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

[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.