Question, does NH even have their new line of tractors on their website? What is even worse is they have websites for all their dealers that are just as barren and lacking any information as their home site... I'm amazed, given the cost of the average tractor, the total lack of competitive drive towards sales and customer relations......I guess they are lazy knowing a tractor is a tractor..........If a car company did that, they wouldnt be in business long.
about harvest returns:
As explained to me by the JD and NH dealers....when the farmer rents he gets almost, if not, 100 percent credit toward purchase if rented for less than 6 months. Most cash them out and buy them for the balance. Im not sure who "owns" them if they end up back on the yard, I would assume its just like car dealers, the dealer is paying a float cost (finance charge) to keep the unit on the lot, and gets bonuses, incentives, hold backs, etc if they sell them fast. Probably the same is true with harvest rentals.
I have seen dealers TRY and sell for as much for the 100 or 200 hour unit as new but we all know its used. Most dealers will discount the units or put them back out on rental and I think it depends on how much money they are into the unit for....ie. if it was a short rental they still need to sell it for almost new, but if its got high hours, they would rather keep it and put it back out in rental then sell it......if that makes sense. The dealers don't want you to know about this........ they made about $800 a month, depending on the model, for whatever time it was out, so that should be deducted from the price. Most of the time its about half that, they want to profit on the rental, plus the sale.
When purchasing a rental unit; ask the dealer the particulars of who had it. Yes most are used just to pull fruit carts and in 3 months they can rack up 500 hours (which is then NOT really a rental return but a fully used unit). Normal returns have 100 hours or so......and honestly this use may be actually better in weeding out factory problems and its an easy breaking in.....pulling a fruit wagon is much less work on the unit than dragging a plow, running the FEL, pushing snow, etc. etc. When the rental units are returned they "should" be serviced, and prepped, and with the new unit warranty, its pretty safe.
Its hard to compare a rental harvest return with a privately owned unit. Some owners baby their machines, but others "learn" on them and the first 100 hours can be really rough, esp. if they have a loader. Most harvest returns don't use a loader, or remote valves if the unit has them; so they are used in dry weather, for usually one purpose, and the use is very light from operators that normally have used a tractor before. The downside is the operator normally doesn't own the tractor, so they may have a dent or two. Most dealers will fix any dents, and often replace a fender than fix it, and the units look new. I bought one that had 49 hours on it, with a hood that had a dent............the dealer replaced the hood, rather than fixing it, since most don't have a body shop..........new hood is easier.
Hope this helps.
