Buying Advice Purchasing Mahindra.... Over year owner.... Advice

[TheDingy]

Hi All,

We currently own a 6025 Mahindra tractor and were going to look at purchasing another but that isn't going to happen! Actually getting rid of the 6025 is highly likely.

The reason isn't because of the the tractor is one of the best tractors that we have had. It is strong, it is fairly reliable and is priced lower than some of the competition.

The problem is the dealer network. We complained about this in the first two weeks of ownership of the tractor to Mahindra but nothing has been done about it. Our tractors are required for operation of our barn and it hurts bad enough when they don't work that we have to rent another tractor. This is where the trouble begins. We purchased the tractor and the first time we put a box blade on it the 3 point went up after dragging 1/2 of a load and wouldn't come down. It took almost three weeks for the dealer to fix it. We had to get a rental tractor from someone else to make the barn work during this time. Then we were made to feel "special" because it was paid for under warranty and should have been paid for us because "this part doesn't break unless it is customer abuse and we have never seen it break with under an hour on the tractor". We did pay for the two weeks of rental on a tractor during this period. The tractor has been reliable other than the fact that the PTO stopped working when the tractor was less than a year old along with the dashboard, and the starter got where it would take a jump start 50% of the time to start it unless you left it on a battery charger all the time. Every time we called the dealer it was 2-6 weeks to get the mechanic to just look at it. Three weeks ago the starter wouldn't start it other than just to pull start the thing. So it HAD to be fixed. I called and found a dealer that could be working on it "early this week" and they said bring it down, well after driving 2.5 hours i got the tractor to them that day, because the other two dealers were from two weeks to a month to look at it. It was early the next week before it was looked at for the starting problem. Then another 1.5 weeks wait on the mechanic to look at the PTO problem(Sheared pin because of clutch sticking). Then another week for that to be fixed. We asked about warranty and were told "Mahindra won't cover it because it is listed in the paperwork that it isn't covered after a year." i asked them to ask Mahindrah because we had asked for it to be fixed long before we brought it in and they said too bad you didn't bring it in then. This was $1,100.00 and change for the fix and $2,200.00 and change for one week of tractor rental again when we had to have the tractor. No matter what the cost.

After these two incidents we could have purchased either a John Deere or a New Holland for much less than what we have paid for the tractor and fixes and rental fees.

The dealer here in Houston told us we would have the same service from them as we had with the local New Holland dealer. With New Holland we always had our tractor fixed and returned within a week and when they came out to pick it up from our barn they brought a complementary loaner tractor while ours was in the shop. This was even included at no cost when we burned up a clutch and had a 10 year old tractor. The third day of ownership of our Mahindra we were told we don't have loaner tractors and you have to tow your tractor in or pay us to do it. I was told by the owner of the Mahindra dealership "we didn't realize New Holland had that kind of service, I am sorry I can't do that" so they didn't live up to the hype or what they said they could do.

So in closing know that when you buy and price that Mahindra you have not much of a warranty, and you should have a mechanic lined up to work on it when it breaks. They have no onsite repair type of help unless you pay a premium and it isn't covered under warranty. Also no loaners are included. We are sorry that we purchased the Mahindra only due to the dealer network that backs it. We love the tractor and like it better than the 5303, but with the 5303 costing 2k more but having a 2 year warranty with a larger dealer network we would go that way even though the Mahindra tractor is better in our opinion.

Cheers,

TD

 

[RollingsFarms]

I wasn't going to comment until you mentioned you had a 5303 also. can i ask what you don't like about it compared to the Mahindra? is it the newer 03 model with the upgraded features(mfwd, rear scv, syncshuttle, etc) or is it the 2004- early 2007 model? i have an '08 5203 mfwd and am loving it after owning it for a year. i have a few complaints, but nothing major really, just petty stuff. i'll tell ya though, those 03 series may not be as fancy or as pretty as alot of other tractors but you sure don't hear of many spending alot of time in the shop. i asked my dealers mechanic about that and he informed me that the 03 series has the least ammount of warranty claims of ANY john deere product. that's saying something seeing is what all deere builds.

 

[EFC]

The New Holland dealer really went out of his way to earn your business. Yet still didnt earn it.....

If this is a integral part of your farm or business you might want to stop looking at each brands budget models. Sounds like you could justify looking at the higher end models.

Your Mahindra dealers might not have onsite repair but that that is not true of all Mahindra dealers.

Buck

 

[MDM]

Some lessons are more expensive than others, and be prepared to lose even more money when you try to sell it. I know Mahindra ag tractors are heavy, less expensive, and lift alot, but after what you have been through, I'd look at another dealer and possibly another brand. Good luck in resolving the matter.

 

[SPYDERLK]

TheDingy, I have an '06 7520 and I can understand your pain even tho I have been lucky. The 2 times my tractor was down - a loader curl cyl broke, and the cam gear broke - I got fairly prompt attention [both cyls replaced, and an upgraded cam gear assembly installed] at no expense other than loss of use. Still, some other problems were much slower to resolve. The problem was getting Mahindras full attention. My dealer was good for the 2 big things but nowhere for the smaller stuff. I had to do it myself thru many correspondences with tech reps. Im hoping that all the problematic points have been cared for. Your experience of many problems worries me tho. My experience is that tractors are tough and can be used firmly for a long time without failure - at least my other tractors. At 470 hrs the long term reliability of the MH is unproven. I just know that internal parts should not be breaking. You should get good explanations for yours that did. If you wish I will PM you with contact info on a very knowledgable tech rep in your area.
larry

 

[MtnViewRanch]

All brands and makes of tractors break. All of them have similar stories as yours. If you go and search, you will have these stories with each brand, big three or not, there are people on here that are very unhappy with the tractor that they bought, or the dealer or something. Tractors are machines and are built by man. Men make mistakes, sometimes it is a design flaw, sometimes it is just poor assembly on a particular machine.

It sounds to me that the most important thing for you is the dealer, you should find a dealer that will provide all the things that you want and then buy whatever brand it is that he sells.

Just my opinion, good luck.

 

[wallace]

All brands and makes of tractors break. All of them have similar stories as yours. If you go and search, you will have these stories with each brand, big three or not, there are people on here that are very unhappy with the tractor that they bought, or the dealer or something. Tractors are machines and are built by man. Men make mistakes, sometimes it is a design flaw, sometimes it is just poor assembly on a particular machine.

It sounds to me that the most important thing for you is the dealer, you should find a dealer that will provide all the things that you want and then buy whatever brand it is that he sells.

Just my opinion, good luck.

And to add one last statement to MtnViewRanch
Make sure you are up front to your dealer and ask about all of his/her services they provide, if just you assume, then the dealer may just assume you knew he/she was going to charge for it.

 

[greenmule]

I was in the market for a new tractor about 6 months ago and to be honest mahindra did not even come into contention.

Reason,they just came on to fast for me,went from never hearing of them to seeing them on tv,and seeing [on here I think],of them being some kind of award winners in japan.

Since, I have heard a good bit of negative things said about them.

Glad I bought what I did,a kioti.

 

[AchingBack]

I was in the market for a new tractor about 6 months ago and to be honest mahindra did not even come into contention.

Reason,they just came on to fast for me,went from never hearing of them to seeing them on tv,and seeing [on here I think],of them being some kind of award winners in japan.

Since, I have heard a good bit of negative things said about them.

Glad I bought what I did,a kioti.

You must have talked to 2 out of 100 owners.
Mahindra has made a mark for itself in the US tractor market, and according to a recent customer survey, 98 percent of Mahindra tractor owners were either 'satisfied' or 'extremely satisfied,' and said they would definitely recommend a Mahindra tractor to others.

 

[greenmule]

Well,they all break,thats for sure. Just[to me anyways] they really pushed them for a time there,advertising everywhere. Nothing wrong with that,though, deere advertises more than anybody and they have been in bussiness forever,[didn't buy a deere either].

Maybe its just me,but I heard of kioti 11-12 years ago [I think] in a quite kinda way,don't think I heard of mahindra till maybe 2-3 years ago,course like I said,maybe it was just the big advertising push that brought them to my attention,they could have been over here for past 20 years for all I know.

I guess a lot of advertising affects different people in different ways.

 

[DavesTractor]

The dealer really does matter. A dealer that sells into the ag market better understand the effects of downtime for the farmer and have a plan to minimize it. If he has only sold into the homeowner market, then he is used to seeing tractors used 50-150 hours a year, mostly weekend use around the property, as opposed to 1000 hours a year on some ag tractors, and with a farmers income tied to his productivity.

Here's the catch, a dealer can't sell a tractor at 3-5% over cost and then do free pickup and delivery and provide loaners. As EFC alluded to, buy from a dealer than can provide the service you need, and be willing to pay a little more because of it. And dealers, don't sell a product if you aren't willing to support it. It's not the customers fault if you sold it barely over cost, he still deserves proper service.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I was in the market for a new tractor about 6 months ago and to be honest mahindra did not even come into contention.

Reason,they just came on to fast for me,went from never hearing of them to seeing them on tv,and seeing [on here I think],of them being some kind of award winners in japan.

Since, I have heard a good bit of negative things said about them.

Glad I bought what I did,a kioti.

For whatever reason, it has become very popular lately for folks to bash Mahindra. Seems it is both non-owners with "bad feelings" or "bad impressions" gained from somewhere and some very vocal owners with a problem they can't handle &/or a grudge to bear, often against their dealer as opposed to the tractor itself. And it seems to almost feed on itself. This "most popular brand to bash" phenomena is discouraging to this highly satisfied owner, but it's something I've learned to live with. At the end of the day, one must go back to the numbers as quoted by member AchingBack. I, for one, believe them. I'd love to see similar statistics for the other brands.

Rusty

 

[mrpoppy58]

Secret,
I have a four year old Mahindra 2810 T.L.B. Gear drive. I like it. I had an Electrical problem once. I called Mahindra for help and the man I talked to walked me right through the problem. I ran heavy equip. from 1964 until I retired in 2002. I have yet to see a perfect Machine. I have seen Caterpiller bring machines that cost more than a million dollars to our jobs and sometimes they would break down in a matter of hours. Some people that have never ran or owned a Mahindra can pass judgement on them. I dont do that and I wish others would not do that. I never used a Kubota Machine, So I cant judge them.
Poppy

 

[rvaitor]

I bought a banged up Mahindra a few years back, my first tractor, it worked almost flawless for me for a year and a half. Loved the tractor and would buy another. I bought a Kioti Cab, the only reason I still have it is because of the Cab.

Dealers of every kind are struggling right now and I understand the need to get service, but I'd buy something with a strong dealer if you could. This wasn't a factor for me. The Kioti dealer has been good to me so I'll probably continue on with him.

I still would buy a Mahindra and I like the product line, may even look at a Mahindra truck when they come out.

 

[TheDingy]

To answer a few questions.

Yes, the New Holland dealer worked to get the business, but they couldn't due to the brand and tractors available.

The reason for a "budget" model is that things around the barn need to be simple and a budget model should run the same as any of the other options. Do you see Chevrolet lowering a warranty on a work truck or that they aren't as reliable? We don't need a crew cab LTZ dually at the barn, we need a standard cheap as possible work truck.

Mahindra is the better tractor IMHO, but the dealer network needs to get much better before it can be considered the better solution.

 

[flusher]

To answer a few questions.

Yes, the New Holland dealer worked to get the business, but they couldn't due to the brand and tractors available.

The reason for a "budget" model is that things around the barn need to be simple and a budget model should run the same as any of the other options. Do you see Chevrolet lowering a warranty on a work truck or that they aren't as reliable? We don't need a crew cab LTZ dually at the barn, we need a standard cheap as possible work truck.

Mahindra is the better tractor IMHO, but the dealer network needs to get much better before it can be considered the better solution.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the 6025 3pt and pto. Hope my 2008 Mahindra 5525 has better luck.

Waiting for warranty work to be done is the pits especially if you need your tractor for time-critical work.

Just curious: how much farming are you into (acreage, bales, etc)? I only have 10 acres so haying is a hobby (a little bit of hay farming is my excuse to work on tractors and implements).

And how do you handle tractor repair problems after the warranty expires (dealer service, non-dealer tractor repair shop, co-op, DIY)?

From watching the stuff on RFD-TV I get the impression that the really big farm operations usually have a pretty impressive on-site shop and service facility to handle their tractor repairs. I suppose they have trouble transporting their big stuff on the roads without some disassembly-- although I suspect there's a really strong DIY incentive operating here considering the high cost of dealer service and the inevitable schedule problems/delays like you experienced with your 6025.

Are you set up with something similar to handle repairs at your place? I have a 1000 sq ft, 2 bay shop that currently holds my 1964 MF-135 diesel (needs pto oil seal, trouble shoot an engine oil leak and some exhaust system work) and a 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF gasser that's being disassembled and completely restored. I suppose I have enough room to do heavy maintenance on the 5525 in my shop up to and including splitting the tractor.

 

[TheDingy]

Flusher,

While our barn may be small, 3 Acres, it is in the middle of the city of Houston, we use the tractor every day though. We haul round bales of hay, have to load much into a dump trailer and arena care every day. The FEL is a must for us to have every day. Also space is tight at our facility, we have 53 horses on that 3 acres.

A few days a month we mow 30-40 acres of property that is easy to mow though.

We have the facilities to maintain our tractor though and the staff to do it. But that tractor came with a warranty that was supposed to be honored our people work on Chevrolets and not tractors every day. If a customer was to come into our shop and be told hey you have to rent a car, we can't get to your car until next week or the next they would go ballistic. They dealer didn't even tell us it wasn't under warranty until after they had repaired it.

When you buy a new tractor you don't want to have repair it yourself, you expect certain things about that new tractor. Such as good dealer service, reliability and no upkeep costs. With a Mahindra you aren't going to get it.

From now own we will have to service maintain the tractor internally which isn't right. We should have a dealer network that is reliable that we can just drop the tractor off to get it repaired or maintained and then pick it up. It is far too expensive for us to maintain it.

TD

 

[DavesTractor]

Flusher,

When you buy a new tractor you don't want to have repair it yourself, you expect certain things about that new tractor. Such as good dealer service, reliability and no upkeep costs. With a Mahindra you aren't going to get it.

TD

Your experience is not typical. We've retailed hundreds of Mahindras and we do not have dissatisfied customers. They are very reliable, but things do break on any machine. We work on all brands at our shop, and have plenty of work for our mechanics whether working on green, orange, blue or red tractors.

However, a dealer putting your work off for days or especially for weeks is not right. Nor is it right to do a repair that might be assumed to be warranty and then surprise the customer with a bill. It sounds like your service has not been good and I can understand your frustration and would likely feel the same way if in your shoes. Without talking to the dealer, I don't know if there is another side to this story, but I can see why you are frustrated. Just don't assume that every dealer for one brand of tractor is the same, that is painting with too broad a brush.

 

[EFC]

So in closing know that when you buy and price that Mahindra you have not much of a warranty, and you should have a mechanic lined up to work on it when it breaks. They have no onsite repair type of help unless you pay a premium and it isn't covered under warranty. Also no loaners are included. We are sorry that we purchased the Mahindra only due to the dealer network that backs it. We love the tractor and like it better than the 5303, but with the 5303 costing 2k more but having a 2 year warranty with a larger dealer network we would go that way even though the Mahindra tractor is better in our opinion.

When you buy a new tractor you don't want to have repair it yourself, you expect certain things about that new tractor. Such as good dealer service, reliability and no upkeep costs. With a Mahindra you aren't going to get it.

From now own we will have to service maintain the tractor internally which isn't right. We should have a dealer network that is reliable that we can just drop the tractor off to get it repaired or maintained and then pick it up. It is far too expensive for us to maintain it.

TD

Please stop generalizing your dealers as the entire Mahindra dealer network. Your lumping together literally hundreds of individual dealers including one who was Rural Tractor Dealer of the year. Most of these dealers are very hard working, service oriented dealerships that do not deserve the tag your handing out. My Chevrolet dealer took 14 days to get a new ECU installed and told me up front that it would take a week to get to it and I should rent a car or walk to work and it is under warranty. So I guess Chevrolet needs to work on their dealer network?....

I feel really bad for your New Holland dealer. I feel his pain, like him we go above and beyond to service our customers. More often than not though the loyalty is a one sided street. I have laid in the pouring rain and mud at 2 in the morning (by the way no auto dealer I have ever dealt with would do that or even do on site service for that matter) to get a guy up and running only to have him buy a tractor from 1000 miles away to save 100 dollars. On top of that walk in my door and rub it in that I have to support his new tractor. Your New Holland dealer had the lower budget models like the TT and TD's but my guess is this was strictly a money purchase. The cake and eat it too. Not that im judging but nothing is free and your New Holland dealer has his support built into his price (On site repair and loaners are out of his pocket, New Holland does not pay for it).

There is a difference between a homeowner/small farm tractor and a commercial/industrial tractor. If you earn a living with your equipment and breakdowns are detrimental to your business commercial equipment might save money in the long run. That doesnnt mean they are more complicated or have more bells and whistles it just means they have a duty cycle more related to the task. I have 7 different 60 hp tractors in two brands that I sell. All are great tractors and both brands are quality companies. But each one of those tractors has a different customer. Sell a great model for the wrong task and you doom it to an early death.

Your dealer should be able to get you into the shop in a more reasonable time frame. I wish I was two weeks backlogged on service on a regular basis. Even backlogged we fit people in to accommodate their work schedules if they can work with us also. If they are martyrs though then there is nothing I can do. Your dealer did not live up to your expectations (or mine really short of hearing his side of the story) but the good news that came out of this is youll know exactly what to ask of your next dealer regarding service, warranty and support on your next tractor.

Buck

 

[TheDingy]

Please stop generalizing your dealers as the entire Mahindra dealer network. Your lumping together literally hundreds of individual dealers including one who was Rural Tractor Dealer of the year. Most of these dealers are very hard working, service oriented dealerships that do not deserve the tag your handing out. My Chevrolet dealer took 14 days to get a new ECU installed and told me up front that it would take a week to get to it and I should rent a car or walk to work and it is under warranty. So I guess Chevrolet needs to work on their dealer network?....

It isn't only my experience or the ones with dealers in this area. We have property that is in another state and two of the neighbors to that property have Mahindra tractors. They feel the same way that we do. Each neighbor purchased their tractor from a different dealer.

With the Chevrolet dealer, if this was the original warranty you need to file a complaint with Chevrolet. They pay for rental after the first 24 hours that it is in the shop and the dealer would be in some serious trouble if they didn't give you a rental.

Why didn't we go with the New Holland dealer, simple you do business with who does business with you. The New Holland dealer wouldn't even let us bid their trucks.