportant or a nuisance I will assume they only get worse once they get my money.

Had my local dealer taken the time to help me I most likely would have purchased a brand new Kubota. I all but said "take my money". The Mahindra dealer had much better service but the tractor just didn't fit me well.

 

[ovrszd]

Thats funny, me n Murph has not seen eye to eye on many things while we both have been TBN Members, but it was the first thing I though on the OPs first posting

Yeah me too.

Maybe buyers remorse?

I've never torqued a bolt or had one come loose, so I have no personal experience in that area to offer.

I drove 400 miles one way to get my Kubota. Have had zero contact with the dealer since. So I'm kind of an odditty in this blame game.

 

[murphy1244]

Hey Murph,

I actually have zero complaints about my machine. Any issues with the machine itself have been my fault, i.e. undersizing, not torquing bolts per manual, etc. All those things were within my control. I do have complaints about my dealer's service department and I wish I had taken that more into account when making my purchase. Again, my fault.

I thought I was pretty self deprecating.

P.S. Now I'm up to 3 posts.

My apologies for calling you out .. But I and others have seen people join TBN to just ***** about a dealer or their machine.

 

[ovrszd]

I WANTED A TIER 3 TRACTOR SO SHOPED USED. LOOKED FOR A LONG TIME AND FOUND MY KIOTI. I WOULD LIKED TO HAVE A HST, BUT THE SHUTTLE DOES EVERYTHING I WANTED TO DO. THERE ARE SEVERAL DEALERS IN THE AREA ( 50 MILES OR LESS) BUT HAVEN'T NEEDED THEM YET. MINE ALSO WAS MADE TO ENTER FROM ONLY THE LEFT SIDE, I PUT A STEP ON THE RIGHT SIDE AND USE IT OCCASIONALLY, BUT I'M REAL CAREFUL ABOUT THE CONTROLS, AND NEVER WHEN FEL IS UP. ENDED UP WITH A 41 HP INSTEAD OF THE 33-35 I WAS LOOKING FOR, AND GLAD I DID. ONLY DRAWBACK IS WITH AG TIRES I CAN'T USE ON MY LAWN. WORKS GREAT IN THE WOODS.

Well you don't have to yell about it!!!

 

[ovrszd]

My apologies for calling you out .. But I and others have seen people join TBN to just ***** about a dealer or their machine.

Where??? Here????