Are CUT Manufacturers pricing themselves out of the market?

[rScotty]

I can remember when our small community had a Ford and an International Harvester dealer. They went away 30-40 years ago.

And that's another thing...those two dealers were probably locally owned and financed by a local bank. Now corporate ownership is more common. When that happens, a remote corporation makes the financial decisions that used to be made locally. Today's dealers are going to have trouble changing that.

 

[5030]

CUTS and SCUTS are always luxury purchases. Inflation has curtailed many of those. I buy my tractors and implements for business purposes, consequently, not interested in diminutive tractors at all and builders are more interested in large units anyway today. Large units equal high cost equals a larger return on equipment prices.

Used units still command a high price unless they are ancient and then buyers of the ancient ones come on here for advice because they don't work right...

 

[2manyrocks]

Those old Fords and Internationals were used by farmers who actually made a living with them. I can think of one farm where the Dad and the son are both deceased, and the grandkids sold the farm that meant everything to the Dad and son.

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

As a new prospective tractor owner in 2012 I watched my FIL get so frustrated almost every time he wanted to use his 140 and super A for garden work. He had quit farming by then and leased his farm years ago. He offered the farm to my wife and I to do something with it. I didn't want to go the tobacco route and decided a U-Pick farm was the way we would go.

Invested in the new kioti at about $19.5 out the door. I thought it was high then but was hoping it would be an heirloom for those taking over behind me. FIL ended up selling both the A and 140. They had been in the family approx 30 yrs, still ran and worked, minus the starting/electrical/fuel issues. In hindsight I wish I had kept one or the other. They were a lot easier to work on than many tractors and fit easily most places.

 

[Hay Dude]

New and used tractors are insanely priced. Small to medium Farm income can’t keep up with purchases & repairs. The ones that think they are haven’t realized it yet.

 

[5030]

When I purchase a piece of equipment for the farm, I pay for it up front or if I finance it, it has to be at 0 percent.

Same applies to my welding and fabrication business. When I bought my Shop Saber plasma table, it was a big dollar item but they gave me 0 percent financing. All my shop equipment is paid for except that. I do buy used machine tools but that is a different ballgame compared to tractors and related items.

 

[DarkBlack]

CUTS and SCUTS are always luxury purchases.

I can tell you my mf1540, which is classified as a CUT, was most certainly, not a luxury purchase.
It’s used as a machine/tool to get work done, that would otherwise have to done by paying someone else, or manual labor

 

[5030]

It is? Could have fooled me. You do have a shovel I Presume and a wheelbarrow?

You don't want to do manual labor so you opt for the luxury way instead. Whatever.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I look at the price of new CUTs, and I blanch. I wonder if the price is growing out of reach for more and more first time buyers. Maybe it's that we get locked into what the prices were when we were first interested in CUTs. Maybe I''m just an old fart that says I remember when ... I was lucky enough to buy all my CUTs used for very good prices (after a lot of searching).

• So, do CUT sales continue unabated?
• Do first time buyers simply buy smaller/cheaper models?
• Do first time buyers wait longer to buy?
• Or ???

Sales of CUTS and SCUTS are both down. Prices on used ones are also way down, currently a market glut. Good time to buy if you have the resources and need. With tariffs on steel, I only see prices of new ones going up, on both tractors and implements.

But, as you said some of it is old fart skewing of pricing. I now own the 69 F250 which my Dad bought in the fall of 70, for $1997 with every option except power steering. My first new truck was a 77 Toyota, and with every option I paid $5100.

New trucks cost more than my first house did, and new houses cost more than I ever thought I would make in my lifetime, when I bought the first house for $87,500.

 

[DK35vince]

It is? Could have fooled me. You do have a shovel I Presume and a wheelbarrow?

You don't want to do manual labor so you opt for the luxury way instead. Whatever.

Let me see if I have this right.
Years ago I bought 15 acres of over grown property to build a house on.
Cleared all of it
Leveled/landscaped 8 acres of it for lawn
Put in 850' of water line.
Dug 1500' for drainage pipe
Dug 700' for underground electric conduit
Dug 700' underground phone line
700' for gas line
Dug a 700' driveway ,parking area and culverts. Spread and graded truck loads of stone and millings
Dig/leveled an area to build my pole barn
Mowed my lawn and field
Snow plowed my driveway
Moved hundreds of tons of top soil/gravel/sand/millings Etc, Etc.
The list goes on and on and my current tractor did all the above. Decades after buying it I still continue to use it for constant projects around the house.
According to you all should be done with a shovel and wheel barrel. !!!
Got it.

A couple years ago my son built his house
My tractor also dug his water lines, his gas lines.
Dug his driveway, garage foundation and spread truck loads of millings