<font color="blue">"...I'm not too worried about a bit of an initial delivery expense from a more remote dealer - but about the logistics of follow-up warranty care. I'd much rather develop a good relationship with a more local dealer if possible - but I haven't read about anyone's purchasing stories here close by me - good or bad..."</font>
Well Tim....it sounds like you've got a good strategy. The point on the warranty is well worth considering...much easier if you were located near a local dealer who could quickly run out to your place to correct a minor warranty issue or two. But, your strategy of gradually easing out to shop at the furthermost dealers is also prudent.
In fact, I would suggest the following. It sounds like you've been planning this a long time now.....so, instead of rushing things now, take a few more weeks or a month or so and get quotes from as many dealers as possible. Put together your line item shopping list of exactly what you want, hand it to the dealers as you visit them, and ask them to give you THEIR BEST LINE ITEM PRICE on everything. Let them know you're shopping around and you're looking for the best deal. If they really want to deal they'll be more than glad to oblige you and work up a line item breakdown of prices. This is comparison shopping.....and this is what I did with 5 dealers I went to over a 4-week period last March.
For me, KC-Canary won out when they came in with the best price quote on the whole tractor package. Ironically, they were the dealer that was the furthest away from me (about 70 miles) and one I never originally considered until John Miller III recommended them. But, I also learned a lot about how the other dealers operated. A couple dealers never bothered to give me the line item breakdown I was looking for....they provided only the grand total that didn't help as much as the delineated price breakdown when trying to understand how good of a deal I was getting. One of these two same dealers came back with a total package price two weeks after I provided them with my list....somewhat tardy since I told all these guys I was looking to make a tractor deal within a week or so. A third dealer took about 10 days but it took nagging e-mails and a phone call on my part to get that price breakdown. The point I'm making here is I got to see for myself how dealers operate....the good and the bad aspects regarding price, customer interaction, etc....and I used all of these experiences to help me decide on purchasing from KC-Canary. They came back with a line item price quote within 2-3 days. I did all my negotiating with Mark through one visit at the dealership and then numerous subsequent e-mails. All details on price and delivery were nailed down before I signed the contract. They delivered when they promised they would and the remainder of the story is told elsewhere in these forums.
So, final points I'm suggesting are: 1) give the Maple Mountain dealers a fair shot....see how they deal, 2) take a few trips out to the more distant dealerships and get a feel for their prices and how they do business, and 3) consider the Ohio, New York, Maryland dealers that have garnered good testimonials by other TBN members. You'll learn much in this comparison shopping adventure besides price considerations and all this information will coalesce at some point for you.
My bet is you go this route and you'll find a 'good' dealer you may not even be cognizant of right now who'll give you a fair deal, good service terms, and the feeling you've found a dealer you could depend on in the future if you had follow-up questions on anything pertaining to your purchase.
Hope this helps out somewhat. Let us know how you make out.
....Bob
