</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Also, how would a fella find the better buys on used tractors? Are county auctions the hot ticket?)</font>
It's my opinion that most tractors that make it to auction were tractors that weren't desirable enough to sell privately.
I've seen some real JUNK at auctions and could understand why they needed that venue to sell them, and they still sold for big bucks!
There's no easy way to tell you where the "best" place is to find them. Up and down the roads sitting there with a sign on it, your local "trader" publications, equipmenttrader.com, other internet sources.
I would steer clear of most gray market (made for other country markets) tractors as they can cause real problems at times in parts, and cooperation of local brand dealers, and you often have to wrench them yourself.
Whatever brands you've heard about that you like will have tractors in the used market. Go with that. You can often get a much larger tractor, as in Utility, for less money than the now more popular compact market. I've seen large 80-100 HP Masseys in good shape for only $10,000, and an equally old smaller, less HP compact for the same or more.
Buying used is not for the faint at heart and you need someone who knows tractors to go with you. There are many things to consider, often beyond the newbie.
John
It's my opinion that most tractors that make it to auction were tractors that weren't desirable enough to sell privately.
I've seen some real JUNK at auctions and could understand why they needed that venue to sell them, and they still sold for big bucks!
There's no easy way to tell you where the "best" place is to find them. Up and down the roads sitting there with a sign on it, your local "trader" publications, equipmenttrader.com, other internet sources.
I would steer clear of most gray market (made for other country markets) tractors as they can cause real problems at times in parts, and cooperation of local brand dealers, and you often have to wrench them yourself.
Whatever brands you've heard about that you like will have tractors in the used market. Go with that. You can often get a much larger tractor, as in Utility, for less money than the now more popular compact market. I've seen large 80-100 HP Masseys in good shape for only $10,000, and an equally old smaller, less HP compact for the same or more.
Buying used is not for the faint at heart and you need someone who knows tractors to go with you. There are many things to consider, often beyond the newbie.
John
