Dealer I wanted to be a John Deere dealer

RollTideRam · Mar 13, 2006

I rode by my local dealer today, Not the dealer that I deal with, but the one close to home. Several years ago, they got into the RV business along with Deere. It was pitiful, they only had 7 mowers and 1 Tractor on the lot. On the way home I thought, What an opportunity. I could have my own dealership, sell tractors and trailers, the things I'm always wanting.
Got home and looked at Deere.com, they want you to have access to 1-3 million to start a dealership. Oh well, it was another of my short lived dreams. JC

rockyridgefarm · Mar 13, 2006

that's peanuts! Just sell one of you McConalds franchises and you'll have plenty left over...

cowboydoc · Mar 13, 2006

I would have thought it would have been more than 1-3 million. Most guys farming any ground at all have a million or more tied up in equipment. It doesn't take much anymore to reach a million in equipment.

Tractors4u · Mar 13, 2006

I know the dealer you are tlking about. I had never been there until I was pricing around. I called and got a quote on a 4310. They priced the lowest and said they had one on the lot so I went by to put money down. When I got there they said they would have to get it from another local dealer. Once I saw that tractors were a sideline I went with another dealer.

2nstonge · Mar 13, 2006

My dealer told me the same thing; $1-3mil in start-up capital. He's been in business for about 35 years and is starting to talk about retiring. He runs his business from a building on his home property. JD would require the new dealer to build a new facility to their specs and ramp up everything - spare parts, service bays, storage... - all to a degree pretty far above what the current guy does.

Wouldn't take long to burn thru a good portion of that start-up capital. A wealthy man's sport.

-Norm

HRS · Mar 13, 2006

This reminds me of a question that came to mind recently while looking at tractors. I had a Deere dealer about 12 miles north of me that closed shop. It was a family business, and the last of the owners passed on. Shortly after that, a new dealership opened nearly 12 miles East of me. They have a really sharp place, nice showroom, grounds, fenced in lot, etc. When I first saw it, I thought, Wow, this cost a pretty penny to start. Recently, I realized that this store has no sign. Not only that, it doesn't have a real name. Southeastern sales is about what it goes by. So now I'm thinking that this might be a company store. I know that such use to exist when Ford was in the business. I would guess that it still does when there are no immediate takers for a region. Especially when such a great image has to be maintained and protected.

talldaddy · Mar 15, 2006

I hope you got pricing from Snead Ag Supply in Snead and Agri-City Tractor in Athens. Snead would be hard to beat on pricing and I know for a fact Agri-City has a lot of CUTs on the lot.