What's new
What's new

OT - buying a tractor

RH68

Cast Iron
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Location
Manchester, MD
I'm considering buying a new compact tractor. Are tractor dealers like car dealers where the sale price is highly negotiable? First time I have considered buying new. Figured a few of you have been down this road before.

Thanks!
 
RH68,

I can tell you there is a huge difference in price for the exact same tractor among dealers. We buy ours from a "redneck look'n joint" (to quote Charlie Daniels) out in the sticks for much cheaper than the local Harry Homeowner type dealer. But we get much better service and support from the local dealer. Parts prices are about the same. That's my experience with Kubota anyway. Also, I'm just guessing here, that the end of a month might be a good time to buy.

Also, if you get something below 26hp it will not come with the complex and expensive cat cooker system.

Good luck.
 
Kubota is the top ,no doubt......but I bet the dealers are least likely to deal......One question...do tractors in US have electronic fuel injection?....a manual tranny and PTO are a must, IMHO,but can you still get them ?...If you are a cluey mechanic,a low hour grey import will save a lot.........and grey import spares arent hard to find with the net.
 
This where buying used might make more sense. I've a '99 JD 4500 here. No computer, no tier blah blah. PITA safety relay systems, but all fixable with basic wiring and trouble shooting skills.

Very dependable, except for the plastic body parts...

Excavators around here are buying used too because techs around here just can't fix the computer/electronics stuff.
 
Personally I only buy slightly used tractors. No sales tax, better price, plus they usually throw in whatever implements they have with it for the price.
 
I'll tell you one thing - Nothing is worse than when you cain't get no satisfaction and your tractor cain't get no traction.
 
If you do go the new tractor route ask the last 2 or 3 finalist to bring the tractors to you place. They were happy to do this for me. The JD dealer only had to travel 15 miles, the IH guy brought his unit 45 miles. If you already have an implement or 2 give them a test under load.
I ended up with the IH JX65 the dealer came took it back and reconfigured the tire width to suit as part of the deal.

Going off topic, would be a fine way to buy a truck also. A few years ago I eliminated ford because it was to hard to get in with the steering wheel height and braking meant holding the knee to the side to get on the brake pedal. Left chevy and dodge, sure would have been nice to have them both on the ranch for a couple of days to compare. No working with them to scratch them but just going back and forth to compare stuff without a salesman standing over you.
 
This where buying used might make more sense. I've a '99 JD 4500 here. No computer, no tier blah blah. PITA safety relay systems, but all fixable with basic wiring and trouble shooting skills.

Very dependable, except for the plastic body parts...

Excavators around here are buying used too because techs around here just can't fix the computer/electronics stuff.

All those special (let's change the design every year) curved glass pieces
on the mini excavator cabs look very expensive.
 
All those special (let's change the design every year) curved glass pieces
on the mini excavator cabs look very expensive.

If you’re buying new have the dealer commit to keeping a curved windshield on hand in their parts dept. Hyster has kept up on that for a purchase I made. Curved windshields are really nice for the operators.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Kubota is the only brand I am looking at. Have an 18HP diesel Kubota now in my current tractor and looking to go to the 23HP range.

I've gotten one price so far from a local dealer and it was about $1000 less than MSRP. That was just with me requesting a quote by email and not trying to do any haggling. Waiting on prices from a few dealers in Delaware since there is no sales tax there and I'm pretty close.
 
Buying used can be a problem. I helped my brother buy a used one from a dealer. The first one being sold by the owner, that we looked at, the instructions to find the farm where go down this road until you get to where the school used to be then turn right. Took us three trips to find the farm before GPS.
The dealer was downtown with a sign.
Bill D
 
Of course, I'd buy a Kubota no matter what. But in light of the royal screwing John Deere has foisted upon their customers, I'd really avoid anything remotely green in color. Or at least know some Russians if you do.

Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware - VICE

Depending on how you want to look at, they are all screwing us. It's not practical for any homeowner type person to buy the actual diagnostic software. Even if you can buy it, the price will never be justified.

Yearly cost for the software is somewhere from $1500 to $6500 per year, depending on the manufacturer and how bad your local dealer wants to screw you. You have to buy it from the local deal.

It would be nice if they would do what the auto makers do where you can buy a J2534 pass through device that hooks to your computer and then you can rent the diagnostic software for 24 or 48 hours. Cost is usually less than $100.
 
Happy with my Deere 2050. Purchased used from the Deere dealer locally.

Salesman was incredibly helpful in narrowing choices down to a tractor suited to my needs (hilly property, 25 +/- hp, loader, affordable, live pto).

Older unit not as tied to proprietary engine software, but yes, probably hostage to the dealer service department anyway.

Given how little I knew about tractors I probably would have bought something completely unsuited to my needs off Craigslist without his guidance.

YMMV.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Kubota is the only brand I am looking at. Have an 18HP diesel Kubota now in my current tractor and looking to go to the 23HP range.

Most of us were thinking of a different color horse when you asked about tractors. My neighbor has tractors that use close to a thousand gallons of fuel per day. The weight of the fuel is more than twice the weight of the "tractor" you are looking at. That neighbor bought an F350 to put a fuel tank on and transport fuel for his tractors, the truck was not big enough to carry a days worth of fuel per trip.
 
Kubotas are a market of their own.
The guy I lease my big field to has a fleet of 300hp and up Deere's and CATs, and, new, each of em is well over a quarter million bucks.
Horse trading on price on one of those is possible, and can save a bunch.

But I live close enough to a big city full of rich guys that Kubotas are worth as much used here as new. Everybody with a Farmette wants a Kubota, and used ones around here sell for as much as new ones, in a week.

I find the market for used Kubotas to be kinda like that for used Toyota Pickups- that is, the used ones are all larded up with every accessory, and long term, relatively high interest loans- so the guys selling usually NEED to get top dollar, to pay off that loan.

Whereas, if you dont need ever single add-on and doo dad, you can usually buy a new one for less than the available used ones.
The same way you can buy a stripper new Toyota for ten grand less than the average used one with every luxury upgrade, and where the guy is upside down on a 7 year 20% loan.

If'n you were talking over 50 hp, 2wd, then, suddenly tractors are a whole nother market. I can drive a couple hundred miles into the farm country of eastern washington, and get a real tractor, for half what a tiny used Kubota goes for- but it would be 2WD, and, often, gas, not diesel- the older ones all are. Heck, I have seen great tractors for a couple grand like that.

But anywhere near a big city, where you have the landscape studded with $25k Kubotas with backhoes and belly mowers sitting on 2.5 acre spreads, and the chances of finding a deal go way way down.
 
Our local tractor dealers get a bunch of new tractors and rent them out for grape harvesting in the fall. The deals are on the rental returns late in the fall. These are slightly larger than compact tractors (30-40 hp), but I've been happy with the Kubota we bought 12 years ago.
 








 
Back
Top