RK Tractor reviews???

[prof fate]

AMEN............

when my questions are answered I'll go away.

 

[RK Tractor Guy]

I never said they would. I only said a "no middle man" business model would have to mean that a manufacturer (any manufacturer) would sell direct to the customer.

The RK guy keeps throwing around this "no middle man" phrase when in reality RK is the middle man. That is not a knock on RK, that is just pointing out the obvious that there is indeed a middle man. I can see that plain as day.

If I am going to a store to buy something then obviously the store is in the middle of the deal. Doesn't matter if it's a tractor or some other product, or who is the manufacturer and who is the seller. By definition, RK is the middle man for anything I buy at their store.

RK selling directly to tractor buyers vs every other competitor selling to tractor dealers first is removing a middle man. There is not a product made anywhere by anyone that is not sourced partially or entirely by that company’s suppliers. Very sorry that this is not understandable to all. I guess one just needs to compare prices and this will be pretty easy to understand. We aren’t selling our tractors below everyone else because we are paying the same as everyone else.

 

[RK Tractor Guy]

Big deal -- then Kubota could be saying they have one less middle man too since they make their own tractors and they don't have another company in the loop. And there are tractor companies like Deere that manufacture some of their tractors and sub-out manufacture of other tractors. Should they say some models cut out a middle man but other models add a middle man? I just think it's an arbitrary and pointless description when there is obviously someone in the middle no matter what.

Kubota -> Dealer -> Customer
Deere -> Dealer -> Customer
Yanmar -> Deere -> Dealer -> Customer
TYM -> RK -> Customer
TYM -> Cabelas -> Customer
Jinma -> Nortrac (Northern Tool) -> Customer

And so on...

Unless a product is sold factory direct to the customer, somebody is always in the middle. Doesn't matter if it's a dealer, an importer, a retail chain with a house brand, etc. There is nothing wrong with any of these business models, but none of them are direct to the customer.

If I was RK I would be playing up the fact that they are a national retail chain and they have a lot of stores that will sell tractors and support the customer. There is a middle man and there is a good reason for it. The middle man is a national retail chain and not some independent dealer. The middle man adds value in a way that the manufacturer cannot. Don't pretend there is no middle man.

We sell our tractors on average 30% below any competitor, and at a profit. We are able to do that because there is no dealer involved. Kubota, Deere, Mahindra and every other brand of scale sells to independent dealers; that is their customer. We sell directly to tractor buyers, that is our customer. We only make this point so people understand that our pricing is not “introductory” or short term.

 

[s219]

We sell our tractors on average 30% below any competitor, and at a profit. We are able to do that because there is no dealer involved. Kubota, Deere, Mahindra and every other brand of scale sells to independent dealers; that is their customer. We sell directly to tractor buyers, that is our customer. We only make this point so people understand that our pricing is not “introductory” or short term.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[prof fate]

Thank you for the clarification.

30% below SOME brands..I paid LESS for a kioti than a similarly equipped RK.

 

[uptaker73]

prof fate -That's awesome that you received a great deal on your Kioti. But how in the world did this thread end up where it is now? When I started it all I was looking for was honest reviews from people who actually OWN a RK tractor and are currently working one on their property. I appreciate the honest and true reviews from the ones who actually have used them. And thanks to RK for having a rep on here to answer questions!

 

[prof fate]

a rep is great - but he's making false statements that RK tractors are 30% cheaper than all other tractors.
I am just pointing out that the statement is incorrect.

Is it a sales pitch? a bald face untruth? He just doesn't know what the competition is charging?

If he got that wrong..what else might he have gotten wrong?

A rep is great, but he has an agenda.

As for your original question, since RK is the same as TYM and some mahindras, perhaps seek reviews on them as well. The only thing RK does different is how they sell them (not a traditional dealer, so unique sales/service, and lower price for the most part.).

That price, or any price, is gonna vary by dealer, sales channel, options, time of year, promotions, and more.

How YOU negotiate may make a difference as well.

Each dealership often has a different "feel" to it -my local JD dealership is cold and unfriendly, as is one of the Kubota shops. Another K dealer goes out of their way to be nice, friendly, helpful, etc. Some are chains, some are one unit locations, some are 'superstores' with huge inventory and some look like they are nearly out of business.

None of that has much if any impact on the tractor's reliability or function, but can impact one's ownership experience at purchase or down the line with service, warranty and parts. What matters to YOU is personal to you.

I detest self checkout at walmart...others love it. Same for sales channels on tractors, are you wanting to save some money and willing to give up the support, or do you want the support and consider paying more? Will resale value impact you at all?

Why buy new at all?
I mean, if money is a major factor buy a used tractor. If you're saving enough the savings is your 'warranty', and you are your own support and service, so it's top notch right? (24/7!! LOL)

 

[majorwager]

Stop feeding the troll and he might go away.......

AMEN, again.

OP, hope you regain the intent of YOUR THREAD, I enjoy reading reviews concerning RK, YES RK tractors. Forums exist for OTHER BRANDS!!!

OP, Do you watch the Outdoors With The Morgans Videos?

 

[uptaker73]

Yes I truly enjoy watching Mike and his youtube channel. I think he is doing a great job so far of showing how those tractors operate. Yes he does push some of the products, but don't we all try and sale our friends and family on the stuff we purchase. I actually went to my RK store this morning and their tractor inventory was the lowest I've seen it. Joe is moving some tractors in my area for sure. I hope that continues for them and for us as a community here in NC.

 

[RK Tractor Guy]

a rep is great - but he's making false statements that RK tractors are 30% cheaper than all other tractors.
I am just pointing out that the statement is incorrect.

Is it a sales pitch? a bald face untruth? He just doesn't know what the competition is charging?

If he got that wrong..what else might he have gotten wrong?

A rep is great, but he has an agenda.

As for your original question, since RK is the same as TYM and some mahindras, perhaps seek reviews on them as well. The only thing RK does different is how they sell them (not a traditional dealer, so unique sales/service, and lower price for the most part.).

That price, or any price, is gonna vary by dealer, sales channel, options, time of year, promotions, and more.

How YOU negotiate may make a difference as well.

Each dealership often has a different "feel" to it -my local JD dealership is cold and unfriendly, as is one of the Kubota shops. Another K dealer goes out of their way to be nice, friendly, helpful, etc. Some are chains, some are one unit locations, some are 'superstores' with huge inventory and some look like they are nearly out of business.

None of that has much if any impact on the tractor's reliability or function, but can impact one's ownership experience at purchase or down the line with service, warranty and parts. What matters to YOU is personal to you.

I detest self checkout at walmart...others love it. Same for sales channels on tractors, are you wanting to save some money and willing to give up the support, or do you want the support and consider paying more? Will resale value impact you at all?

Why buy new at all?
I mean, if money is a major factor buy a used tractor. If you're saving enough the savings is your 'warranty', and you are your own support and service, so it's top notch right? (24/7!! LOL)

Sir,

Our selling prices are on average 30% below those of comparably equipped tractors sold by the top three brands; Kubota, Mahindra and Deere. Together they have 80% of the market. We do not consider the other 20%, which is divided up between 10 other brands as our pricing targets. Kioti has less than 3% share, less than we have in only our second year.

That means that there are 14 brands in total selling compact tractors in the U.S. including RK.

We know the range of negotiation that tractor dealers have. The pricing is not a mystery at all. Each dealer (of every brand) buys their tractor at a 27% trade discount from list, and is then given incentives such as cash back or low rate financing to use as tools to negotiate. Selling prices are easily determined. Yes, an individual dealer way go super low now and then, but usually when they get close to the end of the free floorplan financing term.

Please understand what the word average means. Go get a quote for a Kubota L5460HST equipped as an RK55HC is. You can configure the Kubota on their website, and make sure you add in all of the optional features on a Kubota such as rear remotes, audio system, work lights, drawbar, etc., all of the things standard in an RK55HC. You can go to rktractors.com and select the “build your own function.”

RK will be at $29,998 and the Kubota $52,307. Take 15% (more like 10% but let’s do 15% for this purpose) max off that to get to selling price and the Kubota is $44,460. That puts the RK $14,462 under the Kubota - selling price. The Kubota sells for 1.5 times the price of the comparably equipped RK, plus the RK has $400 of RimGuard liquid tire ballast in the rears plus an 8-year, 3000 hour powertrain warranty vs 6-year, 2000 hour for the Kubota.

I won’t even begin to tell you the price difference between our RK74 Cab with loader at $42,999 and any other competitor. It is North of $20k.

We are in the tractor business, we know how it works, how every competitor is priced and what the individual range that a dealer will sell a competing tractor for. We understand that people such as yourself will try to find ways to find a flaw in our approach, and we are not naive enough to think we can get every tractor buyer on board with our brand. That’s ok, there is enough business to go around.

I’d suggest that before you state on this or any other forum that what another contributor is being untruthful, that you consider the fact that you may not know all of the the facts, you only know what you know.

Our best to you.