Personal experience...About 15 years ago, the company where I work decided to buy a milling machine. I don't remember the prices anymore, but it was decided that we buy a new, Taiwanese milling machine as opposed to a used name-brand, Bridgeport milling machine. Taiwan makes some fair products, parts support should be decent, we are working with a well-established local dealer and everything looks good. We should save some money. In short, we did our homework.
The decision made sense on paper. The milling machine was not an integral tool of our work, it was kind of a convenience purchase. Well, you know how it goes...once you have it, you can't do without it.
Then something breaks...
"That model no longer has parts support" is what our dealer reported. Now what do we do? We scrambled to find somebody in the US. who makes their living selling parts for Taiwanese milling machines to suckers like us. Virtually a dead end, but we found parts. Crazy expensive.
Luckily, our maintenance guy is REALLY handy and inventive. It gets cobbled together and works. But we spent twice the time making the part that we needed rather than buying it. Result: lots of time wasted and intangible "money" spent.
Then it happens again a few years later! Different problem, much worse this time, virtually terminal. Pay up for the parts and wait weeks for them to come. In the meantime, work backs up and you sub out the work to a supplier.
I'm normally optimistic, but this is the way I now look at these types of purchases:
1) Expect the worst and if something less than terrible happens...you did OK.
2) Assume that the item will be worth scrap price when there are significant problems.
Do your math with this in mind and then make your decision. The work that you have to do with the tractor may still justify the Chinese tractor.
We are thinking of buying a machining center at work now. Virtually the same scenario, not a necessity, but a convenience. Given our experience...which fork of the road do you think that we will choose to follow?
