Dealerships??

[Tarw Coch]

It's an interesting one to call. With automation comes complication. Skilled staff are hard to find, and should one suitably trained individual leave a business, the consequences could be dire. In that case the local dealership will be even more vital than they are now.
Personally? I use various local companies for different things, all of them important in their own right.
As time goes by, I'm beginning to think that some of this technology isn't necessarily the way forward. Simplicity = reliability = cheaper
Electric drill metering for example, electric sprayer valves where a handle used to be, is it really the way forward?

Indeed, simplicity may well be the way forward for smaller dealers, no doubt the big manufacturers with their full line ups are going to want to sell the all singing and dancing machines, which is all very well and good if you have the scale to get plenty of use out of these machines to recoup their extra costs before reliability issues catch up, issues that it needs an expert to fix.
But many of us don't have the scale to justify this sort of kit new and it will almost certainly be to dear for us to keep going bought secondhand so we will have to stick to relatively simple machinery without too many/any electronic gizmos, a prime example must be fert spreaders, three 10-12 hour days would easily spread all the fert I apply in a year, some spreaders will do weeks on end in a year, quite easily the equivalent of 20 years here. So whilst for the big user the electronic side might be good for a few years, here the age would go against it, I very much doubt it would give 20 years trouble free service. It might need a bearing or something but that's the sort of job the small dealers can easily cope with without any special training.

 

[Spud]

I look at many of our machinery purchases with a ten year veiw. ie what will they be worth at 10yo? How much headache will they cause me getting there? If a fancier version costs me more initially, will I get that back come resale day? If not, will I gain more than said premium in increased efficiency? If no, simplify.

My fert spreader has weigh cells, and can adjust rate according to forward speed, which is handy. It's 7yo and still fine. If it throws an expensive wobbler, I can remove it's electrics, and convert it to a manual spreader. A feature that I'm sure will help it's appeal to it's next user, and hence enhance it's trade in value to me.

My new sprayer is a manual version with a teejet 844 controller. It's simple so should be reliable, and even I can remember how to use it!! Touch screens, electric valves and wet gloves would worry me..

 

[Cat Agriculture]

Yes your right, i was assuming ag telehandlers etc, not industrial

Hi All, I work for Caterpillar UK and have seen some of the confusion around where to purchase Cat machines. We offer a range of products for multiple industries including specifically designed products for the Agricultural sector, these include: Wheel loaders, Telehandlers, Excavators and Skid Steer loaders. The primary dealer and importer in the UK and Ireland is Finning. However, they also have a network of approximately 20 agricultural dealerships. Theses dealers primary business is Agricultural machinery sales and are located up and down the country. There is a dealer locator here if you would like to find out which dealers sell Cat products in the UK: http://www.cat.com/en_GB/support/dealer-locator.html . I hope this helps. Adrian.

 

[wuddy]

Hi All, I work for Caterpillar UK and have seen some of the confusion around where to purchase Cat machines. We offer a range of products for multiple industries including specifically designed products for the Agricultural sector, these include: Wheel loaders, Telehandlers, Excavators and Skid Steer loaders. The primary dealer and importer in the UK and Ireland is Finning. However, they also have a network of approximately 20 agricultural dealerships. Theses dealers primary business is Agricultural machinery sales and are located up and down the country. There is a dealer locator here if you would like to find out which dealers sell Cat products in the UK: http://www.cat.com/en_GB/support/dealer-locator.html . I hope this helps. Adrian.

Just had a look at this out of interest and the first dealer on list closest to me has been taken over by the second closest dealer who removed all CAT signage about 3 years ago not very up to date!

 

[Cat Agriculture]

We do try to make sure the site is up to date but if it isn't then I would like to correct it. If you don't mind could you message me with the dealership name in question. Thanks, Adrian

 

[icanshootwell]

We do try to make sure the site is up to date but if it isn't then I would like to correct it. If you don't mind could you message me with the dealership name in question. Thanks, Adrian

Thats the same near myself, Frank Sutton sells CAT, If you go on there web site, there is no way you would even know they sold them. Everything else they sell JD,Bailey trailers etc etc are well advertised. There is no evidence in there menu, if your looking for a tele handler, very odd. Do i approach them when i want to change my TH, or do i call Reeds or Finning ?

 

[Cat Agriculture]

Hi @icanshootwell, thank you for providing this feedback. Just to confirm Frank Sutton is a current Cat Agricultural products dealer. With regards to your choice of dealerships, that is completely up to you. Frank Sutton is primarily and Agricultural Products dealer in Monmouthshire, Finning and Reeds can also provide you with a solution. It is up to you who you would prefer to deal with. It is also possible to request a quote or information via this website: http://www.catcompacts.co.uk/ag .Your closest geographical dealer will then contact you regarding your enquiry. Adrian.