Dealer Why won't the dealer let us "test" drive the fel??

[canoetrpr]

The Kioti dealer in my area - Lakeridge Country Equipment encouraged me to play with the backhoe on the demo CK30 he had on the yard. He had a spot setup for demos in his yard.

At the time I was very upfront with him that I wasn't very serious about replacing my L3400 but wanted to see what Kioti had to offer. I wasn't in the market for a backhoe anyway but he encouraged me to try it out.

Guess where I will be going if I want a Kioti in the future? That little playing he let me do also convinced me that I really do want a backhoe in the future. Guess where the first place is that I will go if I decide to get a backhoe attachment on my L3400?

Since then I have sent about 4-5 others his way and I think 2 have purchased tractors from him.

I think that if you are a dealer then you ought to have at least one or two demo machines to allow a serious buyer to test drive the FEL/backhoe in your own yard. I think that a small rental business on the side allows the dealer access to machines for this purpose. I would treat all that walk in your door well because you really don't know who will end up providing you or referring you business in the future. Doing anything less is short sighted IMHO.

 

[megaboz]

Although OT, what do you mean about "slow"? My BH70X seems to move fast for me, but I have not tried fiddling with the thing to slow it down.

I know, still off topic. My BX24, the backhoe does anyone task ok, but trying doing more than one movement at a time, it creeps. Like putting both stablizers down at the same time, pretty slow. Curling and swinging the boom left to right, slow. It has power, it will drag the BX all over the ground, but it is slow. The proportiong of the valves could have been better designed for what the BH costs to have. Trying to do fluid movements to get the job done like the big boy machines doesn't happen.

So now on topic, a test drive, even without digging dirt would have probably led me to not have bought the BX24 but something else, probably something bigger. My BH sits off the tractor 98% of the time (mostly because I don't have uses for it right now and the fact it raises the center of gravity to high for my property because the tractor isn't big enough) and is only used when I am waiting for my birthday to get here.

Of course some of the issues that I found BH I would never have found without testing it on my property, so again playing on a level lot somewhere would have done little good.

 

[tommyz270]

Hey megaboz, I know this is off topic, but to comment on your off topic I went to someones house who was selling their BX24 and used their machine. He would never turn the rpm's over 2,200.. I tried it at that speed and it hardly did much work.. I turned it up to 2,800/3,000 and it worked much/much better.

You probably already do this, but thought I'd offer it up since it was something I've experienced and in case you do only run it at 2,200 rpm's.

Now that I have driven and tested both the B and BX, I know for sure I'm getting the B and don't have to test the bh on the B because I'm assuming it will perform to the same level over the bx as the fel did.

 

[RayCo]

Even if I had gotten to test out my BX before buying it, I wouldn't have really gotten any true sense for what it could do, since it was my first purchase. I got more of a sense for its capabilities from reading these forums than I did from playing around with someone else's BX23 before I bought my 24. I had to own the machine and get the hours up before really knowing it.

Now, when it comes time for me to buy my next tractor, it'll be a different story.

 

[newbury]

Back on topic -
If either of the first two Kubota dealers I had visited had let me "test drive" I most likely would have bought a tractor, FEL and BH from them. But obviously they did not need the sale. They were very low key and basically said "the tractors are out front".

I'm glad they didn't.

Even though I consider my self a "smart buyer" after operating the tractor/FEL I finally bought I could have seen myself buying something for "want". After using my tractor BH combo I would have bought a much more expensive package for "lust".

To me driving a tractor around is fun. Sales value 1
Using the FEL is neat, move sand a lot faster than a shovel - Sales value 3
Using the BH to dig a 7' deep trench, move dirt deeper than I can dig - Sales value 10.

Now I don't know what Messicks or other good dealers do but if the dealers I visited just would have had a "play area" where I could of "tested" their equipment for a nominal fee (to keep out "tire kickers") the first one would have sold me.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Now I don't know what Messicks or other good dealers do but if the dealers I visited just would have had a "play area" where I could of "tested" their equipment for a nominal fee (to keep out "tire kickers") the first one would have sold me.

We usually will let people demo common machines like BX25's. However we won't throw a backhoe on an L-series for someone to play with. We do have a demo pile of dirt. Usually when we let someone do this its the people who are very close to buying and need pushed off the fence. The demo machine is usually a new tractor and the customer ends up buying that unit. With our slim margin, we can't afford to be really messing up machines because we can't offer a substantial discount beyond what we already do. About half the requests we get for demo's are guys who have work to do at home and are fishing for a free rental. You'd be surprised how few demo's really get done. Most compact buyers are not tractor pro's and seem uncomfortable operating the machine around other people. Its like pulling teeth to get some people just to drive around the parking lot.

 

[newbury]

We usually will let people demo common machines like BX25's. However we won't throw a backhoe on an L-series for someone to play with. We do have a demo pile of dirt. Usually when we let someone do this its the people who are very close to buying and need pushed off the fence. The demo machine is usually a new tractor and the customer ends up buying that unit. With our slim margin, we can't afford to be really messing up machines because we can't offer a substantial discount beyond what we already do. About half the requests we get for demo's are guys who have work to do at home and are fishing for a free rental. You'd be surprised how few demo's really get done. Most compact buyers are not tractor pro's and seem uncomfortable operating the machine around other people. Its like pulling teeth to get some people just to drive around the parking lot.

That's why I mentioned a "nominal" fee. If my closest dealer had let me "play" with the BX25 for $20 I would have known I wanted it or something bigger. I'm actually kind of glad you are not local. I probably would have spent a lot more for something I don't really need. (I'm pretty sure I need my small one for the woods and a bigger one for construction )
I knew I needed a FEL, 20 to 30hp and a 3pt. with a box blade. I knew I wanted a backhoe but did not expect the backhoe to be so much FUN.
I understand that a lot of people are looking to get something for nothing, but dealers should let the guy with cash to drive and operate a potential purchase under a modified rental arrangement.

 

[megaboz]

I think it is funny that no one is seeming to get the point. Demo a certain tractor long enough, and it is USED! Scratch it up, it is used. Which means the dealer isn't even going to make the profit he normally makes.

I am not a dealer by any chance, but I can see where they are coming from. Dealers are paying everyday for the tractor to sit on their lot usually in the form of interest. Sure if they sold the tractor as soon as it came in the lot they would be making good money (big money, probably not). It is the same for the car dealer. Until they sell the unit they are losing money.

And I don't think $20 is nominal fee, there is the whole issue of insurance and the cost of delivery, repairs, etc. Small dealers can't suck that up. A dealer can't make money just renting one or two pieces of equipment either because of the insurance.

From what I have seen there are dealers posting on here, and I think they would all love to be able to make every possible consumer happy, but they all can't.

Look at it like this, can you afford to loan/rent your tractor out and not know if it would come back in one piece? Or with 500 hours added to the meter. Or come back at all?

 

[newbury]

And I don't think

$20 is nominal fee, there is the whole issue of insurance and the cost of delivery, repairs, etc.

I was writing about "demoing" it ON the dealers property with the dealer standing by, like when you drive a demo car. So they can check that you take the parking brake off.
I was definitely not writing about delivering it etc.
Messick wrote that they had a demo tractor and a pile of dirt. If my local dealer had that I would have gladly paid a nominal fee to try out a tractor.