Yanmar tractors are not sold new in the US.
I seldom post anywhere anymore, mostly due to lack of time. This subject is of special interest to me. My name is Wayne, and I have been in this business longer than most of you have been aware of Yanmar's existence. I own Little Miami Trading Company. We have fought for years to make this market credible. If we caught a dealer misrepresenting the age of these tractors, or selling them as domestic models, we quit selling to him. Now I see more and more blatant misrepresentation. From a firm buying salvage tractors and doing a complete cosmetic-only recondition ("but they're some of the best looking tractors I've ever seen"....fine, you want a boat anchor that's pretty, go for it) to a dealer near us claiming to have 2001 model year YM1500s and a 2002 model year YM2202. There is only ONE thing that makes any of this profitable (and people would NOT continue a practice that was not profitable)....and that is that buyers accept this garbage and reward these people by buying the merchandise. We hear it all the time...."his tractor was newer than yours", or "he was $400 less." I understand about money. I grew up poor. Still ain't rich. But ask yourself....Why is he $400 less? Is it because we are money-sucking pigs, or because he has less $$ in his units than we do? And if he has less $$ in his units than we do, why is that? Because he's a better businessman, knows more about this business than we do, or because he is buying lower quality units? In almost every case it's the latter.
And then we get the phone calls from those who bought these units, wanting us to diagnose their problem on the phone, and then tell them how to fix it. Happens all the time.
Folks, you control the money, and ultimately, your buying habits control the market. We do our best to bring a quality product to the marketplace at a reasonable price. When you recognize that someone is coming to the marketplace either with junk, or clearly without ethics (and one disagreement with a dealer does not constitute a void in ethics), shout it from the rooftops. When you see someone advertising like the above, tell people..either this guy is completely ignorant and stupid, or a liar. Would you buy from him in either case?
Information is our friend. We have always pursued the dissemination of accurate information about these tractors. Keep on bringing in accurate and helpful information for folks to these forums. And remember that something thrives in the marketplace only because the market embraces it.
Peace,
wayne
