Trade in value

safe2assume · Jan 25, 2013

You did get lucky with that deal for sure!

Briana03 · Jan 29, 2013

Welcome to TBN

I moved your thread to the Buying/Pricing/Comparisons forum.

daugen · Jan 29, 2013

safe2assume said:
The more I think about it, the less I think buying new is the way to go (for me). I'm gonna keep my eye out for an L or M series with lowish hours, I do want to stick with Kubota. My tires are living on borrowed time, so either way I'm going to have to spend a chunk of change.

Hi. I'm sure you know tractorhouse.com, but in case not, here's all Kubotas built after year 2000 from 10 to 20 thousand ,4wd, over 40hp.
http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/li...ecs=1&DRV=4+WD&CTRY=usa&SO=2&btnSearch=Search

I tried NC and zero result, sorry. But spending some time running searches on this site is a good way to find out what your budget will get you. Go up 5 years in age, or limit hours to say 500 hours, and the number of tractors obviously drops. I'd go for lower hours if possible. Just remember, you always have to keep something in reserve when buying used, it may need the same new tires yours does but otherwise is a better machine for you.
Since many Kubota owners are hobby use owners that use their machines lightly, you may find a really good deal on a tractor that someone bought and quickly realized was too small. But not for you....
Good luck.

btw, I've found CraigsList is great for buyers, but not so pleasant for sellers. Run a search for Kubota under Farm and Garden.

SanDucerro · Jan 29, 2013

You may already know this, but... What you have to be careful of in trade-in negotiations, is that the price they are offering you is separate from the price you pay for the tractor. Depending on the price of the new tractor, there is a good possibility that you could negotiate up to 15% off the MSRP to begin with. So, if the new tractor was $30,000 - you might get as much as $4500 off anyway. But, if you trade in they will want to work off list. So it's pretty easy for the dealer to offer you - sight unseen - $5000 for a trade-in off the MSRP of $30k. In which case he essentially bought your tractor for $500. There's nothing wrong with this as the dealer is in business to make a profit - you just need to be careful and keep the negotiations on the trade-in separate from the negotiations on the new tractors price.

case245 · Jan 29, 2013

i try selling it on craigslist but then again people might want to trade a riding mower for it thats how it is where im from i would try 4 diffrent dealers to see who has the best deal on a new tractor 10% of is average 15% is a steal

daugen · Jan 29, 2013

case245 said:
i try selling it on craigslist but then again people might want to trade a riding mower for it thats how it is where im from i would try 4 diffrent dealers to see who has the best deal on a new tractor 10% of is average 15% is a steal

my understanding, and I sure don't expect Messicks to confirm it, really...., is that dealer cost is about 30 off, so if you are getting half of that off as a discount, you are doing very, very well. You can do even better if a dealer is in financial
difficulty, and some are, but that sure doesn't help you in times of service. SanDucerro's advice was very good. Work the new tractor first, then do the trade, keeping in mind sales tax savings on a trade.
My "old" tractor was worth so little in trade that I simply kept it. I had fixed it up anyway, new tires, new clutch, and the engine just hummed. So it's ready for another thousand hours, and likely many more.

Sometimes it's nice having that second utility tractor around, to keep a post hole digger on, if you plant lots of trees, for example, or for some implement that is used somewhat frequently and is difficult to get off and on, or like the
phd, one that doesn't need the power of your larger tractor to run. If you get less than $5K on your trade, I'd suggest you think seriously about keeping it, if that can work for you. Or sell it yourself and use it until you do.

You will find lots of help here spending your money, it's one of the members' favorite pastimes.

TripleR · Jan 29, 2013

Good points by SanDucerro and daugen, we traded our L5030 HSTC with 1500 or so hours on it in for a L5740 HSTC and I made sure to figure out all of the aspects of the trade to see how good of a deal I got. I have no problem with the dealer making a few bucks, but I knew my tractor wouldn't last more than a few days on the lot and it didn't. He made money selling mine and money selling the new one as well with very little work.

There is no such thing as having an "extra" tractor, but it sure is nice to have more than one, we found that out years ago; some may not need one, but we use all of ours.

chim · Jan 29, 2013

daugen said:
...................Sometimes it's nice having that second utility tractor around, to keep a post hole digger on, if you plant lots of trees, for example, or for some implement that is used somewhat frequently and is difficult to get off and on, or like ......................

Made that choice twice here. The old Ford 1210 was going to be sold when we got the B7500 back in '02. When the Kubota was pressed into service, the Ford got stripped down to the bare bones for a paint job. Parts of the steering linkage were replaced as well as some other worn stuff. Full service and a paint job followed. At the time I was mowing around 5 extra acres at my Mom-in-law's. #3 Son enjoyed seat time and Mom had a barn to park it in, so I kept the Ford there and drove the Kubota back and forth so we could double team it.

Last spring the plan was to sell the Ford, the B7500 and a Jeep so the new L3200 wouldn't require any out-of-pocket expense. Since we were able to get a great deal on the new tractor, plans changed and we kept the Ford again. Wifey (who recently referred to the L3200 as a glorified garden tractor while describing it to friends) reasoned it might be nice to have something "to do the trimming".

SanDucerro · Jan 30, 2013

When it came time to upgrade my tractor this year, I decided two was better than one and kept the L3130. This past weekend the little L became the wife's tractor while I ran the M7040 through its paces. She's VERY happy to have a tractor she can call hers (even though she's usually at work in her office in Houston). I figured I'd rather have a backup than what little I could negotiate on trade-in - and since I'm in Texas and this is an AG tractor it's tax exempt - so that part of the equation wasn't relevant in my case. But it's a VERY good point for those that don't have the luxury.... I also agree with daugen 100% - it's gonna be nice to have the L3130 setup with the post hole digger while I let the larger M7040 run the cuttin' stuff!