How much discount for a demonstrator?

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
Once bought a Fendt 312 ex demo. It was a dog the whole time we owned it and most of the issues was down to the brakes disintegrating into the back end. So brake issues, hydraulic issues and then eventually vario out, turbo went etc . Got rid of in the end swapping for a brand new 412 which was very reliable. Swore I would never touch a demo again the hassle it was for only a small saving.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I'll put it out there- I think demonstrators are a waste of time and little useful information can actually be gained by having them.
I'd tend to agree. Can't say I've ever been bowled over by a demonstrator and thought. I've got change brand to buy one of them!

They actually take up a lot of time.
 

icanshootwell

Member
Location
Ross-on-wye
The last tractor I demonstrated was a mf full spec, I think it was the 7818 model might be wrong on the no,s. Any way told the dealership I wanted it over the weekend so I can use it for a couple of days, they brought it out on Friday late afternoon, hooked it up to baler ready for sat. Got a phone call saying they wanted it back sat afternoon. f**k off I said, I ,m in a 50 a field and I,m not leaving till I've finished. They picked it up Monday morning. Didn't buy it in the end only due to long bonnet and needing a big headland to turn, plus the cab was a bit shite, would pull thought.
 

mf7480

Member
Mixed Farmer
I'd tend to agree. Can't say I've ever been bowled over by a demonstrator and thought. I've got change brand to buy one of them!

They actually take up a lot of time.

I think the dealers know it too. One rep was telling me when he gets a phone call and the first question is can he have a demo it immediately rings alarm bells
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I think the dealers know it too. One rep was telling me when he gets a phone call and the first question is can he have a demo it immediately rings alarm bells
Yeah I know some people that constantly have different tractors on demo.

I got the chance of a Fendt on demo in the winter but turned it down, told the sales woman didn't want to put hours on there tractor and waste there time as not changing anytime soon.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
I enquired about a demo machine I saw at a show this week.
First person I spoke to said it hadn't done enough demos to be sold yet, well let me have a play and see what we can sort out. Need to speak to your rep....can't be mine never spoke to him before ....but anyway Rep calls me to say it was sold day before the show, can order a new one for next March. Was 3/4 of new price

So demo machines can still be sold if they want to as a good deal.
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Yeah I know some people that constantly have different tractors on demo.

I got the chance of a Fendt on demo in the winter but turned it down, told the sales woman didn't want to put hours on there tractor and waste there time as not changing anytime soon.
I’ve often thought they should charge a hire for demos. And take the money they make/ save and take it off every new tractor sold then their loyal customers will get that money not the tryers that have every brand in demo and never buy
 

JockCroft

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
JanDeGrootLand
I’ve often thought they should charge a hire for demos. And take the money they make/ save and take it off every new tractor sold then their loyal customers will get that money not the tryers that have every brand in demo and never buy
Seem to remember our lads demoing balers, it was 30 bales, any more and it was £1 a bale.
Unless it was a break down loan, think one customer managed a couple of th over a saturday to tuesday untill his machine was back up and running. Think it was that demo baler he also bought later in the season.
 

KB6930

Member
Location
Borders
There's the ones that get demos round here just to get an extra machine to get something done.

Then there's the others that the dealers know when they ask for a demo there's the chance of a sale at the end of it as they only ask when they're actually looking for something.

There's dealer's round here that I've had either ask us to try stuff out to give an honest opinion of it even when they know we're not interested as well .

Two machines that I can think of been bought without a demo and both ended up being crap . Always get a demo where possible!!!
 

Enry

Member
Location
Shropshire
Yeah I know some people that constantly have different tractors on demo.

I got the chance of a Fendt on demo in the winter but turned it down, told the sales woman didn't want to put hours on there tractor and waste there time as not changing anytime soon.
I was in dealers office a few years ago, having an informal chat, he had a call and asked if it was ok to take it. No idea who it was, but the gist of the conversation was "have you got any demo tractors" "what are they - could do with something around 120hp" "got some ploughing to do, could I have it for 3 days" Dealer then had obvs smelt a rat, and suggested visiting to tell him all about the brand and tractor etc, and give him some prices so then subject to the demo being satisfactory, he could get the ball rolling - reply along the lines of "Oh I won't be buying one, can't see the point of buying new tractors, just thought if you had a demo you might like to get it out on farm with me"!! Incredible how some people operate
 

Enry

Member
Location
Shropshire
I’ve often thought they should charge a hire for demos. And take the money they make/ save and take it off every new tractor sold then their loyal customers will get that money not the tryers that have every brand in demo and never buy
If it's a new range of tractors or equipment, I like to have a go, but to be honest I only ever expect it for a few hours and like the rep to come and set it up and show me the ropes, leave me a couple of hours and then take it back. Lact tractor I had on the tanker for an hour and then subsoiled some tramlines, got a feel for it and deal was done.
 

Fendt516profi

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Yorkshire
Yeah I know some people that constantly have different tractors on demo.

I got the chance of a Fendt on demo in the winter but turned it down, told the sales woman didn't want to put hours on there tractor and waste there time as not changing anytime soon.
Just had a thought, maybe when dealers do this they're wanting to get hours put on the tractor as someone else posted a tractor had to do 300 demo hours before it could be sold. They may have had a customer waiting to buy it
 

Richard98

Member
Back in the day when our matbro was new, it came out on demo to us, its first ever demonstration. they liked it and agreed to buy it, the dealer said they wanted to do more demos with it before it gets sold...dealer got told if it leaves this yard we'll buy a JCB instead so it stayed and they had to order another demo machine😂there wasn't any discount mind!
We always try to demo a tractor before buying but never take the pee - its always a few hours or a day to get a feel for it, each person who will drive it has a go etc, then washed and diesel replaced generously. never bought an ex demo because as someone else said, demonstrators are normally top spec and we don't need that
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Was wondering how much discount you might expect on a 240hp demonstrator tractor over brand new? Been quoted, and the difference isn’t as much as I had thought/ hoped!
How quickly would the brand new one turn up and can you have the Demo unit straight away?
If lead times are long you could make an argument that a current available demo should be more expensive.
 

hutchy143211

Member
Location
E. Yorkshire
We bought an ex demo last year. T7.225ac which we asked for on demo and ended up buying the same one we demoed a week later (it just happened to have 99% of everything specced perfectly down to tire choice). After we'd demoed it went back as there was more booked in came to us on around 120 hours in Sept and went back with around 135 on it after a few days with us. We had the option of 2 ex demo ones that fit the bill as they didn't have any stock 225s close to the spec and we chose this exact one. Did a deal agreeing that it came to us after it finished its last prebooked demo before we order which was its last one and would come to us with around 150 hours on the clock (155 I think actual). Our alternative was to place an order then for new stock Nov delivery which apparently would have been 8-10k more than the demo when the same options were chosen.
 

snipe

Member
Location
west yorkshire
5%. Last two we bought had a limit of 200hrs and a set date when we wanted it by. Both times tractors never arrived at the dealers in time to do any demos and came straight to us. So got 5% discount extra for a new tractor.
 

rookswood

Member
Location
Gatwick
I think demos are still important. I never would of bought my MF 5612 with out a demo as I was not a fan of the 5400 series but liked the 5600 after trying one. Did a deal on the dealer's soon to arrive demo loader tractor. Turned up 3 months later in my yard with 5hrs on the clock and 5k off the price.
Now working for a McCormick dealer we are sending plenty of tractors out on demo so people can try the new product and it gets them seen in the local area.
 

EddieB

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Staffs
When a >200 hp tractor cost c. 50-60k a 5k discount seemed like a lot. It doesn’t seem so impressive on a 150k machine.
 

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