C/IH closed another dealership

Well, Case IH closed another dealership in the
area. They took away the dealership from another
place that had been in business for probably 50+
years. That makes 3 in the last few years in our
area. By "our area", I mean within 100 miles.
Almost all the Case/IH dealers in South Dakota are
now Titan. Still a few that are holding out. Hope
they can hang in there. Titan is a big company,
but not as good as the small local guys.

I just heard that Titan of CA was going bankrupt. I do not know for sure but that is a rumor I heard.

The big companies are pushing for these combined dealerships. I think long term they will have that blow up in their face.

The local dealerships here are owned by one fellow. He owns nine stores. They where owned by 7 people before. I will guarantee that the seven old owners' check books would be bigger together than the new fellow's ONE is. So with hard times ahead for the equipment business I think some of the combines dealerships will go broke.

I feel the same way JD, I don't feel comfortable in the big stores. Most have a take it or leave it attitude. I just wish somebody could explain to me how one big dealership con make the company more money than three or four smaller dealerships.

(quoted from post at 17:01:59 02/15/14) I feel the same way JD, I don't feel comfortable in the big stores. Most have a take it or leave it attitude. I just wish somebody could explain to me how one big dealership con make the company more money than three or four smaller dealerships.

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Easy! competition is eliminated. You can't shop around. You have to just pay the higher price, so the mega dealers can make a lot more profit, and Mother Deere (and Mother CNH) don't have to pay out so much in incentives.

My nearest CaseIH dealer gave up their franchise last August. Dealer since 1945, first IH then CaseIH. I still have a two site dealer just 20 mile away, so we are well set. Just a lot less farmers to sell to. And Dealers have to by contracts from the mother company to sell combines , or tillage ,or hay and forage , or tractors under 100hp, or tractors over 100hp. The mother company do nothing to make it easy for the dealers , not that I am sheading any tears for them , just saying.

Just got word that our John Deere dealer has combined yet again with another group. This is the 4th iteration of the same game. First one dealer combining with three other local dealerships, then with four other regional ones. The latest covers West Michigan, Northern Indiana. They must be taking a page from the US auto dealerships. combining into mega dealerships that have no local relationships at all. Now all we'll see are the same dealers fighting over the same business from the same BTO's and the rest selling compact tractors to the guys who mow 5 acres. Guess that's the way business progresses.

Last I heard Mark's is doing ok in Yankton and Wagner.

I well remember a long time ago my local dealer giving up selling International tractors and equipment after many many years and going Ford / New Holland.( Why they did is actually very complicated actually) By the way, where was this dealer? Straight opposite The IH factory in Doncaster!

Back in 2008-2009 when the economy tanked one of the largest Case construction dealers in the U.S shut down. They had like 8 or 9 stores. I heard it was a real mess for Case to get new stores up and running and support customers till everything got worked out with new locations. For some reason people think that big companies are more secure, but often when things start going bad, they fall the fastest.

I agree. Dealerships are built with nickels and dimes as well as dollars. Driving a lot farther may just be the tipping point for more than a few customers who decide to purchase elsewhere especially on-line.

The signs of a collapsing economy. More to come!

We closed our Case-IH dealership back in 1986. The new Co. didn't like our dated facilities, and wanted us to build new.
I stayed in the industry as a retail salesman until 1994, when I got discusted with the whole thing.
I would go out and demo., and convince a customer to buy a Red tractor, and then once I gave him the price and all the specs. he would shop every other Rde dealer in two stated for the best price. If I didn't meet the price, I was a SOB, and when the unit needed service and we told him he would have to wait till those that bought from us were serviced, we were SOBs again. Don't put all the blame on the mother co. or the BTO dealers.
Loren, the Acg.

Isn"t the model they are following CAT? I believe that they try for 1 dealer per state.

I think CIH just dropped another of our local dealers recently. I have yet to get down there and see for myself, though. A year ago at their annual consignment auction the dealer announced that CIH told them the end of their decades-long business relationship was probably coming, and they had been cut back to a parts contract. They had a single location and older, but more than adequate facilities.

There was another Deere dealer mega-merger just the other day locally. One more independent, single-location dealer is no longer so. These mega-mergers are always advertised as being beneficial to the customer. More parts supposed to be stocked, better quality and faster service is supposed to be provided, .... I'd sure like to see one that worked out that way.

CNH, Deere, AGCO, etc. don't want their dealers competing with their dealers. Multiple locations under the same umbrella of control reduce/end competition between dealers for sales, service, and parts for the same color of machine. The mfr.'s want to see (large) levels of growth in equipment and parts sales each year from each dealer. They have $$$ figures. If you don't meet them, your time is limited/up. They want to see the most modern of facilities. If you don't have facilities that meet their demands, your time is limited/up. Some of these castles that they call dealerships that have been built in the last 5-10 years and are being built today may start to be on the chopping block soon. If not by the end of decade probably by the middle of the next one. They just may not be modern enough to please the mfr.'s. It wouldn't be a bit of a surprise if the "Big 3" start moving toward a "company store" format where they control everything.

This may all blow up in JD's, CNH's, AGCO's, etc.'s faces eventually. That's for a CEO or two down the road to worry about, though.

When NH and Ford got together, they crap-canned our local NH dealer. Small town, piddly little location, wouldn't update the facilities, blah blah blah, etc.. 40+ years of representing the line, good sales levels, and excellent service, and they wouldn't renew their contract. The year they lost NH, they had the highest level of sales of both round and square balers in the sales district that year. On combines they came in 2nd. They didn't even have a full year to pull that off.

(quoted from post at 14:59:03 02/16/14) I would go out and demo., and convince a customer to buy a Red tractor, and then once I gave him the price and all the specs. he would shop every other Rde dealer in two stated for the best price. If I didn't meet the price, I was a SOB, and when the unit needed service and we told him he would have to wait till those that bought from us were serviced, we were SOBs again. Don't put all the blame on the mother co. or the BTO dealers.
Loren, the Acg.

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There are alot of people that don't value the quality and timeliness of service their machine may need from the dealer when buying that machine. There are alot of (potential) customers that will throw a dealer under the bus for one tenth of one percent of a difference on both parts and equipment pricing. Sad, but true.

But, what about the guy who buys from the local dealer, and that dealer is dropped by the mfr.? Mfr. tells the guy to go to a another dealer (who can more than handle what's entering their shop currently, but maybe not another 50%+ of that) and that guy is now put in the back of the line behind their existing customers when service is needed. He might just happen to get screwed around a bit if (because) he didn't buy the machine there. There is alot of truth in what you said, but it can and does work both ways.

AG

JD let some dealers get too big and the dealers started dictating to the manufacturer. JD then refused to allow the mega dealer to own any more dealerships. Mega dealer had SIL's buy dealerships in their own name, but mega dealer still controls the dealerships - and JD is NOT happy about it.

GM thought mega auto dealerships would be great - until the mega dealers started telling the company what to do. GM doesn't want anymore mega (national) dealerships.

However, with increasing technology and greatly increased prices for equipment, it takes dealers with sufficient capital to be able to afford to be a dealer.

I remember the day when local merchants thought large farms were really great - until they realized that large farms didn't buy from local merchants!

Way back in time, local merchants thought they would benefit from having Bonanza farms in their area. James Hill, the railroad developer, started a Bonanza farm in NW MN. However, he had all the groceries and supplies for the farm shipped up on his own railroad, so the local merchants didn't get any business from his farm.

As a mechanic at the CaseIH dealership, I even saw that happen. I had nothing to do with the selling of new equipment except guys would ask what I thought of a particular product.

One customer even went so far as to tell a competing dealer that our price was less than his which it was not to cut a better deal. It got back to my boss eventually.

When they would come in with the warranty card to be added to our files, well, like you say, they waited until our buyers were serviced first, warranty or not.

Who is it?

You DO realize they answer (in profits/dividends) to their stockholders, rather than to the convenience of local farmers, don't you?

It's sometimes hard to swallow, but the bottom line/keeping the stock price up pretty much governs how these things are done.

Do you REALLY think an EU corporation (FIAT) really gives a @*^% about a little US town, or local farmers?