Tractor brands , and local dealers

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
When the tractor in this photo was new, we had , within one hours drive . Case , John Deere, Allis , MF , IH , Cockshutt , and Ford dealers. Some had short lines too , NH , NI , ect.
Now within the same area we still have CaseIH , John Deere , New Holand , Agco MF , and Kubota as well. All the old brands are still here , in one form or another, and just as close by , but not nearly as many dealer ships to do business with.
How do things look where you farm ? Bruce
a160352.jpg
 
JD and NH dealers in Thief River Falls and the NH dealer in Roseau have very little on their lots these days. I'm wondering if they're doing more customized tractor orders these days?
 

Around my area (Lancaster, OH) have JD, Case-IH, Kubota, Mahindra and LS. Those are the ones I know of.
 
For the moment we have three different Deere organizations within 45 minutes of us with one having merged with another further west in New York. We have 2 different Case organizations within 45 minutes but my gut tells me that may change as the big Case outfit has tremendous pull within CNH. Two NH organizations within 45 minutes with one being a single location dealer who may be vulnerable to the big outfits. Back during the 1960's when I was a kid everything used to be within 15 minutes other than Ford. I think with the recent commodity boom over all are looking at paring back locations. The big Case out fit is building one new location with the intent of idling two of their old locations. It would also be handy if they were to muscle their in-brand competition as they are much closer distance-wise now to two competing organizations. The prediction has been made that New York will have one Deere organization and one CNH organization in the next ten to twenty years. Blue and red equipment will be handled under one roof. I guess the odd man out will have to fill up with short lines if they want to survive. Agco is under represented now with a recent dealer closing so that may be an option in the Finger Lakes Region.
 
Smith valley Garage, Nevada: Case, Kubota tractors are found there. located in Smith valley Nevada. Experience tractor parts in Riverside Ca. Any part can be located there. family owned business. there the best to go to.
 
One dealer left in the county,and they're Kubota and LS. Nearest is Agco now in the next county south,but still closer than the Kubota dealer. The town's 15 miles away,dealer's on the other side of town.

CaseIH and New Holland,45 miles or more away,Deeremart,close to 40 miles in any direction. Used to be,you couldn't throw a dead cat without hitting a dealership of one kind or another.
 
We had at one time in our town we had JD,IH,Oliver,Ford,MM,and Cockshutt but today there are none left you have to drive 30 + miles to the closest dealer and that's a JD or Case-IH dealer.
 
You guys make me feel fortunate. Even though we are on the urban edge, I can be too Deere (x2), NH (3), Case IH, MF, Gehl (2) in under a half hour, albeit in somewhat different directions. Each also carries a bunch of shortline stuff. Seems like most of them carry Kuhn!
 
JD, Oliver, and MF were right down in the nearest village with AC just outside to the other side back in the 1960's. IH, JD, and AC back in the 1970's were a choice of at least two under 15 minutes away and a choice of four with JD and IH within 25-30 minutes away. When the merger happened with Case and IH many IH dealers got closed in favor of the mega Case dealer.
 
we have a JD dealership 15 miles in either east or west. The two CIH dealerships are about the same distance north or east. The nearest AGCO dealership is about 30 minutes away to the west.
 
about 6-8 years ago within an hours drive there were

1 CaseIH
1 NH Ford/NH
5 deere
2 or 3 kubota
2 or 3 Agco

now there are

1 CaseIH
1 NH Ford/NH
2 deere
2 or 3 kubota
2 Agco

the deeres were all bought out by a big outfit. I've heard they won't deal at all. on guy ordered a new deere and had it shipped up here from Georgia and saved over $10000 with shipping.
 
Within one hour drive we seem to have most every brand except Duetz, Fendt, and Zetor. A little more of a drive and they can be found.
 
I live in western Ontario and within under an hour, there are 3 CaseIH, 3 John Deere, 3 Agco MF, 2 Kubota, and 2 New Holland. All have secondary lines including Kioti, Fendte, McCormick, Bobcat etc.
 
I have 10 JD dealers within an hour, 5 Case-IH dealers within an hour, and 2 Agco dealers within an hour. If you want to break that down into dealership networks, that is 3 John Deere dealership networks, 2 Case IH dealership networks and an independent dealership, and 2 Agco dealerships, which remain independent from one another, and I think there might be 1 New Holland dealership. I remember when a long-time friend of my grandfather lost his IH dealership in my hometown back in the mid-1970's. The farm crisis of the 1980's reduced the JD dealership saturation down to about 1 dealership per county. I believe we are experiencing another "shakeout" in which these large networks of dealers are growing in overall size and trade territory, while phasing out their least profitable storefront dealerships within the network. I have seen firsthand these dealership networks get rather arrogant in their degree of pricing, service, and customer relations. I find this to especially be the case when all you buy is used equipment and happen to be a "small potatoes" customer. So continues the "Wal-martization" of America.
 
Case left about the time I was aware of agriculture and stuff. I don't know where the next dealer was?

Massey never was around here, and an hour or so away they were all tiny dealers that closed quickly in the 80s.

We had Oliver, IHC, Ford, JD, Allis, and the old building of the Case dealer all in town 5 miles away.

Now we have none. The Ford dealer was the last, they sold Kubota until 2 years ago. They are kinda hanging on until retirement, they never were too aggressive on selling or keeping up, they just repair stuff any more, on their own pace, so the franchises slowly cut thrn off over the past decade.

JD merged into a 20 dealership deal, which eliminated the 2 closest dealers and now merged again into all of southern MN and some of SD, they are not so well liked as a dealer group but folks have green underware so it will have to be.

Case-IH left in the late 80s good dealer is 20 miles away.

New Holland is 2 good dealers about an hour away in opposite directions, both independent and good.

Oliver and Allis left about the time they merged up, have three good Agco dealerships in 3 directions, all good. (Two are also New Holland dealers mentioned.)

Funny my local town, faded away to no ag dealers at all, when thry had all of them back when.

My Green friends are most despondent, they went from two small good local dealers to having to drive 20-30 miles to stone cold, hard dealing, no parts at this location type mega dealer in a period of 2 years, they have really taken it hard.

I kinda smile now with my Gleaner, tho I need to drive 40-50 miles I have three options and all three have good parts for old machines and actual people that say hi and care at their dealerships.

Paul
 
Still have fairly good selection here. Closest is and always has been Massey, they also sell Fendt and Claas. Others are Versatile & Massey, Case & Gehl skidloaders, New Holland, Deere. Seems like we still have all colors represented within a half hour, farthest one away is Deere from my parents farm, but I'm maybe 20 minutes away myself.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
At the time that one was made we had a Our Case dealership a Ford and JD dealerships, 20 years before the was those listed and a IH and Oliver dealer here as well, today there are no AG dealers at all here but we do have several brands of heavy equipment
cnt
 
At that time we had several brand dealers in my county, now there are none 25 miles to the closest one of any kind, the their service is far from good...
 
I used to work for the Case deaership and it's now Case/IH and Kubota. Within an hour of here I have:

3 Case/IH dealers
3 JD
2 Kubota
4 New Holland
1 Massey Ferguson
1 Mahindra
1 Kioti
 
JD was closest, moved out of the county, moved East 3 times, 10 miles further away each time. JD North dealer is closer now but not good. AC left early '80s. AC taken in by MF dealer when AC dealer went to work for MF. In the latest consolidation MF dealer became Kubota. MF went to IH dealer along with AC/Agco. Kubota closest, IH/MF/Agco 2 miles further, JD furthest now....James
 
I have a Mahindra E-350DI 03 Model... I love that Tractor. What's Your Experience with Yours? How do You Like it...mine has about 350hrs on it Larry N Ga
 
(quoted from post at 19:12:25 05/16/17) I have a Mahindra E-350DI 03 Model... I love that Tractor. What's Your Experience with Yours? How do You Like it...mine has about 350hrs on it Larry N Ga

Those are the dealers that are close, I don't own them. As far as the Mahindra tractors, I've got 2 close friens that have bought new ones in the last year. So far they like them very much.
 
Within 20 miles of my house in central Kansas there are two AGCO dealerships (not of the same name, either) and one Deere. Another ten miles would get you to another Deere dealership of the same name as the closer one. 25 miles would get you to a small-time dealer who sells new Vermeer equipment and specializes in servicing old White tractors and there is another decent tractor repair shop 10 miles away. The CaseIH dealership that was 30 miles away closed a year ago so now we have to drive 50 miles for that brand. My father-in-law tells me of when 50 years ago just about every small town around here had a tractor dealership of some color or the other. The local dealer support is probably why AGCO seems to be gaining in popularity here - I see a lot more of their tractors around than I used to.
 
Nearest dealer of any color is over 2 hours west of here and that's a good NH dealer. If you go 2.5 hours south you have all the major brands JD, Agco, NH, etc.

So for me its a long drive to any dealer, that's why I like brands I can lookup and order parts online when necessary. But a good dealer is handy at times as well.
 
Have Agco, Case IH, and JD all within 30 minutes of me. Unfortunately, there is very few people at any of them that will even bother to help much. You find out quickly who is helpful by how long you have to be on hold when you call a specific parts man. It's usually much easier for me to look up the part number myself, and call the dealer to order it. Saves my time since they can't seem to find parts for older tractors, and the guys that can find them, don't want to waste their time on a small dollar part for an older tractor. I called the nearest Agco dealer yesterday to order a Duetz clutch, and the parts man seemed to be quite put out that I was calling asking about a clutch for a Duetz, and that he was gonna have to actually look it up. When you spend 900 plus dollars on a clutch, seems you could be a little more courteous, but they are the closest Agco dealer.
 
(quoted from post at 00:12:25 05/17/17) I have a Mahindra E-350DI 03 Model... I love that Tractor. What's Your Experience with Yours? How do You Like it...mine has about 350hrs on it Larry N Ga

My Mahindra is the little eMax 22. After three years it's performing very well. Only 107 hrs. on it. It's big enough for my small operation and small enough to maneuver in the barn when needed. I have a 9N and 8N that take up some of the chores also.

To keep this on topic... Actually have two Mahindra dealers nearby, one in Lancaster and one in Newark, got mine in Lancaster, Specialty Tractor. In my previous post neglected to mention the New Holland dealer in the area who moved up Rt. 33 from Lancaster toward Columbus to consolidate operations at the former Saturn dealer's place. They do lots of construction equip. as well as ag.
 

One Deere, one Case/IH, a tiny MF out in the sticks and a small Kubota place. Used to be Case, IHC, AC, Ford/NH, JD, MF, etc plus a mess of others within the same driving area.
 
There used to be seven dealerships in our town back in the 70's. Today there are only two. John Deere and Kubota. Think of all the people they once employed. Salesmen, partsmen, mechanics, assemblymen, secretaries. All those jobs...gone now.
 
When we moved here in 71 we had

East:

8 and 25 miles 2 JD, the one 8 miles is long gone, 1 IH gone too.

South AC, Ford, IH and JD about 35 miles, only JD remains. The AC dealer was AGCO for a time but it closed about 5 years ago now.

Southwest IH and JD, about 30 miles, now JD and CaseIH (both chain owned now)

West, 8 miles and 25 miles Ford both gone, at the 25 mile mark also AC, Case JD and IH. AC is gone and CaseIH (chain Titan) took over IH Case. The JD dealer is now chain too (RDO).

MF was never big here. There was a MM dealer about 25 miles north a long time back too.

The 80's is what killed it. Area went from 100's of 20-30 cow dairies to a few big operators. Not enough customer base to keep em all going. Several elevators are gone now too.

Rick
 

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