When has a tractor paid for itself?

[Kubotasrking]

Your question can be best answered by the old joke.....


Why does the farmer live longer than the city slicker?

Because he wants to.

 

[Bob_Young]

When it saves you the first back injury.

 

[AlanB]

I was actually thinking about this last night, I got in a little tractor time loading stones for the wife into the dump trailer.

Hard to really put a price onto so much of it, because we just would not do many of the things (jobs) that we do if we did not have the equipment to do them.

For instance, before we bought our own sod cutter, she avoided jobs where we would have to cut a lot of sod. Renting always sounds good, but most of my experiences involve taking longer, and costing more then I think it should, and god knows, every time we rented a sod cutter we spent more time getting them back into adjustment then we should have had too.

Now that we have our own, it is always ready to go, so we bid lower, and get more jobs that require it. How do you figure that in.

For the tractor it was the mulch. Now that we have the tractor we could have our own bulk mulch delivered. We do not really make that much money off the mulch, but the convienience of loading ourselves, exactly when WE need it done, sure makes jobs go easier and more on time.

It is an interesting question for sure too me, and I wonder about the answer a lot from many viewpoints, business, personal, financial, physical etc. But really that 1/2 year of payments I still owe the bank is probably what counts

Then it will be time to buy a BIGGER toy... oh, did I say that, I meant tool

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon DocBob,
Well mine was paid for the day I picked it up

And it pays me back everyday that I use it and have this much fun !

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/photos/70558d1171841508-smell-diesel-mornin-100_0627.jpg

 

[shane]

I got a friend who decided to build a house on 5ac track. Bought a little JD and finish mower. Stayed there 8 years and then decided to move to "town" so his son could play ball in a certain school district. After 8 years sold the tractor and mower for exactly what he paid for it. He may have gotten a really good deal when he bought and found just the right person when he sold, but either way I here similar stories often.

 

[thingy]

Well,,either the buyer was an idiot or those new john deeres go up every year to such an extent that after 8 years it was cheaper to buy an 8 year old ,for its new price,,than a new one,,don't buy it,,tell me another story,,thingy

 

[638]

Tell you what thingy, I bought a 12 HP Massy-Ferguson garden tractor for $1000. Made a home made trailer and a home made snow blade for it. Used it for 10 years, and sold the outfit for $2000. I ran it hard but it did look brand new when I let it go. Had a mower deck for it also, but that came with the tractor. Yes, I believe that he could use his tractor for 8 years, and sell it for what he gave for it.

ron

 

[workinallthetime]

I bought an 84 kubota, little thing dont even remember what number it was, came with a 4' brush hog, 4' finish mower, scraper blade and draw bar. with a broken pto gear. I paid 1900 bucks for it and sold it all for 3400. That thing was pretty useless to me, i may have put 10 hours on it. 4x4 b series with no power stearing and turf tires. I think I had it for a year sold it after all was fixed for 3400 bucks.
i charge 45.00 an hour for my bx23 and have made about 4500.00 with it just doing hear and there jobs. Now im going after the business full time and hope to get more jobs, you cant rent one and a operator around here for 45 so who knows what the future will hold for me.

im a perifial visonary, i see into the future but its off to one side,lol

 

[bx23barry]

Well I don't think anything I've bought has really paid for it self. If they did I would be a rich guy. But I enjoy the jeeps, motorcycles, tractors, tools, computers, TVs, cameras, stereos, food, trips... and to me that is what life is about.

 

[bamatoolmaker]

I consider my tractor a recreational vehicle.Its too much fun to be classified as work.

 

[shane]

Well, I'll be. I somehow get the feeling that Thingy is calling me a liar.
To each his own.......

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Well, I'll be. I somehow get the feeling that Thingy is calling me a liar.
To each his own.......

Shane, your story is very common and something that many of us who own major brands have also experienced. Fact of the matter is that some brands of tractors depreciate at a slower rate than others, some brands hold their value better than others, and you experienced just that fact. Your best bet is to use the "ignore" feature to block posts from folks who you find objectionable, or who may find you objectionable for whatever convoluted reason they may have.

 

[john_bud]

Shane, your story is very common and something that many of us who own major brands have also experienced. Fact of the matter is that some brands of tractors depreciate at a slower rate than others, some brands hold their value better than others, and you experienced just that fact. Your best bet is to use the "ignore" feature to block posts from folks who you find objectionable, or who may find you objectionable for whatever convoluted reason they may have.

That's true.

Ever priced a Farmall Cub? They are selling for about 3-5x the price of new. Of course there is about 50 years of inflation ....

jb

 

[Bob_Young]

I believe it, Shane. Been listening to tales like that from my Uncle for 30 years. Pretty common with Green and not unusual for Blue (dunno about Orange)....iff the tractor was well maintained and not visibly abused.

Most were simple gear, 2wd utility Ag tractors. A different dynamic may be at work with high tech, feature laden CUTs. The design obsolesence cycle robs much of the appeal of clean older units. In other words, at any given time the new stuff may really be better.

 

[RoyJackson]

"I believe it, Shane. Been listening to tales like that from my Uncle for 30 years. Pretty common with Green and not unusual for Blue (dunno about Orange)....iff the tractor was well maintained and not visibly abused"

When I bought my 670, I paid $8500 for the tractor and a Befco RFM. The 670's went about $11K new.
When I traded in on a 790, I got $6K. The dealer who took it in trade sold it within a week for $7K. I kept the RFM, so that wasn't in the deal at all. That isn't much depreciation for a 12 year old compact tractor.

The older x55 and x70 series machines depreciate a bit then hit a plateau. The resale prices don't seem to drop after that, at least for the two series I'm writing about.

If you look on Machine Finder.com, you'll still see the prices of the older Deere CUT's right up there.

 

[Podunkadunk]

It's hard to quantify when my tractor will have paid for itself. The money is spent, but I have a fine product and I know it will be readily available for many, many years of future usage.

It's hard to put a price tag on satisfaction, peace of mind - knowing that if I need my tractor, it will be there for me.

Lastly, you absolutely can't beat the smell of diesel burning!

Put a price tag on contentment my friend and you'll be calling Mr. Gates on his cell line!

 

[flusher]

I bought a used TN70A, 168 hours. Now it has 308 hrs (less than one year).
I paid 22K for it. 140 hrs x 50/hr= 7K.

So, in another 300 hrs will the tractor have "paid" for itself?

Bob

I bought a new 21-hp (engine) Kubota B7510HST with LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket) in May 05 for $12600 (10% down, 0% for 36 months). Added a $600 King Kutter brush hog in Jun05.

I have 10 acres of flat pasture land with about 7-8 acres in weeds that I bought in Jan05. I asked around and was getting quotes of $500 or so to mow the weeds. That was a major motivator to buying the 7510 (plus the fact that I really, really wanted a tractor).

I figure that the trade-in value in 5 years will be around $6K. So to break even I need to do about $7K worth of work with the 7510 by 2010.

That shouldn't be too hard a task. Figure I mow a minimum of twice a year. So 10 mowings = $5K thru 2010.

Meanwhile I've used the 7510 to excavate for about 150 feet of paver block walkways, a nice 20'x20' paver block patio. Bought a $300 box blade for that work. Probably avoided $4-500 of tractor costs on those jobs.

Lately I've been installing landscape sprinklers and planting areas for grass and shrubs. My principal tools are a $140 middle buster plow (trenches) and a $300 used Yanmar RS-1200 rototiller. Figure I avoided at least $2K of tractor-related costs on that job.

Plus the 7510 has been used for lotsa general toting and hauling jobs, a great convenience tool. Avoided the costs and hassle of renting a tractor or hiring the work done.

I didn't buy the 7510 to make money, but I think I'll come out ahead financially by 2010, assuming no major repair bills after the 36 month warrantly period ends.

 

[thingy]

No, not really calling you a lier,,your story could be true,probably is,,its just that that seems abnormal,,,course a fool and his money is soon parted,,and we all know they gotta lot of fools out there,,let me ask a question,,would YOU have gave him that amount of money for it?,,,didn't think so,,,,,thingy

 

[Bob_Skurka]

No, not really calling you a lier,,your story could be true,probably is,,its just that that seems abnormal,,,course a fool and his money is soon parted,,and we all know they gotta lot of fools out there,,let me ask a question,,would YOU have gave him that amount of money for it?,,,didn't think so,,,,,thingy

You have a funny way of NOT calling somoene a liar

Quality equipment only depreciates a certain amount before inflation of new goods starts to bring up the value of the used name brand goods. It is common for many brands to hold their value. I've sold used equipment for more than it cost new. No different than John Bud wrote about the Farmall Cub. Oliver is another brand. But the brands don't have to be antiques to hold their value and many people have proved that time and time again with contemporary John Deere equipment.

 

[thingy]

Yeah got a funny way,,you don't know the half of it,,,,,whats with the picture of a snow thing,,[don't really wanta know,so you can save it],,,some people just gotta justify their very expensive purchase,,with this idea that they can resell it 10 years later and get as much money as they paid for it,,fantasy,I say,,,I got a 10 year old toyota tacoma with 160,000 miles on it,,,gave about 17,000 I think,,,,don't know what blue book is,,but to me,[it runs great,,no rust,,don't use any oil],it seems like it oughta be worth at least 7...8,000.....I bet ya I couldn't sell it,for 4,000,,,,most people just don't want old mechanical things unless they are into that sort a thing,,[or unless they knew the little old lady. ]
I wouldn't have gave that price for that machine,,not even close,,,thingy