[Jolly]

I may, or may not be getting rid of my old Long 350. Some of the tractors I have on my list to look at include the Massey 2605 and 2615, Farmall 45A and its twin the New Holland Workmaster 45, John Deere 5045D, Kubota MX4700 and the Mahindra 4025 and 4525 - all 2WD.

I have flat ground and I use a utility tractor for about anything one uses a tractor for, including brushogging, skidding logs, digging postholes, splitting firewood, discing foodplots, some boxblade work and garden work.

Question:

If you could save a significant amount of money, say, a couple thousand dollars, would you buy a new tractor from a dealer two or three hundred miles away?

 

[jwal10]

Sure, did it many times. Warrantee work is covered by the company, any dealer can do it. After warrantee I want a GOOD dealer CLOSE to get parts from, though. That being said though, I would not buy a brand new tractor right now. Except the bare bones mechanical ones with no computerized electrical made by a company well established in this country....James

 

[sammyd]

I priced all those tractors last year but when I went to the Case IH dealer the salesman did more than quote a price, he asked questions and I ended up buying a used tractor. Got twice the tractor for about 5000 less than I was looking to spend on new and the machine was only a few years old.

300 miles is a ways away when you need something fixed now but the chores you listed are not too time sensitive. I would still consider the hassle factor and dig a bit harder closer to home.

 

[Awnry Abe]

Yes, but I would also take the deal to a closer dealer-I.e. The one I am going to be depending on for the life of the tractor--and use it as a bargaining chip to get a better deal close by. You may have to give up something, but you should also be able to get something.

 

[AmericanStand]

Are you going to drive that 300 miles for parts and service?

 

[Jolly]

Are you going to drive that 300 miles for parts and service?

I think that's part of the equation.

How much service do you need? How often do new tractors break? Especially the type of stuff I'm looking at?

For instance, there's a guy in Kentucky (and yes, that's a bit too far for me) who is well known for his aggressive Kubota pricing. He routinely will ship tractors several hundred miles away.

But...maybe that's due to the fact that Kubotas don't have a lot of teething problems. Or because most Kubota dealers don't like to discount very much.

 

[AmericanStand]

What I ment is if you don't buy from the local guy he might go out of business then you HAVE to drive 300 miles!
There would have to be a difference of over $1000 before I would buy that far away and I would definitely show the local guy the deal and ask how close he could get.