wfphay said:
I don't know what kind of farming you have been doing nor for how long. I have been it most of my life and have run all of the major brands. If I needed warranty service they would come and get the tractor or send a service tech at no charge. A local dealer even provides a loaner tractor while the customer has service work on his. This is just plain customer support. I have not found that with Montana in my area. Sure it cost the dealer something, it is not a "freebe" but it should cost the dealer, not the customer. Montana, like the others do, should back up their local dealers and reimburse them for anything they spend supporting the customer for warranty work. Montana was agressive in their sales, to stay in it for the long run, they are going to have to be just as agressive in customer support.
Well, now you've got me wfphay. I'm not a full time farmer and I never have been. If that's been your experience with other tractor dealers, and that type of service is what you've become accustomed to, then I can see where you'd be upset with the dealer you bought your Montana from.
Did you ask this dealer before you made this Montana purchase if he adhered to this practice too? If not, why not?
Many businesses are changing how and what they do for customers at this point, and fuel costs are certainly a major factor in their decision for that change. Some are surcharging, and some others are just eliminating certain services because of fuel costs. The tractor market is very competitive and profit margins are getting smaller and smaller. With the costs of fuel today, and considering the mileage factor that a truck towing a large trailer to haul a tractor gets, a dealer could easily eat up any profit he made, in diesel fuel, with just a few trips. I don't think there's a manufacturer out there, of any tractor, reimbursing dealers for diesel fuel expenses. Warranty work yes, but not diesel fuel.
I bought my 5740C for several reasons. Quality of that Mitsubishi 4 cyl diesel engine, and everything else that I got for the price, compared to the other tractor manufacturers' products of the basic same size and model. Most importantly too, I was buying my Montana for thousands less that those others wanted for their tractor. I always figured that those thousands that I saved on the purchase price could buy me an awful lot of diesel fuel when I had to transport my tractor to the dealer after the warranty period was up, when needed. So far, I'm way ahead on the deal and as I said, my dealer is an hour away, one way. I'll bet you are too, if you figure it that way.
It's a pain in the butt when I have to trailer it to the dealer, but with the many thousands I saved at purchase time, compared to other "name brands" it's still well within my hourly rate for time spent. I just wish I could make that hourly rate all of the time.
