Any EAA members here?

[dieselalles]

I let my membership to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) lapse last year after my dad passed away. I was helping him build a plane and my interest flat bottomed out when he got sick a couple years ago. Now I'm considering jumping back in with my son who's going to Middle Tenn State University with the goal to be a commercial pilot. He's a freshman with 40 hour's under his belt already. Lucky dog! This leads me to my question.....

I'm just about to sign on the dotted line for a new JD 3320/ 300X FEL/ 72" RFM/ JD655 tiller and I was looking through some of my old copies of Sports Pilot magazines and see that members of EAA can get discounts on John Deere equipment.

Just curious if it was worth holding off the purchase until I get my membership renewed with EAA? Has anyone had any experience with this program?

Thanks in advance,
Richard

 

[gordon21]

You have to be a member for one year before you can get the JD discount. The discounts do not apply to all JD items. I know that the 790 and bigger tractors do not get a discount. The new XUV does not.

Most of the discounts are for items geared towards the average homeowner such as the lawn tractors costing under $6000 and the smaller Gators.

I am pretty sure a 3320 will not have any discounts. You can go online to see what qualifies, but since you don't have a membership, that portion of the EAA site may be blocked. You enter through the EAA site and then get linked to a secure site for JD or for Ford. I have used the EAA/Ford discount twice in the past two years and it is the best thing ever in buying a car. The dealer is prohibited from adding dealer fees, document fees, etc. You pay about 2% under invoice and nothing else except taxes and tag fees that go to a government agency.

 

[dieselalles]

Lewis, thanks for the response. I don't know what the deal is right now. EAA's web site says that you only have to be a member for 90 days to use the benefit, but that's not a problem for me. I've been a long time member that let my membership lapse last year. But I was able to renew my membership using my old member ID so hopefully they will bridge the time.

From EAA's web site at ANNOUNCING THE JOHN DEERE PARTNER PROGRAM

"This discount is available to EAA Members who have been members for 3 or more months. All participants in the program must present an EAA membership card to the John Deere Dealer at the time of purchase. That means you or a friend can take advantage of this great EAA member benefit by joining EAA now!"

And also...

"Discounts are provided toward the purchase of a variety of John Deere equipment, including lawn and garden tractors, riding mowers, walk-behind mowers, Gator utility vehicles, commercial mowing equipment, and compact utility tractors that are purchased through the program."

I guess the best thing to do is wait for a couple of days until they reactivate my membership. Then I can find out the level of discount. Until then I've just got to keep the little kid me under control.

Richard

 

[gordon21]

90 days!! That's good news for new joiners. I figure I have already saved about 35 years worth of membership fees just on my Ford purchases in the past two years.

For those of you that don't know what we are talking about, the EAA membership dues are $40 per year and can save you hundreds of dollars on 99% of all Ford purchases and many JD items. No gimmicks. These are honest savings you can't get anywhere else.

 

[joes_427_vette]

The Ford discount wouldn't interest me. I thought they had a couple deals on JD equipment they used at Oshkosh during the air show. I don't imagine it works real well if you trade equipment. ( they just add the discount on the other end ). I live approx. 85 miles from the EAA grounds. Been there once in the past 5 years.

 

[rvaitor]

I let my membership to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) lapse last year after my dad passed away. I was helping him build a plane and my interest flat bottomed out when he got sick a couple years ago. Now I'm considering jumping back in with my son who's going to Middle Tenn State University with the goal to be a commercial pilot. He's a freshman with 40 hour's under his belt already. Lucky dog! This leads me to my question.....

I'm just about to sign on the dotted line for a new JD 3320/ 300X FEL/ 72" RFM/ JD655 tiller and I was looking through some of my old copies of Sports Pilot magazines and see that members of EAA can get discounts on John Deere equipment.

Just curious if it was worth holding off the purchase until I get my membership renewed with EAA? Has anyone had any experience with this program?

Thanks in advance,
Richard

Richard,

I am the President of EAA 162 in Nashville. Would love to have your son visit any of our meetings or programs. EAA Chapter 162 - Welcome

I haven't looked into the discount programs although I've looked at the Deeres at Oshkosh many times.

BTW, what was your father building?

 

[dieselalles]

Absolutely! I'll talk to him when he's done with finals. Right now he doesn't want anyone talking to him! Seriously, we talked about pursuing this but I never thought I'd run into any members, especially the president of the local chapter on this board. I doubted I would run into any members here when I made my first post. Small world isn't it?

FWIW, my son is taking his actual flight training at Lebanon's Municipal Airport (M54) where he works part time on weekends and summers. And if you've every flown in/out you've probably talked to him. And fortunately for my son, the manager of the airport, Jim Lawson, has kind of "taken him under his wing" so to speak. In fact Jim used to teach at MTSU. This has been a huge help in directing his education.

My father was building a Piper Cub. Before he got sick, we had the air frame built and he had aquired a lot of the things he needed such as the wheels, brakes, avionics, engine, etc. And for the last five years we knew exactly what to get him for father's day, birthday or Christmas. Then one day he sold just about evertything of any significance to a friend. It was kind of depressing because I had dreams of carrying on with it. All that's left is the welded fulseage on wheels and a few odds and ends, the plans and a propeller he had painstakingly carved out just for fun. I gave the propeller to my son. And the last time I went to the farm someone had pulled the airframe out behind the shop, exposing it the weather.

Anyway, I had purchased my Ford Excursion back in 2001 through the EAA/Ford partner recognition program. Those trucks were pretty popular back then and they wouldn't come down much off the sticker price. The EAA allowed me to save quite a bit.

The fact that I'm getting ready to "pull the trigger" on a JD 3320 kind of brought all this together. But when I brought this up to the dealer, he started mumbling that this will require some changes. According to EAA, if I remember, this is outside of any other incentives that John Deere is offering, like the $100 off on two implements you purchase together with a tractor. Not a huge deal but I'll take anything I can get. But I might have to find a more customer service driven dealer.

 

[755inNY]

I am an EAA member and used the member discount when I purchased my JD4310 3 years ago. The process was easy but the discount was not "significant" as the EAA promotional info claimed. The discount was about $250. Now I'm not complaining about getting an extra $250 in my pocket but it really was not much of a discount for a $20K machine.

Jeff

 

[dieselalles]

Jeff, that's a bit of a let down, but I guess it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

I think I'd do better to work up the deal first then pull out my EAA ID card and the pin for the discount.

Right off the bat they are offering the 3320 with a 12% discount.

Thanks,
Richard

 

[rvaitor]

FWIW, my son is taking his actual flight training at Lebanon's Municipal Airport (M54) where he works part time on weekends and summers. And if you've every flown in/out you've probably talked to him. And fortunately for my son, the manager of the airport, Jim Lawson, has kind of "taken him under his wing" so to speak. In fact Jim used to teach at MTSU. This has been a huge help in directing his education.

My father was building a Piper Cub. Before he got sick, we had the air frame built and he had aquired a lot of the things he needed such as the wheels, brakes, avionics, engine, etc. And for the last five years we knew exactly what to get him for father's day, birthday or Christmas. Then one day he sold just about evertything of any significance to a friend. It was kind of depressing because I had dreams of carrying on with it. All that's left is the welded fulseage on wheels and a few odds and ends, the plans and a propeller he had painstakingly carved out just for fun. I gave the propeller to my son. And the last time I went to the farm someone had pulled the airframe out behind the shop, exposing it the weather.

I'd try and save what you can on the project. I know a lot of the guys at Lebanon - they've got an active chapter there as well - President has a Cub in fact.

Let me know how things go on the tractor - I've got a heavy duty tractor(Mahindra 6500) I'm going to be selling - not JD - for just under $20K if that is of interest.