Collings Bros gone

[Hesstondriver]

Collings Brothers Early 1950s

Left to Right: Back row: Geoffrey Holliday, Wm. Seymour, James Ashcroft, Haddon Currington, Peter Shelton, John Ashcroft, Peter Eastwell, Mrs ‘Doll’ Lincoln, Walter Jeffs, Albert Staughton, ‘Jock’ Cromby, Walter Meeks, Ken Wallis, Tom Haynes, George Jeffs, Bill Gore Middle Row: Seated: Doris...

abbotsley.ccan.co.uk

 

[Farma Parma]

It's the way of the big machinery manufacturers. Force dealers to sell or amalgamate or lose franchise. Stuffs the customer, us, as there's no competition within huge areas. JD forced it through in this area and tbh I think it's a disaster. Keen to sell tractors and machinery. End of. And the personal touch has gone.

Its the same up in Northumberland iam afraid single dealers to ni on cover the whole county for the diff franchises & no competition
Prices increase,Customer is way down the pecking order. & Personal touch & everything else that stood test of time is slowly leeching away.

 

[Daniel]

They were once the biggest case quadtrac dealer. Very very sad. Jason and the team there did a good job. Th stocking payments for Kuhn will have killed them off…. Sad days

Why would machinery manufacturers force their own dealers out of business, what’s in it for them?

 

[Will 1594]

It's the way of the big machinery manufacturers. Force dealers to sell or amalgamate or lose franchise. Stuffs the customer, us, as there's no competition within huge areas. JD forced it through in this area and tbh I think it's a disaster. Keen to sell tractors and machinery. End of. And the personal touch has gone.

Do you think langer boys read anynof this , would love a pm from one of the langer sales team
all these small dealers been sqweezed out sadly , these big multi depots and monoply ,if your not in the 9 rx club ,your at the bottom of the pile

 

[Mark C]

Such a shame that a very long established dealer has gone like this. We have an orange track Marshall with a Collins supplier plate on it. As previously said , when the lost Case IH it was a killer blow and then to take on Deutz with Mark Weatherhead less than 1/2 hour down selling them as well was always going to be a challenge. They have a very loyal customer base , just not enough of them now.

 

[mountfarm]

Do you think langer boys read anynof this , would love a pm from one of the langer sales team
all these small dealers been sqweezed out sadly , these big multi depots and monoply ,if your not in the 9 rx club ,your at the bottom of the pile

A close friend is an independent dealer operating from one depot. He’s so busy on the mechanics side he can’t get staff. There’s 8 full time on the spanner’s and he could do with 16 for the sheer quantity of work. He charges half the rate to the main dealers yet has all the current software. He’s got 3 admin staff and then he does used sales of tractors and plant and spanner’s himself as well. He’s got a core following so generally gets asks to find something which he does then sells it with a warranty, rather than have a yard full of stock. Hes doing very very well.

 

[quattro]

Why would machinery manufacturers force their own dealers out of business, what’s in it for them?

Get rid of stock of their books

 

[Vitu]

Why would machinery manufacturers force their own dealers out of business, what’s in it for them?

A big initial order from the next dealer who takes over the area. There’s no
loyalty left in this game. It’s all about the numbers.

 

[Lakes Nash]

No different in the car game, all the small individual garages selling new cars gone, we up here in Cumbria have been swamped by the Lyolds group, big Vauxhall group in Kendal bought out by Arnold Clarke, now closed, not enough money in it likely, nobody can really afford taking old stuff to main dealers, tractors, machines or cars, they call it progress or mans Greed

 

[L P]

What a shame, they gave impeccable service from the experience I had with them.

 

[willyorkshire]

Do you think langer boys read anynof this , would love a pm from one of the langer sales team
all these small dealers been sqweezed out sadly , these big multi depots and monoply ,if your not in the 9 rx club ,your at the bottom of the pile

Which do I buy first, 9RX or the 5000ac to use it on??

 

[Magnum Man]

Such a shame that a very long established dealer has gone like this. We have an orange track Marshall with a Collins supplier plate on it. As previously said , when the lost Case IH it was a killer blow and then to take on Deutz with Mark Weatherhead less than 1/2 hour down selling them as well was always going to be a challenge. They have a very loyal customer base , just not enough of them now.

To be fair, Mark Weatherhead had the Deutz-Fahr franchise pretty briefly, swapping it for McCormick when Collings were given Deutz after being dropped by Case IH, so they were never competing alongside each other for D-F business. It is a big shame, as you say. They seemed to retain a lot of loyalty and to have sold a good few tractors and even a combine or two, but it looks like it will be a tough year for all dealers, and especially the smaller ones selling smaller brands.

 

[Daniel]

Get rid of stock of their books

And once the dealer shuts, who takes the next batch of stock?

 

[Johnnyboxer]

And once the dealer shuts, who takes the next batch of stock?

If it’s paid for, maybe Cheffins
If not ….the manufacturer or the finance company who provide the stocking finance

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I predict in a few years time a new trend. Fast forward to 2044….

The manufacturers, having helped build up to having one or two ”mega dealers” by now owned by city private equity types, rather than the original families that built them up, will have discovered the superior service provided by single branch, privately owned operations and how that type of service and backup drives sales. They are now encouraging the mega dealers to sell their operations branch by branch to management buy outs.

Sounds far fetched? A few years ago, in Northern Ireland there was one John Deere dealer with three branches, JD encouraged them to split in to three, bought out by the management of each branch. I know one of those involved in buying one of the branches as he’s ended up here in rural Suffolk in his earlyish retirement.

 

[quattro]

And once the dealer shuts, who takes the next batch of stock?

Don’t suppose they care that’s just how it works sometimes

 

[Exfarmer]

No different in the car game, all the small individual garages selling new cars gone, we up here in Cumbria have been swamped by the Lyolds group, big Vauxhall group in Kendal bought out by Arnold Clarke, now closed, not enough money in it likely, nobody can really afford taking old stuff to main dealers, tractors, machines or cars, they call it progress or mans Greed

Believe most of the car dealerships are multi nationals today

 

[Ruston3w]

I wonder how many preserved Allis Chalmers tractors have their dealer plate on, you often see them. Did the original Collings win a Packard car for being top UK dealer? Sure I read it somewhere.

 

[Exfarmer]

I wonder how many preserved Allis Chalmers tractors have their dealer plate on, you often see them. Did the original Collings win a Packard car for being top UK dealer? Sure I read it somewhere.

Remember as a boy father trying out an AC tractor it was supplied by them but did not buy it . We did have an Allis U crawler, but i was never allowed on it.

 

[bravheart]

Believe most of the car dealerships are multi nationals today

Think Arnold Clark is still a private family business.
He can still go to the manufacturer open up the cheque book and say "I want 200 of this model this spec at this price. How many JD dealers can do that?