John Deere weeding out dealerships

[gamble77]

They aren't forgetting the AG side, just look at all their new AG products this year.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If anything, I think Deere is better off now to help support the farmers then they were in the early 90's. I had a lot of independent Deere dealers near me. Yet not all of them were very good with service, parts and support. Now they have all been bought out and are all owned by one company. The service is better, the selection is better and the techs are better and parts is better. If one guy can't answer your question, they refer you to another tech who can. For me the service is what matters not how many stores the dealership owns. If I get great service from an independent dealer then I deal with them, if not then I look elsewhere. But in my area I get much better service from dealers who own multiple stores.

 

[dubba]

How would you feel if you have a $200k tractor at a dealers shop who doesn't have the equipment or tech to find out what is wrong?

Substitute 45k for 200 & truck for tractor and i would feel like I had just gotten a call from the Dodge dealership

 

[RAILTRAC]

Being a non-profit society we always try to buy local so when it came time to purchase a new tractor we were pretty sure it was going to be a Case. Well that was until the Case dealership moved to be closer to the big city so they could sell construction equipment.. We paid them a visit after they moved, they were nice, gave us a price not to many tractors but lots of case dozers. So we went to the John Deere dealer in Calgary who is one of these mega dealers. They have split it up AG on on side and the compacts on the other side. Lots of inventory.The dealer (AGRO)went to JD to get some help on the price. Just on the compact side they have 3 parts people and 2-3 mechanics not to mention a couple of 5th wheel flat decks.
Your starting to see more green out here.

 

[chuck4389]

In a sense we have all asked for it.
Alot of people curse the big box stores........
But the numbers are there......we as a country LOVE the Big Box store.
Everyone just thinks of Wal-Mart when they think Box store.

Lowes and Home Depot are Box stores also....
The little guys are gone or going.......

BTI

Yes, the big box home depot and others did knock out the little local home improvement stores and hardware stores for a while. But have you noticed that small hardware stores like Ace, True Value and others are making a comeback? Even though there is a Home Depot in the next town, and a Lowes going in close by, I still would rather go to the local for a little added personal service on many items. The advice and help is worth the little higher price.
Went to a local to get a JD key made. He recognized it immediately and had several in stock. That's when I realized that a lot of equipment keys are the same.

 

[WVaHillbilly]

Problem is that farmers, who are Deere's real customer base, aren't going to be driving 45 minutes to the nearest mega dealer to get parts. .

Why drive ??
I can call a John Deere dealer before 2:00 P.M. and have it delivered to my house UPS the next day . There parts distribution is great .

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Why drive ??
I can call a John Deere dealer before 2:00 P.M. and have it delivered to my house UPS the next day . There parts distribution is great .

At what expense? If you don't mind paying drop ship charges and next day freight thats fine. If you want your parts at a good price, or even discounted below MSRP then they need to come in stock ordered to your local dealership. There are all sorts of discount programs to get parts available on a local level, if your getting parts this way on a regular basis than your wallet will take a huge hit. Anyone running a business would quickly realize the added cost of doing business.

A good dealer (like us ) can stock upwards of 5-6 million dollars in parts. We take nearly 90% of our parts orders out of our own inventory (part of why we can sell parts online so effectivly). This way we save our customers the expense of shipping, drop ship fee's, offer preseason discount programs that prices parts under MSRP, and have things on hand because when a $250,000 combine is not running... its costing its owner huge sums in revenue. This may not matter for the average compact tractor buyer, but its very important to those who make a living with their machinery.

 

[WVaHillbilly]

At what expense?

No more parts than I have to get,say 2 or 3 times a year. If I can go online and order the part and have it shipped straight to my house compared to the cost of driving 60 miles roundtrip to the nearest JD dealership with the price of gas $3.00 a gallon not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle not to mention my time involved in driving. I would say I am better off money wise to have it shipped to my front door. Especially when the shipping costs on most of what I order is around $5.00 to $7.00 at the most. Next day !!

I hate to go into dealerships anyway only if it is a last resort. I can find any part for a John Deere on the John Deere web page.

Are there any John Deere dealership owners/employees on this forum ? I just wonder what they think are the pro's and con's of John Deeres online parts service ? I have never asked,never thought to until now how they felt about John Deere parts on line.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Are there any John Deere dealership owners/employees on this forum ? I just wonder what they think are the pro's and con's of John Deeres online parts service ? I have never asked,never thought to until now how they felt about John Deere parts on line.

2nd to NONE...But I enjoy going 3 miles to my dealership.

It usually costs less than $10 to drop ship small parcels. For working folks, that's a big plus. John Deere lists parts prices online, so dealers can't pull their own price matrix out of a hat.

Messick tried to tell me that because I had to put in my zip code, my dealer could establish their own pricing. Well, I can have it search the 5 closest dealerships (in different area codes) and the pricing stays the same. I can put in whatever area code and check the dealer in another state if I feel I'm being ripped off.

 

[HPXDEEREDEALER]

They aren't forgetting the AG side, just look at all their new AG products this year.

Wow. We've got more combine horsepower, a bolt on sieve extension, and a bigger paddle on a clean grain elevator- Not at all what I our my customers wanted to see.

But more frontier equipment.

Im waiting on the day the buy a gleaner and put frontier on it.

We dont do much cotton and I was just curious how the round baler cotton pickers gonna work for you guys. I'm hearing mixed reactions and just curious.