Dealers Not Accepting Some Brands on Trade

[Tractorable]

I’ve been noticing that some tractor dealers won’t accept TYM, LS, Branson, Bad Boy, or Mahindra tractors on trade. That may make it more difficult to sell/trade your tractor if you own one of those brands. Are these dealers being uppity about their brand or do you think they have legit business reasons for doing so? I’ve never seen a car dealer not accept another brand before so why do tractor dealers do it?

 

[ruffdog]

A dealer has the option to take anything they want (or not) in trade. Maybe they have a hard time moving them at the local auction or getting parts/service for them. Why not let the owners do the work on selling the other brands?

 

[4570Man]

Smaller dealers are more hesitant to to accept trades in general because they have to pay that value out of their own pocket.

 

[lilranch2001]

What is a “Bad Girl “ tractor?

I could be interested in one.

 

[Ricn]

Around here many brands are hard sell I think. Most off brands do not have very good dealer support. JD and kubota is what we see mostly when out driving around the farms. Many years back Massy was popular but lost their respect. New Holland has a good size dealer to the north but I seldom see many other than a few large units in the fields. Lots of older IH tractors still running, they seem to go forever too as I see the same ones in the field I saw many years ago but no dealer for them that I know of.
When government runs off all the cows and cattle things really change and not for the good IMO-

 

[workinonit]

My dealer only takes green back for trade.

 

[Hay Dude]

Around here many brands are hard sell I think. Most off brands do not have very good dealer support. JD and kubota is what we see mostly when out driving around the farms. Many years back Massy was popular but lost their respect. New Holland has a good size dealer to the north but I seldom see many other than a few large units in the fields. Lots of older IH tractors still running, they seem to go forever too as I see the same ones in the field I saw many years ago but no dealer for them that I know of.
When government runs off all the cows and cattle things really change and not for the good IMO-

Can you explain: “Massy lost their respect”?
They might be one of the most respected tractor & equipment manufacturers in the world.

 

[2manyrocks]

I've had three dealers in the last 6 months say they won't take my 770 hour Mahindra in trade and I thought it was because it needs seals replaced which is a labor intensive job. Then I asked the owner of the Mahindra dealer that sold it to me if they'd repair it and take it back in to sell on consignment (meaning I would own it until it sold, but they'd get a percentage for selling). They weren't interested saying tractor sales were slowing. Oh, and the service department still hasn't my calls about repairing it even after speaking with the owner.

Two of the Kubota dealers said they have trouble getting parts for Mahindra. The third dealer wasn't a Kubota dealer, but said they have trouble reselling Mahindras.

Massey Ferguson used to have a good presence here in rural Middle Tennessee, but their dealer network has really dried up compared to what they once were. A friend needs the clutch replaced in his MF and can't find anyone to do it nearby.

 

[Torvy]

This is not surprising. Dealers having a hard time selling their new inventory don't want used tractors that are less expensive competing. Now that brands are getting better, many don't want their customers to see the quality side by side as it undermines their false narrative about competitors being junk.

When cars from Japan started to make inroads, dealers tried the same thing. Either no trade or horrible pricing to dissuade the trade.

 

[LouNY]

There is a Massey dealer not to far from me in Albany NY that says the same thing in his ads.
Tractors are almost a side line to him as he is large in the construction equipment lines.

 

[ruffdog]

The dealer has no service manuals, parts availability is questionable, and knowledge of trade is limited on some brands ..........why would they pay top dollar for that?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

This is not surprising. Dealers having a hard time selling their new inventory don't want used tractors that are less expensive competing. Now that brands are getting better, many don't want their customers to see the quality side by side as it undermines their false narrative about competitors being junk.

When cars from Japan started to make inroads, dealers tried the same thing. Either no trade or horrible pricing to dissuade the trade.

This right here.

It's also hard to keep up the false narrative of "resale value" being lower, when you could have two comparable brands, in comparable condition sitting side by side in the used tractor row. Could lead to some awkward silence from the poor sales guy.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

The dealer has no service manuals, parts availability is questionable, and knowledge of trade is limited on some brands ..........why would they pay top dollar for that?

Whoever said tractor dealers paid "top dollar" for trade ins?

 

[Rustyiron]

This is not surprising. Dealers having a hard time selling their new inventory don't want used tractors that are less expensive competing. Now that brands are getting better, many don't want their customers to see the quality side by side as it undermines their false narrative about competitors being junk.

When cars from Japan started to make inroads, dealers tried the same thing. Either no trade or horrible pricing to dissuade the trade.

I'd bet it's more of a (percieved) information and parts availability issue for the dealer. Weather that's a valid concern locally or simply an impression proven or not in the dealers opinion. Unfamiliarity with a product, parts or company makes "NO" a safe answer.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I’ve been noticing that some tractor dealers won’t accept TYM, LS, Branson, Bad Boy, or Mahindra tractors on trade. That may make it more difficult to sell/trade your tractor if you own one of those brands. Are these dealers being uppity about their brand or do you think they have legit business reasons for doing so? I’ve never seen a car dealer not accept another brand before so why do tractor dealers do it?

Do these dealers accept the other brands for repair? Hard enough finding a good mechanic these days, finding one willing to work on just anything? parts ordering can be a hassle too. Imagine splitting a tractor then finding the X thingy is broken and it takes over a week to acquire one. Now you have a service bay locked down waiting on parts and you really cant charge the customer for 40 hours of down time. Sometimes its best to just say no.

Also a difference between selling AG and Cut/scut.

 

[Goose1776]

Do these dealers accept the other brands for repair? Hard enough finding a good mechanic these days, finding one willing to work on just anything? parts ordering can be a hassle too. Imagine splitting a tractor then finding the X thingy is broken and it takes over a week to acquire one. Now you have a service bay locked down waiting on parts and you really cant charge the customer for 40 hours of down time. Sometimes its best to just say no.

Also a difference between selling AG and Cut/scut.

THIS…
I know for a fact, that a couple dealers local to me, will not take certain brands in trade, because they do not service them, and do not want to take the time to try to service them, because there is not enough money in it.
And since they don’t service them, they don’t want to resell them on the lot, because if something goes wrong with the tractor, it comes back bad on the dealer…
Rather than insult a customer with a low below auction priced trade in value, it’s easier to just not take them in trade at all…
Has nothing to do with being “uppity” or worrying that customers will see a better “value” on the lot compared to a different brand.
It’s about the bottom dollar, and dealer reputation.

 

[2manyrocks]

There's a certain new car dealer sales model that is focused on selling new units and having a shop that can perform warranty service. Some new car dealers will take older cars as trade ins, but wholesale them off immediately to used car dealers or auction houses.

With tractors being so heavy to transport, I'm not aware of there being any large scale wholesale auction houses for tractors as there are for cars. So I'm guessing tractor dealers might take newer, lightly used tractors in trade if they can get them cheap enough, but they are going to screen out units that they think they may have trouble selling if there's no way to effectively wholesale them at auction house.

In 2022, dealers could sell new tractors faster than they could get them. The economy hasn't declined enough for tractor dealers to get much past that mindset, yet.

 

[tacticalturnip]

There was a time back in the 90's that if you had a Kia, Hyundai, or Daewoo, you'd have a hard time trading it in. Dealers didn't want them, not here in Maine anyhow. The build quality wasn't really there at the time, and dealers that didn't sell and service new Korean cars didn't want them. The Korean auto industry has come lightyears since then. I suppose you could compare those cars to the Korean tractors from the same era, but much like the auto industry, you can't really compare them to the machines produced today.

I presume any dealer claiming they won't take a modern Korean tractor in trade has some underlying issues, and I don't want to deal with that. A proper dealer would at least offer you a low ball trade-in, or suggest you sell your machine outright 'to get more for it.' Why would you just outright alienate a portion of your potential customer base from the start?

Idiots, I suppose.

 

[Torvy]

With cars you also could have financing problems with some brands. When I did auto finance, we stopped doing Suzuki and a few other brands due to concerns over valuation.

 

[2manyrocks]

Speaking as a Suzuki owner, Suzuki actually made some pretty decent small cars from a mechanical reliability viewpoint, but then pulled out of the US car market (2012?) such that obtaining parts isn't so easy.