The wallet opened (long) ...

[mlmartin]

Hi all. New poster here.

I spent a good part of the winter wondering why landscapers weren't returning my phone calls and how I was going to deal with the manure and shavings pile that my wife's three horses were producing. I started reading about compact tractors and doing research on what was available, what it could do and how much it would cost.

Using various internet search engines and the advice of my local tractor sales and service dealer, I located a 1994 JD 870 with a 440 loader and 8B backhoe on a JD dealer's lot. It had 534 hours on it and appeared to be in excellent condition. The only problem was that it was located in Orono, Ontario and I live in central Massachusetts.

I was unable to find a similarly setup tractor locally for less than $23,500 (a much newer Kabota 21 HP TLB). After a lot of e-mail, photographs and telephone conversations, I decided to purchase the tractor. At my request, the Canadian dealer located a new 68" Meteor TPH snowblower and added it to the package. The total package, including border crossing fees and shipping, cost me about $16,250 or exactly $25,000 CDN.

It was delivered to my local dealer's lot a bit more than month ago. He was quite impressed with the condition of the tractor and confirmed that it had (very) recently been serviced.

Since then I have put 30 hours on it. I have used the loader and backhoe to build a 12 foot long by 8 foot tall retaining wall and backfill behind it. I was very pleased that the tractor can easily lift and dump a 60" bucket full of gravel and that the backhoe can (safely?) lift boulders that weigh enough to lift the front wheels off the ground when the stabilizers are lifted.

I have used the backhoe to dig out and bury 37 stumps (4" to 3 1/2' in diameter). I've had to dig holes up to 9' in diameter and eight feet deep to deal with them.

I also installed a new dry well in the break I made in the existing drainage run

I have ordered (and am awaiting delivery of) a 6' rotary cutter, 5 1/2' boxblade, post hole digger and clamp on forks.

I'm struggling to close the wallet while it still has anything in it

Matthew

Matthew L. Martin

 

[heehaw]

congratulations, sounds like its gonna be hard to get the smile off your face for a long time..hope you have many years of fun with your new equipment. i must admit, i'm missin something, 16250 or 25000 CDN???????
heehaw

 

[Knight9]

$16250 US dollars x approx 1.5 exchange rate = approx $25000 Canadian dollars....and trust me...we are not happy about that!!!!/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Kevin

 

[mlmartin]

Can't blame you for not liking it. The Canadian dealer was joking that if I waited much longer for delivery the tractor would have been free! The exchange rate was $1.55 CDN per U$D on the day the transaction was posted to my credit card. That meant that I paid ~U$D400 less for the tractor than the price that was originally quoted.

FWIW, I just saw a 1999 870 with 188 hours, a 430 loader and 8B backhoe being offered for U$D29,600! I can buy a _lot_ of implements and repairs for the difference.

Matthew

Matthew L. Martin

 

[Knight9]

Guess it's a good deal for some Canadian businesses who are seeing the cross border shopping as Americans come up to buy goods in Canada. Tourism has also improved since you can now get a holiday for real cheap up here! Unfortunately we are not afforded the same luxury going south! We have family in the States and visiting is out of the question as everything becomes so expensive for us.

Interesting to try and track implement and tractor prices though on this board. When I see a rotary cutter for $900 that actually means $1350 up here. Prices end up being fairly comparable once exchange is considered.

Kevin

 

[heehaw]

well, i learned something today...guess i can go back to bed..
i didn't know there was a $$$ difference between the countries. i'm also surprised to see they took a credit card. i was going to use my cc to pay for a toyota corolla a couple years ago, an the dealer said no way...they would lose to much money, and they would finance it instead; since i was not from the town the dealer was located in, he was reluctant to take a check..ended up letting him do all the paperwork to finance it, and then sent a check to the finance co.
sure sounds like you got a whale of a deal on your tractor and equipment.
heehaw

 

[mlmartin]

I grew up in northern NH about 45 miles south of the Canadian border. When I was a kid (quite a while ago, damn it!) it took $1.05CDN to match U$D1.00. Merchants didn't care which country's coins you used for change. Bills were a different matter, though I think the problem was the color, not the value

Using a credit card is the the easiest and cheapest way to convert currencies. The bank combines all of their daily transactions and do one conversion at the end of the day. The dealer had to pay the credit card fee on the transaction, but they paid nothing for the currency conversion. I calculated that the cost to me for the conversion was 0.5% for a total of about $80. All in all a pretty cheap transaction.

I agree about the deal on the equipment. I wasn't able to find anything similar in capability for much less than $21,000 without the snowblower or shipping.

I've gotten confirmation that my rotary cutter, box blade and post hole digger have been shipped. I should be getting the tracking number today. I had hoped to get them before the holiday weekend but they are coming from Alabama and they left yesterday. Since I don't have a loading dock, I paid for a liftgate delivery and that typically adds another day to the transit time.

Matthew

Matthew L. Martin

 

[cowboydoc]

This truck that I just bought, see photos, I got from a guy in Canada. That's why I went ahead and did the deal, plus the fact that I sold my truck for high book. I got the truck for $3000 under wholesale value! The guy up there thought he was getting a great deal too. I got away from paying all the duties, tax, and such though by meeting him at the border and bringing the truck across myself. Otherwise you have to get a broker to do it which costs alot of money and duties. This way there are no duties and no other costs. I wound up trading from my 95 to a 2000 for about $4000 and that included my costs to fly up and get the truck.

 

[Knight9]

Nice to see you all are profitting from our misery! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I certainly don't remember the $1.05 CDN for $1.00 USD....but I can remember the good old days when the CDN dollar was worth 85 cents US. Aahhh....the good old days. Now the only time I can afford to go to the States is when I have to on business.....read "When someone else is paying for it!!"

Kevin

 

[mlmartin]

I think that part of the savings is not having to pay the Canadian Federal and Provincial sales taxes. I understand that they amount to about 17% in Ontario. Exported goods are exempt from those taxes and used farm equipment bought for personal use is exempt from import duties as well.

Matthew

Matthew L. Martin