Buying a tractor site unseen

Farmer 35

New User
I am kind of thinking about buying a tractor site unseen, Wondering how many of you have done the same. In the past, I have always looked at the equipment. What is your horror stories, and how do you avoid new horror stories? I am considering a tractor from a dealer.
 
Bought this one 500 miles away unseen for $500. Guy said his kids wouldn't let him drive it any longer. LUCKED OUT
a190061.jpg
 
Our company bought a little New Holland TN55 based on pictures from the City of Wichita at auction. I called the city and they gave me a description of each one they were selling. Most of them were "runs good" but on a few specific units they said if they had a problem. Replaced the seat and gave it a wax and its been a good little seeding tractor for years. I don't even think we've even bought a battery for it.


http://www.purplewave.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?110518A/6284
 
I've bought a couple just hearing them run, but not knowing if they would move under their own power. Got lucky both times. I did buy a generator that wouldn't start and had no idea if it would "generate", but got it home and it ran fine. Did get to see that one live. Bidding on an old AC lawn mower now at a on-line auction that I've never heard or driven, just pictures. Not going to spend much on it either.
 
As a used truck tractor RV and implement dealer, I bought many items sight unseen over the years. I did my homework, asked a lot of questions, looked for references or past dealings, and did okay. One thing I did was to assume things to be worse then described and take that into account and if I couldn't buy it for my price (assuming the worst) I let it go. THIS ISNT FOR THE TIMID...but if you're inexperienced and not well informed, you may want to let it go!!!! Although I did okay, I had years of experience so if you don't ????????????

John T
 
I bought 2 tractors from just a picture. First one I called the owner and talked for a long time and he sounded like an honest man. Two things he didn't mention was a rusty rear rim and how REALLY GOOD it ran. Second one my son knew the owner and said he was the most honest straight forward man he knew. Happy with both but maybe lucky too.
 
Guy I know bought a crawler at auction. Auctioneer claimed "ready to work" when they started it, but didn't move it. Went to load his trailer and the thing wouldn't move on its own. That's when you're happy you didn't pay first... Same auctioneer has twice/year auctions here. Not anywhere I'd buy a tractor unless I knew the previous owner.

You know the dealer? There's one here that I would never buy a used tractor from, others, no problem.
 
My brother sold his Case 2490 sight-unseen to a guy on the opposite end of the state. Brother doesn't have a computer so couldn't even send him a picture. Buyer had a trucker pick up the tractor and haul it to his farm. He called my brother and said that he was surprised that the tractor was in much better condition than he thought that it would be. Happy buyer.
 
Bought our 4850 sight unscene. Thing that scared me the most was the guys name: Bill Pigg lol. He was pretty honest, said it needed a lot of little things. That was true. He did hower lie about the PTO spinning all the time, but that could be on us, for its way colder in Colorado than Texas. Just have to ask the right questions. Ulitimently, follow your gut instinct. If they do/ or act weird about something, that is a major red flag. Just from our 48, I think we got lucky. Hasn't blown up, yet.
 
I bought from a fellow who advertised here on YT. Called him and talked a few times and he sent me pictures. It all worked out ok since he was an honest guy.

I know how you feel though. When I was thinking about this deal I keep reminding myself of what stock market investors say. Never invest more than you can afford to loose !
I have seen enough local items misrepresented I sure was worried until this thing arrived.
 
I bought my JD 2550 sight unseen but I bought it from a dealership that one of my neighbours used to work at. They vouched for them and have bought equipment from them in the past sight unseen and were happy with it. They said the air conditioning worked and it didn't, but it's hard to test a/c in Ontario in January. I have since bought a manure spreader from them. If there is any red flags at all I would run though.
 
I'd say you have much less to worry about with a dealer as they tend to worry more about their long term reputation than a private party would. (key words being "tend to").

With most people owning an Iphone these days - they might be willing to make a video of the tractor for you, video it front to back up an down, close up on the tires, let you hear it run, drive, shift through gears etc.

With the great quality of video those phones provide nowadays - it's almost as good as being there.
 
Yes, was looking for a specific model and ended up finding it at a dealer too far away for me to find the time to check it out in person. Had several phone conversations with them and had them take a few photos of specific things. They even hooked up a plow to it and did a little plowing to prove that it was up to the job. Only glitch was that it got a dent in the sheet metal when being loaded onto the transport, but the dealer refunded more than enough to pay for me to take the panel to a body shop and get it repaired.
 
I have bought over thirty sight un seen out of fifty some that I bought over the years. All I can say is keep a tube of KY in the glove box. Camera angles can cover things that would have kept you from buying. I have always loaded and trucked on down the road and blamed myself for not asking for more pictures or asking more questions. All that were sight un seen were non runners in my case. I probly came out ahead though as some were much better than I expected. Those that were runners I did not buy without looking them over.
 
(quoted from post at 14:27:50 04/27/15) I am kind of thinking about buying a tractor site unseen, Wondering how many of you have done the same. In the past, I have always looked at the equipment. What is your horror stories, and how do you avoid new horror stories? I am considering a tractor from a dealer.

I very seriously considered doing that when I was looking for a tractor last year. Driving 2 to 3 hundred miles from home and not finding anything any good, seemed like everything was further, and no private sales around in any of the papers or Craigslist that were what I was looking for (hate Craigslist, closest town they list is 90 miles away, so listings from there can be over 200 miles away, wish they'd put in more towns and the ability to search by distance radius of the actual ad location, and not the town they list, because people from this area post either there or another town that's 100 miles away in the other direction). But, found an IH 5288 only 120 miles away, called about it, they said it was great. Only about 500 hours on an overhaul and tractor didn't have too many hours for the age, sitting on a dealer lot. I drove to look at it, a lot of oil floating in the radiator. That and many other shenanigans I saw in my adventure pretty much convinced me it wasn't worth the gamble when a person is talking about a lot of money. Saw major oil leaks, transmission synchros out, clutches, funny noises, you name it. Didn't matter if it was a $15k tractor or $50k, either high hours or issues sitting around. So far lucked out with what I got. Buying sight unseen only works if the person on the other end is honest or if there is some sort of guarantee in place. Now with ebay, there is some buyer protection. I did buy my last vehicle from there. But I flew out to pay them and pick it up, had it not been good I wouldn't have gone through with it. Smaller item I'd gamble depending what it is.
 
Hi
A couple things come to mind looking at the tractor for $500 in that condition. The kids wouldn't let him use it anymore. Would they let him use the TV controller still!. You lucked out big time not getting a theft conviction to L.O.L. there is way over $500 of good used tires on that unit without any other parts and the loader that i can see.
Man some guys get lucky I'd a bought that for $500 unseen and had $3000 of aggravation out of it before I didn't own it anymore.
Regards Robert
 
Search tempest will do your Craigslist search for you by distance. There are other sites that will do the same thing.
www.searchtempest.com
 
Bought a Case Vac about 7 years ago sight unseen. Best money I ever spent. Gonna go out and disc with it this afternoon.
Richard in NW SC
 
(quoted from post at 17:23:35 04/27/15) Search tempest will do your Craigslist search for you by distance. There are other sites that will do the same thing.
www.searchtempest.com

I was informed about that site the last time I mentioned my issue. And it does work better than the regular Craigslist search. But it's not what I mean. Craigslist has the towns that it lists and groups all listings, in Nebraska, it lists five towns. The closest to me is 90 miles away (including out of state results). So people in my area list there, or that other town that is further away in another direction (but closer to people further north). Closest result for anything will show me ads that are listed grouped under the closest town 90 miles away. Now, there may be ads from my area only 10 miles away. Or, since so few towns are listed, it might be from an area 100 miles on the other side of that town. Since many towns and villages can only list in the listed towns. You still have to look at each ad and see where the poster of that ad is from, and have no idea how far away they are until you look at that ad. Also, if the people posted an ad under one of the other towns, I'd have to check all the results there too. Kinda not as practical as it could be to use if a person wants something local. If they would change it, have every poster put in what area they are in, I could set like a 50 mile radius and get results only for that area. Ebay has this feature, Cars.com, tractorhouse, etc.

I'm probably not being clear, but does anyone get what I'm saying?
 
I did it with a low hour former military D7 caterpillar, had photos sent, appeared as stated, so I went for it, honest seller, easy transaction, as I sent half, got a return receipt, deal was to hold it while I arranged shipping, didn't have to deplete that bank account which made this possible. I kept my end of it, settled up with the buyer, then arranged shipping, which at first looked cost prohibitive, but through a forum like this, I found a shared load, there was JD 3020 on the trailer going east of here, the trip was 1200 miles one way. From a phone call, the trucker went and picked it up, literally from a phone call. I had a check + $100 tip for the driver included. It was as stated when it arrived, the only hitch was the dry type clutch went out with only 15 hours run time, thing had 992 original hours on it, which checked out. Did not bother me at all, to be expected, given the hours and undercarriage condition, for what I paid, even if it went south, was not as described, scrap price would have reduced most of my risk. One should never buy a track type tractor unseen, this is an exception. They do happen, but it takes honest people, and that is why I post about it, still hard to believe I could make a phone call and a trucker would load this tractor, then haul it 1200 miles to a complete stranger who paid with a personal check. Both parties honored their word, buyer and seller, not to mention the trucker who did not know either of us. I saw enough of this tractor in photos, knew the model, given the hours, I felt it was not a high risk, still a big piece of iron to take a chance on, already had a worn out one, did not need another. Photos may not reveal all, and with the internal things you can't see or measure for wear or determine there is something major about to go wrong, oil samples etc., buying unseen may not be wise, then again, there's always risk with used, and even with new. Its best to see it, know the model, check what you can, make a sound decision based on judgement.
 
Those little videos work. That's how I sold an old Cat trackloader. Guys who showed up here knew absolutely nothing about them, afraid to even get in the tractor. They took videos for somebody in Peru (not Indiana). They'd take one, waited a minute than had something else the guy in Peru wanted to see. Finally he told them to buy it. Cost them $17k to ship it to Peru.

I'd offered, for a roundtrip plane ticket, to operate it for them awhile. They laughed, but probably it increased my credibility.
 
I have bought quite a few sight unseen. The last one burned me pretty bad, but 1 out of 10 isn't to bad. When he started telling me he had someone else interested, I should have let them have it. Worste part about it, is I can't even give the dumb thing away now.
 
(quoted from post at 11:45:25 04/27/15)
(quoted from post at 17:23:35 04/27/15) Search tempest will do your Craigslist search for you by distance. There are other sites that will do the same thing.
www.searchtempest.com

I was informed about that site the last time I mentioned my issue. And it does work better than the regular Craigslist search. But it's not what I mean. Craigslist has the towns that it lists and groups all listings, in Nebraska, it lists five towns. The closest to me is 90 miles away (including out of state results). So people in my area list there, or that other town that is further away in another direction (but closer to people further north). Closest result for anything will show me ads that are listed grouped under the closest town 90 miles away. Now, there may be ads from my area only 10 miles away. Or, since so few towns are listed, it might be from an area 100 miles on the other side of that town. Since many towns and villages can only list in the listed towns. You still have to look at each ad and see where the poster of that ad is from, and have no idea how far away they are until you look at that ad. Also, if the people posted an ad under one of the other towns, I'd have to check all the results there too. Kinda not as practical as it could be to use if a person wants something local. If they would change it, have every poster put in what area they are in, I could set like a 50 mile radius and get results only for that area. Ebay has this feature, Cars.com, tractorhouse, etc.

I'm probably not being clear, but does anyone get what I'm saying?

On the lift side of the page, click on "Search by US state or region". It will take you to a new page. On top of that page, enter your zip code. Then, about 2 rows of text below where you put in the zip code, click the blue link that says, " Click to search north america by distance from zip/postal code". Then it gives you the option of how many miles from your zip code you are willing to travel (default is 400 miles). Put in your search terms and hit search. It will show you the results within your driving range.

Not everybody uses zip codes though so its not perfect but better than what you had before.
 
I bought my JD D from a guy in Strasburg, CO many years ago sight unseen. It was EXACTLY as described down to the last dent and missing piece. He said it was stuck and it sure was--took 8-1/2 tons to shove each piston out of the block!
 
Bought a IH 450 LP sight unseen several years ago at Craig, Colorado. Was gonna go to the auction, but the weather turned crappy. Called the auctioneer up and told him how high I would go for the tractor. He called me two days later and said that I owned it and to come and get it. It needs some work, but the sheet metal is almost immaculate, for having a loader mounted on it.
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto19972.jpg"/>
 
(quoted from post at 06:27:50 04/27/15) I am kind of thinking about buying a tractor site unseen, Wondering how many of you have done the same. In the past, I have always looked at the equipment. What is your horror stories, and how do you avoid new horror stories? I am considering a tractor from a dealer.
t all depends on your mechanical skill level and negotiating experience. If you have both its not that risky....if you lack both its very risky and could be expensive. I've been a mechanic forever and have bought a lot of used stuff. 90% of the time I come out ok. If you can't work on it yourself....don't buy it sight unseen. Have someone go check it out for you. If you have to pay someone to work on it its not going to turn out good.
 
About 20 years ago I bought 216 High Crop tractors in Louisiana, sight unseen, It was always a surprise to see what they were when they came in on the Semi,About 1/2 worse than described an 1/2 better than I thought them to be. I would still buy sight unseen, just be in for either a good surprise are a bad one.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top