What does "take it to the dealer" mean for you?

[hayden]

We regularly hear people say "take it to your dealer", or "it's under warranty, so call the dealer". To actually do any of that, what's involved for you? For me, it's a lot of work, a lot of $$, and a lot of time, so really it's the step of last resort. Here are some examples:

My Kubota dealer is 45min to an hr away. I could trailer my tractor or small excavator there, but that will consume roughly 6 hrs to get the trailer ready, load up, drive an hr (it will take the full hour pulling a heavy load), unload, drive home, and unhook and stow the trailer, then do it all again to pick the machine up once it's fixed. My larger excavator would have to be trucked, so I'd guess $500 each way, or $1000 total, and I can't get a tractor trailer in to my place, so I'd have to track the machine out to a location to meet the truck, which of course means the machine needs to work enough to move it around. And I'd still have to make at least one round trip to the dealer to go over the problem and make sure they know what's needed. So that's 3 hrs.

Then there is the actual dealer work. Most are very backed up, so a good chance your machine will sit for a week, if not multiple weeks before it's even looked at. Then any repairs will take at least another week because they will need parts and nobody seems to stock anything other than maintenance and common wear parts. And if their first "guess" at what to replace doesn't work, then you can stay another week while the guess again, and maybe again and again. And of course there is the possibility that the dealer won't be able to reproduce or actually fix the problem, and that you get the machine home and the problem still exists.

Mobile service is an option, but very expensive with billable travel and work time. But it is an option for spending $$ rather than spending your own time. But scheduling and time to repair isn't any better, and possibly worse.

The bottom line is that you will be out 3-6 hrs of personal work time, and up to $1000 in trucking, plus loss of use for weeks to months.

It's mostly the same for my Deere. The dealer is only about 20 minutes away which is a plus, but the tractor would have to be trucked. And from what I can tell they have zero direct experience with 6 series tractors, and only limited experience with 5 series.

All this is probably the biggest reason why I always end up doing work on the machines myself. It takes less of my personal time, and gets things running again faster.

 

[Alan W.]

Luckily I haven’t needed to take mine to the dealer in many years. That being said if I did it would take about [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]] minutes to hook up the trailer and load secure the tractor. The trip would take [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]] minutes or so loaded or unloaded.
This is for a L[emoji6][emoji6][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]] not a heavy piece of construction equipment. When I had heavy equipment Cat or Case mobile service was the way to go.
I do all my own maintenance now.

 

[Hay Dude]

For me, it all depends on the repair. If it requires “calibration”, hooking to a laptop or coding, I’m out.
Otherwise, I give it my best shot. I am in the process of working on an absolute mess right this minute. My baler greaser system is down and as you can imagine, a mess to work on, but it will finally be fixed. It has to or I stop making money.
There’s a sensor on it that requires calibrating, but that is a quick trip from the dealer.

I’ve done PTO clutch packs, front wheel bearings, tires, etc in rapid time and gotten back into the field pretty quick. Once electronics and programming are the issue, I’m pretty much at the mercy of a factory trained tech.

 

[Alan W.]

Its a shame this site doesn’t have a workable app.
Apparently if the word has an emoji it can go crazy without using an actual emoji.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Massey Ferguson dealer is 6 miles away ...

John Deere dealer is 26 miles away ...

Kubota dealer is 37 miles away ...

At the moment I would need to put forks on My Little Baby Fergie, and remove the two attachments on pallets on top of the trailer, then switch to bucket with trailer hitch ball, pull trailer out, load equipment ... Then drive ... All mine are trailerable for me to DIY ...

So far I've only take in if it was a warranty issue, do everything else myself.

 

[Hay Dude]

My square baler and 2 larger tractors require a tractor trailer with a wide load permit. Its a big deal and it ain’t cheap.
Square baler weighs 38,000lbs empty.

 

[hayden]

Massey Ferguson dealer is 6 miles away ...

John Deere dealer is 26 miles away ...

Kubota dealer is 37 miles away ...

At the moment I would need to put forks on My Little Baby Fergie, and remove the two attachments on pallets on top of the trailer, then switch to bucket with trailer hitch ball, pull trailer out, load equipment ... Then drive ... All mine are trailerable for me to DIY ...

So far I've only take in if it was a warranty issue, do everything else myself.

How long does you your dealer typically take? I hear about very long waits, but maybe that's not typical? I don't know because I never take the machine to one, and the only recent experience I have is with pre-purchase repairs. That did not go well, and only reinforced my desire to no go to dealers, is at all possible".

 

[D&D]

And if their first "guess" at what to replace doesn't work, then you can stay another week while the guess again, and maybe again and again. And of course there is the possibility that the dealer won't be able to reproduce or actually fix the problem, and that you get the machine home and the problem still exists.

All the while, giving you a bill for time and materials. Yes, we know all dealers don't suck but most do. There is not a fleet of tractor mechanics out there to pick from either.
One friend recently spent over 20K on his tractor for tranny and a/c issues. Brought home and sure enough, still broke. Another friend, 2024 Ram 5500 wrecker, sitting 6 months now waiting on parts. Took our vehicle in for an inoperable mirror. After 3 days dealer said its the switch, have to order. Week later, r&r switch, oh that wasn't it, we have to order the mirror. Another week later, oh it's not the mirror must be in the wiring

 

[WinterDeere]

Same here as @hayden and @Hay Dude. Always quicker, less hours, and less expensive to do all repairs at home, unless software is involved. I've done everything from full axle rebuilds to full engine top end rebuilds here in this shop, which can eat up many hours on those rare extensive repairs. But at least someone (me) is on it right away, rather than the machine sitting a week or two before anyone even looking at it. And with those very few exceptions mentioned above, most simpler repairs are done in similar or less hours than the total time required to trailer it to a dealer and back home after service.

I've also had an issue with other things breaking after dealer service, because they failed to re-tighten something adjacent to where they're working. That has happened to me on three separate occasions, which come to think about it, is nearly every time I've ever had a machine at the dealer for a repair or upgrade.

 

[JimRB]

Big name tire store. Guy behind counter says "Just bring it in for rotation and balance." That is a two hour process once I get there. Easier to spend the half hour rotating at home. Tractor hasn't needed to go to dealer in 28 years. I adjusted clutch at home this summer. I got lucky but the tractor doesn't have 1,500 hours on it. I have put new seals in the front end loader tilt cylinders. Numerous hoses. Numerous flat front tires usually fixed at home. One rear tire flat fixed at tire shop and two new rear dry rotted tires replaced at tire shop. If I had to have dealer fix all that I would have spent a pretty penny and not had a tractor for months at a time. Might be a different story as I get older, but I am strong enough and mentally sharp enough to work on my stuff a few more decades. Practically no computer on my little tractor.

I have had the painter over to do work. I ran out of time.