The high cost of tractors

[Slackdaddy]

Narrowed it down to:Kioti CK30,* Mahindra 2815 (26, 32), NH 31DA.
But at what point do You say the heck with a local dealer and drive 6 hours to get a tractor ?
Here is the run down of the local dealers:
Mahindra - 2 hours away, very few machines on the lot, 2815 TLB - 24,500NH - stock nothing, 31DA w/FEL* ~20,000
Kioti - 2 hours away, stock only HST , CK30 w/FEL ~17-18K
BobCat CK30 w/FEL - 17,800.
These are the "basic" or "Buget" brands at JD estate prices.
Buy a used CK30/fel for 11K ?
drive 4 hours each way to PA and see a real tractor shop ?
(I look at wallace's web site and see rows of tractors, I stop buy the "local" mahindra dealer and he has a few "odd" machines)
Why cant I live in PA ?
I do all My own wrenching on My 580, So I am thinking to forget about the whole "dealer/sevice thing"

Give Me your thoughts,
Slack

 

[flusher]

Narrowed it down to:Kioti CK30,* Mahindra 2815 (26, 32), NH 31DA.
But at what point do You say the heck with a local dealer and drive 6 hours to get a tractor ?
Here is the run down of the local dealers:
Mahindra - 2 hours away, very few machines on the lot, 2815 TLB - 24,500NH - stock nothing, 31DA w/FEL* ~20,000
Kioti - 2 hours away, stock only HST , CK30 w/FEL ~17-18K
BobCat CK30 w/FEL - 17,800.
These are the "basic" or "Buget" brands at JD estate prices.
Buy a used CK30/fel for 11K ?
drive 4 hours each way to PA and see a real tractor shop ?
(I look at wallace's web site and see rows of tractors, I stop buy the "local" mahindra dealer and he has a few "odd" machines)
Why cant I live in PA ?
I do all My own wrenching on My 580, So I am thinking to forget about the whole "dealer/sevice thing"

Give Me your thoughts,
Slack

I like to wrench tractors also. I've been working on refurbishing a 1964 MF-135 diesel lately.

A few weeks ago I traded in my 2005 Kubota B7510HST/LA302 FEL (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4-ft wide bucket) for a new Mahindra 5525 gear tranny with the ML250 FEL (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 6-ft wide bucket). One of the reasons I went with Mahindra is that the 5525 is a pretty basic tractor. I'm pretty sure I can handle most of the wrench work myself short of splitting the tractor (once the warrenty expires).

I didn't feel that way about the Kubota even though it's a much smaller tractor. I bought the service manual for the 7510 and reading through it didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about wrenching that one myself.

 

[gamble77]

Think about it this way, if your "local" dealers have no machines in stock and aren't really comitted to the business how much assitance are they going to be to you when you need something else from them? I would go see Rick...you won't go wrong...4hrs each way isn't bad, and he will make it worth your time...I will be glad to ship a green machine up there too!! Good luck...

 

[bearhawk]

2 easy steps to a new Tractor..

1) Call up Wallace and have him bring you a new CK30.

2) Playwork with your new tractor.

Smile

 

[zzvyb6]

what about looking on eBay to see what's available in your neighborhood. Then balance this off with what dealers are around you to be able to orde parts from. If you don't know what you want, get a used machine in case you want to resell it shortly thereafter.

If you are really a good wrench, buy a wreck or damaged piece, fix it, sell it and use the gain to buy up.

 

[bandit67]

I'm not buying locally. None of the local dealers had much in stock up until a few weeks ago, certainly not enough for me to even look at all of the machines I was interested in. On top of that, it was like pulling teeth trying to get responses, via phone or email - I was constantly having to initiate contact.

It took a good 6 weeks to get most of the dealers to get me pricing, and even then, I didn't get everything I was asking for, so there was no way for me to make a direct comparison between dealers and the packages I was looking for.

I finally got fed up, and went ahead and ordered a machine from an out-of-state dealer, who came in at least $1500 less, even after I pay out the tax myself, than any of the local guys that I could actually get pricing from. The out-of-state dealer responded promptly, courteously, and I ended up making him wait while I tried to gather local pricing.

I got a good feeling from this dealer, have communicated with satisfied customers, and am glad that it worked out that I could give him my business. I work hard for my money, and I have no tolerance for salesman that do not respect that, and have the attitude that customers should be 'honored' to do business with them.

If a big enough warranty issue comes up, I will go into a nearby service dept and tell them that I recently moved into the area (which is actually true), and need a service dept to take care of me, and ask them if they are willing to do that for the life of my machine. If not, I'll move on to the next dealership until I find one that will (I know there is one a little over two hours away from me that will).

 

[mark.r]

What part of MD are in? What were the local Kioti dealers you looked at?

 

[MasseyWV]

The only use I have for a "service" department at a dealership is for warranty issues. I do not trust anyone to work on my machinery so I prefer to do it myself.

If you are handy with a wrench and money is tight, I would go the used route but with caution.

 

[Slackdaddy]

Not looking for any wrecks, I have a 580 with 4500 hrs on it.
At this point in My life I want a new or nearly new machine.
I will lube/filters/fluid, tighten loose bolts, replace broken do-dads, But I do not want to spend 45 min repairing before every use of the machine, or a machine that drips fluid !

Mark,
Problem is, there are no local Kioti dealers, Bell Creek is the closest (about 2 hours away over the bay bridge) BUT --- they do not stock ANY Kioti units ?????
Called one in Virginia about 2 hrs away, they ONLY stock HST units.
The local bobcat dealer is HST only.

I really want to compare a CK30 shuttle and HST, A TBN member in MD offered to let Me come up (1.5 hrs away) to try his CK25 shuttle .

I know everyone allways say's:
"can't pay enough to buy a tractor from a good dealer"
But after driving to a TBNers home to demo HIS tractor, Why would I pay absolute top dollar to purchase from a "local" dealer ???

Now If I end up going with a CK30 HST, the bobcat dealer has cold called me 2 times and offerd to drop a CT120 and CT230 off for the weekend, no strings attached, just to see if I liked them.
But I still can not just go to ONE dealer one compare the HST vs Gear.

Slack

 

[LoneCowboy]

I've purchased two long distance (1 in OK, I went to get it, 1 in PA, the first time I drove the tractor was when it showed up on a flatbed) and 1 locally.

I'd buy long distance again. It was a much better experience all around.