Where you buy and where you go for service

[IslandTractor]

Where do i get my tractor serviced? In my back yard by the barn.

For the -very- occasional work i can't do.. it goes to the dealer 45 miles down the road. He picks it up and returns it for a reasonable fee since i don't have a trailer big enough to move a tractor weighing near 8000#.

soundguy

That is also my setting/strategy. My twist is that the tractor is on an island so it is a major PITA and expense to get it off regardless of who or where the dealer is. I found a dealer 300 miles away who was internet savvy, who is happy to help diagnose issues by phone (cell phones work underneath tractors!) and uses UPS to send me supplies/parts etc. So far so good.

If something major happened I could not deal with I'd have to pay my dealer (or a more local dealer) to come get the tractor but I'm confident that he'd only do that if he really couldn't figure out a way to support me remotely.

 

[greggh]

I wanted a JD so I purchased a JD about 50 miles away. Since that time A MF dealer opened in the little town where I have the tractor. I had the MF dealer do the 100 hour service. Besides the new MF's he has several JD's for sale. If I had warranty work, I don't knw if I could take it to him or if I would need to take it back to the JD dealer I purchase it from. So far I have not had to consider those options. The Deere runs great.

 

[Soundguy]

That is also my setting/strategy. My twist is that the tractor is on an island so it is a major PITA and expense to get it off regardless of who or where the dealer is. I found a dealer 300 miles away who was internet savvy, who is happy to help diagnose issues by phone (cell phones work underneath tractors!) and uses UPS to send me supplies/parts etc. So far so good.

If something major happened I could not deal with I'd have to pay my dealer (or a more local dealer) to come get the tractor but I'm confident that he'd only do that if he really couldn't figure out a way to support me remotely.

Sounds like a barge or ferry and a rollback!

soundguy

 

[coobie]

So i've noticed that several of you have bought their tractor from a dealer far away (100+ miles). At the same time, several of you have stressed how important it is to have a good dealer to work with when you have problems with your tractor. Isn't the distance from where you bought it a concern? Do you get your tractor serviced by somebody else (closer) then who you bought it from? Or do you get it shipped all the way back to the guy you bought it from? This far i was working under the assumption that the people we buy it from would be the people who do the work on the tractor.

My wife and i both don't like to buy "blind", meaning we'd like to at least sit on the thing before we buy it of course. And that means we need to go to local dealers to check out the tractors in person. And i don't like using them for that and then not give them our business. If they are holding the inventory so that i can sit on them, i don't want to then take my business elsewhere unless the price difference is significant. Support your local shop kind of deal i guess.

What are your experiences / thoughts / approaches here?

I travel 70 miles to my Kioti dealer(Michigan Iron & Equipment) its been worth the drive.Great sales and service and good folks to deal with.I used to own a 1998 Massey ferg.1240 but all three dealers packed up and left the state.Called agco main headquaters In Alanta Ga.about when they were going to have another Massey dealer take over this area,there response no time soon,no parts or local service.No brainer for me to buy the Kioti,I now have 4 dealers within a 100 miles of my house.No regrets yet,coobie.

 

[unreconstructed]

I believe that AKfish will have the record--6000 miles round trip to buy his tractor. I thought mine was on the longish side--400 miles round trip, but see now that's like comparing my little league batting record to that of Larry Bond (no roids for me).

Anyhow, I think you got to go where you can get along and not get PO'd by the salesman, shop guys, or parts guys if at all possible. I use 3 JD dealers--one only when I have to --the others are both 2 for 3 in the PO test. On one of them the sales staff flunked but the shop and parts guys are terrific. the other the parts guys are about as friendly as pack rats in a fence row fire.

I have two places which are 280 miles apart; hence the three dealers. The dealers are separated by 350 miles. So I just go where I can deal.

 

[IslandTractor]

Sounds like a barge or ferry and a rollback!

soundguy

It's worse than that. The ferry won't consider booking a tractor/trailer or rollback on a weekend in either direction so it means a couple of days off work just to get the tractor off and then back on the island. Honestly I'd probably pay to have the dealer make a house call and come out ahead.

The silver lining of this situation is that I can easily justify buying any tool I like that might keep me from needing to get the tractor into a shop. And with the combo of TBN and telephone dealer support, so far there has been nothing I could not handle.

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds good. and i hear ya on the 'farm call!' and tool needs.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

Honestly I'd probably pay to have the dealer make a house call and come out ahead.

This is not an uncommon practice for Farmers or commercial operators.

On some larger commercial operations there may be a dealer service truck or two constantly on site. This may be in addition to the owners service personnel.

 

[cgreenway]

I spoke with a dealer in Kingsport ,TN, and I was asking and talking about prices, and the subject of another dealer came up, he ask how far away it was and ect., and said they better like to drive that far when they have a problem with it, cause I ain't gonna fix it, don't have to and won't do it, going on about the price the other dealer gave, thats to low, I'd be afraid their going out of business trying to sell tractors that cheap, it's really crazy that someone would tell you they wouldn't work on a warranty issue, I've bought numerous cars and ect and moved state to state, and auto dealers love to do the warranty work, and it helps build a repore for me to buy from them in the future, just don't seem like good business sence to me,

 

[canoetrpr]

Unfortunately many tractor dealers (and brands) are situated about 50 years in the past and this sort of attitude is not uncommon.

To an extent, some companies will allow dealers to drag their heels on warranty service for machines that were not sold by them. By the book - if there is something that needs to be fixed during warranty - while you might be *advised* to take your tractor to the dealer you bought it from, they are required to get it done for you none the less. What they can do is put you at the end of their queue. Poor service to me is equal to almost no service at all.

Here's how I look at it:
- Buy a brand that there are plenty of sources for parts - both local and over the internet.
- Buy a brand that there are 1 or 2 dealers within driving distance if it is ABSOLUTELY necessary some day that you get service done at an authorized dealers.
- Buy a tractor that is known to be reliable.
- Then pick a dealer that is known to be good to deal with and will give you a good price. There are several that people will rave about on this forum even if they are many hundreds of miles away. If you are lucky there might be one or two that are well recommended within a couple hundred miles.

For the most part, if you buy a brand new tractor, you should only need fluids and filters during the warranty period (I'm talking typical hobbiest use). Any small repairs that might come up you can tackle yourself for cheaper than it will cost to move your tractor to even your most local dealer and if you bought from a remote dealer, I think he ought to be willing to work with you at least to cover parts under warranty.

If you are mega unlucky and have some substantial failure requiring that a dealership fix the tractor, approach the local dealers nicely and give them the opportunity to take care of it. If you get the run around, escalate to corporate and give them an adequate amount of time to deal with it.

If you don't get the timely response you need, PAY CASH and get the tractor fixed and deal with getting your money back from corporate or file a small claims court suit.

You are unlikely to get into a situation with almost any new tractor which absolutely requires dealer service. If you've got a lemon, you should really be dealing with corporate to take a bit of a depreciation hit and move to another tractor anyway.

It is a calculated risk of some inconvenience you might have to take. I think that the risk is low given a brand and model with a reliable history and a far away dealer with a good reputation. It is one I would be even more inclined to take if the local dealer said "buy here or else". Such dealers don't know the forest from the trees and IMHO are not worth dealing with for either purchase or service.

What you WILL loose out on is any "goodwill" upgrades which a good local dealer will have done for you. Those are cases where there isn't a failure but there is a reported problem. This is a risk worth taking because unless your local dealer comes highly recommended you really have NO IDEA how he will treat you under such conditions.

All of the above is all the more reason IMHO to see if you can find a 2 to 3 year old late model machine. Most homeowner/hobby farm owner types like me use their machines 50-100 hrs a year. Save the money on the depreciation and you can make your own warranty with the savings.