Buying a tractor, or buying a dealer?

[Finn farmer]

I've always found this quite interesting. We've always bought the best deal knowing that all the dealers are good. But now i've come to the conclusion that the dealer has quite a large role on tractor sales.

How i came into this conclusion? As you may or may not know, Claas is quite new to our markets, landed here in October 2015. First few years they managed to grab ~3% of the market. But now, when old John Deere dealer took Claas in (or rather JD cut strings off of 30 years of cooperation), Claas is the 3rd most sold brand in Finland (Valtra 47%, John Deere ~13% and Claas 10% from the top of my head) and the new dealer has sold it just for 2 years. JD has managed to keep its place and even raised its percentage a bit.

I've followed Claas tractors for years and as i understand, they're not considered as top tier brand here whereas Fendt and JD are, but still they managed to come out of nowhere and push themselves to the top in few years. Mainly thanks to the dealer that's been around for over 100 years.

Is there some make on your part of the world or even city that isn't supposed to be that popular but still is, thanks to the dealer? So called market distortion?

Do you buy the dealer rather than the deal? Is there dealers so sh!tty, that you'd skip their product even if it's considered as top tier?

 

[nick...]

Nice to the countries farmers supporting their home built brand.
nick...

 

[Finn farmer]

Nice to the countries farmers supporting their home built brand.
nick...

Valtra has seen even higher, 57% was the top. Their pricing has probably eaten up the stake.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Personally we bought a kubota because of they way the dealer treated us in the past. Now we have it we really like it

 

[Frankzy]

I've always found this quite interesting. We've always bought the best deal knowing that all the dealers are good. But now i've come to the conclusion that the dealer has quite a large role on tractor sales.

How i came into this conclusion? As you may or may not know, Claas is quite new to our markets, landed here in October 2015. First few years they managed to grab ~3% of the market. But now, when old John Deere dealer took Claas in (or rather JD cut strings off of 30 years of cooperation), Claas is the 3rd most sold brand in Finland (Valtra 47%, John Deere ~13% and Claas 10% from the top of my head) and the new dealer has sold it just for 2 years. JD has managed to keep its place and even raised its percentage a bit.

I've followed Claas tractors for years and as i understand, they're not considered as top tier brand here whereas Fendt and JD are, but still they managed to come out of nowhere and push themselves to the top in few years. Mainly thanks to the dealer that's been around for over 100 years.

Is there some make on your part of the world or even city that isn't supposed to be that popular but still is, thanks to the dealer? So called market distortion?

Do you buy the dealer rather than the deal? Is there dealers so sh!tty, that you'd skip their product even if it's considered as top tier?

Same thing happened in Sweden in the 80s. Volvo BM was the undisputed champion of tractor sales all over the country while Valmet was barely even heard of.
Then Valmet bought Volvo's tractor division and got their vast dealership network along with the purchase and and all of a sudden Volvo BM - Valmet was selling close to 50% and this still held true after all the old Volvo models were phased out.
Valtra is still a top 4 seller after JD, Fendt, and CNH..

 

[Lincsman]

Its not surprising, if a crap dealer takes on your favorite brand, the dealer is the same, only the product has changed, and you will still be treated like dirt.

 

[Finn farmer]

Its not surprising, if a crap dealer takes on your favorite brand, the dealer is the same, only the product has changed, and you will still be treated like dirt.

But what about when good dealer gets a "poor" product? Many would argue that giving up Deere and getting Claas as replacement isn't actually a win.

 

[marco]

But what about when good dealer gets a "poor" product? Many would argue that giving up Deere and getting Claas as replacement isn't actually a win.

Claas sold alot here when they started off with the tractors. Come trade in time, alot went back to their original manufacturer.

 

[Cmoran]

Our local dealer lost John Deere and took deutz which turned out a disaster for him as they have very bad warranty backup compared to jd he now sells mostly used jd and avoids selling deutz

 

[Frankzy]

Our local dealer lost John Deere and took deutz which turned out a disaster for him as they have very bad warranty backup compared to jd he now sells mostly used jd and avoids selling deutz

Strange.. Our former Case dealer took Deutz instead and now they probably sell more Deutz than they used to sell Case.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s a combination really. I wouldn’t by a Belarus however good the dealer was. But I wouldn’t buy a John Deere if the service was poor.
Dealers of less well known brands sometimes try harder than dealers of popular brands who maybe get complacent.
I haven’t had poor service from any dealer in this district though. There are just less and less of them.

 

[jondear]

But what about when good dealer gets a "poor" product? Many would argue that giving up Deere and getting Claas as replacement isn't actually a win.

Why ?
Surely it depends on product reliability and dealer service.
Past experiences as well.

 

[Thomas5060]

Personally we bought a kubota because of they way the dealer treated us in the past. Now we have it we really like it

What did you go for?

 

[daveydiesel1]

What did you go for?

A m135gx

 

[Thomas5060]

A m135gx

Health to enjoy

 

[michael N123]

Strange.. Our former Case dealer took Deutz instead and now they probably sell more Deutz than they used to sell Case.

Yeah but who the feck wants a case

 

[Frankzy]

Yeah but who the feck wants a case

Third best selling in the country and very nearly tied for second so can't just be me

 

[stevedave]

I've never understood the fuss about JD. I wouldn't class them as a premium brand. Having demoed every range since the 6000 series came out I always thought they were nice to drive but not worth the extra price. I liked them all except the 30 series which I thought were over priced, expensive to run and unreliable We came close to a 6150r but it was more than a Fendt. We now run Claas and I think they have come on alot in the last few years.

 

[Cmoran]

Strange.. Our former Case dealer took Deutz instead and now they probably sell more Deutz than they used to sell Case.

It be hard sell them to repeat customers around here there reputation from the.7 series being bullet prooohas let them down in my opinion I bought one in 2017 it’s turned out to be my worst purchase in 22 years contracting!!!

 

[michael N123]

Our local dealer lost John Deere and took deutz which turned out a disaster for him as they have very bad warranty backup compared to jd he now sells mostly used jd and avoids selling deutz

My dealers gone from Valtra to deutz We really like the Valtra but when time comes to change they’ll be a deutz on demo because of the dealer.. doesn’t mean we’ll buy one but I’d give it a chance