150-200hp tractor running costs cheap cheap.

[bigrigg150]

Sooo 150-200hp tractor running costs. What is the best way of doing it? Buying? hiring? Buy new clock up lots of hours? buy new and trade in after little hours? 12 month hire? Seasonal hire? Buying tidy second hand models?? Interested to hear everyone’s opinions!! Reliability is key!! No time for braking down! 2000 hours a year. Reliability, comfort and good lights are my 3 musts. Fancy gadgets etc are nice but not essential. 50k also.
Bulk of work is hauling silage trailers/dump trailer, mowing, pumping/spreading slurry. Thanks for any input.....the price of running them is just getting ridiculous in my opinion. Thanks

 

[deleted user 837354]

If you are pulling a trailer of any kind for any real length of time you really want an exhaust brake on the tractor.

For the rest of the question buy a Valtra.

 

[stevedave]

This sounds like an argument waiting to happen. For what it's worth I would say that at those hours a year I would guess buying new and running for 3 to 5 years would be the best. That way it will still have a trade in value.

 

[masseybreaker]

£50 per hour if you want that dirty word PROFIT !!!

 

[bigrigg150]

This sounds like an argument waiting to happen. For what it's worth I would say that at those hours a year I would guess buying new and running for 3 to 5 years would be the best. That way it will still have a trade in value.

This is what we are doing and always have done really. Running costs seem to be 10-12.50 a clock hour......but....this includes servicing but doesnt include the price increase on the new tractor. .... not sure that makes sense to anyone. Basically what we bought it for - what we traded it in for + servicing cost / clock hours = cost per clock hour.

 

[Thomas5060]

If reliability is key and you don't want down time then surely the dealer will play a big part? They will all break down or have niggles, how it gets sorted is the main thing.
The jobs you do are all quite basic so you don't need lots of spec which should improve reliability.

 

[benny6910]

The last time I priced up to hire or buy was 2.5 years ago for a 6155r Deere. I was only working on 1000hrs a year but to hire it would of been £14 a clock hour not including servicing. I ended buying a new one as I thought I could possibly make that figure less. I’ve not priced up to change the tractor yet so not sure how much new has risen or how much mine is valued as a trade in.

 

[Ormond]

If you're in it for the long haul....buy new ....drive it well and keep it well serviced.... The longer you keep it the cost per hour will drop providing no massive breakdown. Keep changing it will keep cost you much money. To really keep costs down there are some second hand tractors look a good buy...but 2000hrs a year...better to go new or newish. Don't know much about hire....just my opinion based on my own 20 years experience. My best buy....new fendt 718 in 2010....its done 8500 hrs... should have bought 2. Run an ex hire low hour NH t7....used to change it every 4 years. ...cost no less and not the same class of tractor

 

[RAF]

New only way if others are driving them

 

[Goweresque]

Reliability, performance, price. Pick 2 out of 3.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Id say pick a dealer with good backup and sellin a good product ud be happy to own. Buy new look after it well and drive it until it becomes unreliable. This way ul have got all the reliable hours out of it and have got the best value out of it

 

[HarryB97]

Most people pay for the tractor over 5 years till warranty is out then swap it in, an ex demo would be most cost affective if you could find one of the right spec as you get the warranty and also a fair amount of the initial depreciation hit gone. Keeping the tractor for lets say 10 years would be even more cost affective unless you have a major breakdown but then you also need to find more money to change when you decide to. Our neighbour buys a new tractor every year and says that is the most cost affective after they crunched all the numbers. I don't no how longterm hire works out for tractors but we are hiring our next telehandler as it's more cost affective for us than buying it one.

 

[Sharny dubs]

Deprecation should be your biggest cost so buy as new as you can afford and keep as long as it stays reliable. I wouldn't buy brand new though. If possible buy still under warranty then you can ask the dealer to show u the claims history. If it's had a lot done walk away. Current tractor I'm running has cost me 5 in depreciation, 1 n tyres and 1 in servicing. Repairs would be about 1 but not sure as I'm currently waiting for an invoice for 2 repairs (all £ per hour) that's on a tractor bought ex demo currently on 9500 hours. That's as it stands today but a funny noise could put the figure up another 2 per hour. It's all a lottery.
Good luck

 

[michael N123]

My valtras 5year warranty and 5 year finance as soon as warranty ends it’s gone
Fine apart from when it needs dealer serviced twice a year

 

[Sharny dubs]

My valtras 5year warranty and 5 year finance as soon as warranty ends it’s gone
Fine apart from when it needs dealer serviced twice a year

And divided by the hours you expect to do and taking away what u expect it to be worth at 5 y o what's your estimated cost per engine hour if u dont mind sharing.

 

[deleted user 837354]

My valtras 5year warranty and 5 year finance as soon as warranty ends it’s gone
Fine apart from when it needs dealer serviced twice a year

Least you know what the costs of ownership are in black and white for the duration.

 

[PSQ]

I’d be tempted to buy something like the T7’s that Langmead’s sell / sold at either 12 months or 1000 hours old, whichever came first; and keep it for 2 years. Rinse and repeat. You’d never be sat in a machine older than 3yo / 5000 hours, or hopefully, never be ‘left holding the baby’.

Just traded in an ex Langmead T6 At 10yo and having bought it at a fair price it turns it cost us surprisingly little in the time it was here. But then again, it was only doing 300 hours a year. Still have another ex Langmead T7...

 

[2wheels]

Id say pick a dealer with good backup and sellin a good product ud be happy to own. Buy new look after it well and drive it until it becomes unreliable. This way ul have got all the reliable hours out of it and have got the best value out of it

trouble is you don't find out they are unreliable until it is too late. then you have to bite the bullet and change at a big cost or spend a fortune on repairs. i'm speaking in past tense as warranties were only 1yr when i was farming.

 

[michael N123]

And divided by the hours you expect to do and taking away what u expect it to be worth at 5 y o what's your estimated cost per engine hour if u dont mind sharing.

Havnt a clue on costs per hour keep the payments the same but get a better tractor every 5 year

 

[D14]

Sooo 150-200hp tractor running costs. What is the best way of doing it? Buying? hiring? Buy new clock up lots of hours? buy new and trade in after little hours? 12 month hire? Seasonal hire? Buying tidy second hand models?? Interested to hear everyone’s opinions!! Reliability is key!! No time for braking down! 2000 hours a year. Reliability, comfort and good lights are my 3 musts. Fancy gadgets etc are nice but not essential. 50k also.
Bulk of work is hauling silage trailers/dump trailer, mowing, pumping/spreading slurry. Thanks for any input.....the price of running them is just getting ridiculous in my opinion. Thanks [emoji106][emoji106]

If I was in your situation I would be pricing this with a few hire companies telling them you’ll have a flexible deal with them allowing them to lift the tractor off you at anytime as long as it’s replaced with a like for like machine. You might find they’ll lift it every 1000 hours which means your always in a new tractor well within warranty. I doubt you’ll have any breakdowns this way.