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

[hayden]

My favorite saying to the Spanish guys when they start mumbling together...

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Jeez, are we feeling a little hostile today? They are probably mumbling that Gringo thinks they are Spanish when they are actually Mexican.....

 

[Rockbadchild]

Jeez, are we feeling a little hostile today? They are probably mumbling that Gringo thinks they are Spanish when they are actually Mexican.....

lol..oups wrong thread

 

[texaswren]

My next door neighbor drives a CASE service truck. A lot of what they sell wouldn't even fit into a service bay. After my OTHER neighbor's experience with his MAX125, though, I'm less enthused about dealer competence. From brand new, it kept having intermittent problems with low power and stalling. They kept telling him he had fungus in his fuel. Sold him chemicals. Replaced all his fuel lines—TWICE. $thousands in repairs not covered by warranty, and he could only depend on his 50-year-old JD4020 to get any work done. After two YEARS of this, they FINALLY figured out that his lift pump was defective from the factory. No apologies, no refunds for unnecessary repairs.

 

[TMGT]

Can't say I've ever had to take any of my equipment to the dealer, with newer equipment it can be inevitable due to proprietary diagnostic equipment.

Sent from my SM-S921U using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I'm hoping to never have to take to the dealer, but if I do, they will pick up and deliver. It will be a charge, but it is the most convenient for me.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

It's a loss of about $300 for me.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

It's a loss of about $300 for me.

Same here, but for me, having to hunt down a trailer, haul, return, hunt down trailer again... I can afford that. Another reason I bought new, to avoid the trips. Hoping that plan pans out.

 

[Spanner]

Hand over your wallet.

 

[garry1p]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[lennypoulin]

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.

Take it to the dealer to me means take the problem to the a dealer's service or parts department with your questions. They are usually knowledgeable and willing to help. If they do help, maybe buy your parts there. Once a dealer advised me that ordering an original part would be costly and try aftermarket sources first.