Thinking about leaving Kubota

[mred2]

The protection is granted to them by their manufacturer to help their dealers. Do you think McDonalds would allow another owner to open a store across the street from a current store. And yes, you can drive 60 miles to get your biscuit somewhere else. But all the prices will be the same. Is that price fixing? If a tractor (we deal in large equipment,$250,000 plus) is sold in our area, we must fix it under warranty. There is no choice. We sell in other areas and pay the fees. We want our customer taken care of. Sometimes we have a piece of equipment that no one else has. Sometimes we sell or trade new equipment to other dealers. They work with us and we work with them.
I think a lot of the people here would say, Buy from a dealer that works best for you. But if the good local dealers do not make a profit, don't get upset when they don't want to work on your tractor.

 

[LD1]

While I agree that the kubota dealer up there seems to be one I would NOT want to do business with.....when push came to shove and you needed warranty work done, I dont think he can deny you. Warranty is provided by the MANUFACTURE, NOT by the DEALER.

Can he move you to the back of the line, put his customers first, etc. He sure can....within reason. But he would still have to honor warranty work, within a reasonable timeframe, otherwise I would think the regional rep would be stepping in and shutting him down.

And kubota does something similar with protecting dealers/territories. Its broken down by state. If you try to purchase kubota parts from an out-of-state dealer, you have to pay an extra 10% i think to have them ship. Because they want you to source your parts from your local dealer.

 

[ovrszd]

They do receive reimbursement read closer. Most warranty work is put at a set rate, say 40,50,60 bucks an hour. A lot of the shyster dealers dont like it because they cant charge their normal of 80-100 an hour or skim something off the top for parts either. Dealers for the most part simply dont make money on sales of new equipment, used equipment and service is where its at. So lets say you come in for a warranty repair and its an hours worth of work and a $100 part MSRP. Dealer cant charge MSRP on a part they paid $85 for next they usually charge $90 an hour, 20 goes to labor, another 15 in into labor benefits and over head. Lets say under warranty they get $60 AN HOUR. The made $35 on that deal with a warranty claim. If they do non warranty work they make $70 twice the money.

My example might be somewhat flawed, but thats the general idea of how it works.

More importantly, the hours paid for a specific task are pre-determined by the manufacturer. Warranty tickets never pay as many hours as the same work done outside warranty. That's the killer for the dealer. The Dealer always comes up short. They provide the service because they are required to if they claim to be an authorized dealer for a brand. That's part of their contribution to have that big lighted sign over their building. I've never heard of a dealer that wanted to do warranty work.

 

[ovrszd]

No I agree. Thats why good dealers take on warranty work with Bells on, filling stalls with vehicles makes money one way or another

I would contend that a good, busy dealer, takes on warranty work out of necessity. A dealer who struggles to keep his service bays full might wear a couple bells when a warranty issue comes to his shop.

 

[nards444]

More importantly, the hours paid for a specific task are pre-determined by the manufacturer. Warranty tickets never pay as many hours as the same work done outside warranty. That's the killer for the dealer. The Dealer always comes up short. They provide the service because they are required to if they claim to be an authorized dealer for a brand. That's part of their contribution to have that big lighted sign over their building. I've never heard of a dealer that wanted to do warranty work.

In warranty they cant go to the book and say well thats a filter change book says I can charge 3 hours, when in reality its 1.5 hrs, thats not making money thats stealing. I dont feel bad for anybody, dont start a business or run one work for someone else then. Ive been to plenty of dealers that either dont mind warranty work or like it. But theyre also the ones that are two weeks out on oil changes and has 20 bays filled at one time all day long every day. I get tired of the dealer Im poor mentality its a line of BS

 

[ovrszd]

In warranty they cant go to the book and say well thats a filter change book says I can charge 3 hours, when in reality its 1.5 hrs, thats not making money thats stealing. I dont feel bad for anybody, dont start a business or run one work for someone else then. Ive been to plenty of dealers that either dont mind warranty work or like it. But theyre also the ones that are two weeks out on oil changes and has 20 bays filled at one time all day long every day. I get tired of the dealer Im poor mentality its a line of BS

A good dealer will never tell you they don't want to provide a service. They'll also never tell you they don't like to provide a service.

"Book Hours" is designed to level the playing field and protect the customer. The good mechanics always know small shortcuts to improve their time. As long as I'm being charged a fair market price for the work done I don't care how long it takes the mechanic. If he cuts that time in half, more power to him. If it takes him twice as long as book hours, then he eats that. No stealing, just business management.

 

[LD1]

A good dealer will never tell you they don't want to provide a service. They'll also never tell you they don't like to provide a service.

"Book Hours" is designed to level the playing field and protect the customer. The good mechanics always know small shortcuts to improve their time. As long as I'm being charged a fair market price for the work done I don't care how long it takes the mechanic. If he cuts that time in half, more power to him. If it takes him twice as long as book hours, then he eats that. No stealing, just business management.

Agreed. Its a way to give customers cost up-front.

Kinda like why I never quote a mowing job by the hour....because the first question thereafter is always "how long do you think its gonna take".

Going off a book-rate gives a dealer a structured way to give someone an accurate price.

If you walked into a shop that said "yea, we can fix that....we charge $80/hr"....well, how good are their mechanics? To they screw around, dont know what they are doing? Take smoke breaks ever 10 min?

Warranty times are always less. One reason is because equipment us usually pretty new, so much more unlikely to have other issues, seized parts, rusted components, etc.
A job that might take 3 hours on a 2-year old piece of equipment.....is likely gonna take twice as long on the exact same piece of equipment if it was 15 or 20 years old

 

[nards444]

A good dealer will never tell you they don't want to provide a service. They'll also never tell you they don't like to provide a service.

"Book Hours" is designed to level the playing field and protect the customer. The good mechanics always know small shortcuts to improve their time. As long as I'm being charged a fair market price for the work done I don't care how long it takes the mechanic. If he cuts that time in half, more power to him. If it takes him twice as long as book hours, then he eats that. No stealing, just business management.

Well true and I should have mentioned that, but most book hours benefit the shop. Most jobs are done in less time with competent mechanics.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm not a fan of dealers or manufacturers over charging. But at the end of the day, it's your choice what you do with your money. If it's the same everywhere, well, then I guess tractor ownership is just too expensive for some. I worked for a small interconnect company and the owner ripped off customers terribly. Just shamelessly. But he still had willing customers.

 

[Ford850]

^^ and this is why most dealers will encourage you to bring in your car, truck, tractor to have warranty work done when you are having other service work done if possible. They can recoup some of their loss.