Are equipement dealers stupid, or do they think I am?

[townlineterry]

I called a dealer last week because I am in the market for another dozer. Tells me he has a Int. 500C, wants 11,000 for it, which is way high for those machines, but I stopped to look at it anyhow.

It had a new paint job, which did not cover up the dents and rust. No ROPS, no winch. Radiator had a couple of half dollar size chunks missing from the core. Left tensioner has a blown seal, so somebody put a piece of angle iron over the rod to keep it extended. Even with that there was enough slop in the track to throw it off. Also, the idler assembly was 6 nches from the end of the rail, if it was tensioned properly the idler would be coming off the rail Gee, could pins and bushings be shot? Right tack wasn't much better. At this point the whole machine is suspect. Just got back in the truck and on my way.

Years back when I was looking for a backhoe another dealer offered me "one heck of a deal", his words, on a 2010 tractor with loader and backhoe. I don't think there was a seal or gasket on this thing that didn't leak, it had a flat rear tire, the outriggers where held in up position with chains and one of the tilt cylinders was snapped off. I could have been mine for only $5500. When I passed on that he suggested another "John Deere", again his words that looked alot like a Case 580CK that somebody had pained green, with a brush no less.

So, I am wondering are these guys idiots, or am I so clueless I can't see "one heck of a deal" when it is right in front of me?

Still looking,

Terry

[Willyr]

Just a guess on the last one? A newbie salesman probably wanted to impress the higher ups and tried and failed miserably on the tractor you looked at. The salesman agreed with out checking with some one that knew better and committed a bad mistake on his part. It is probably up to him to get rid of it.

The guy that traded in the POS probably made out like a bandit!

[townlineterry]

Sorry, wrong guess, that was the owner on the place. A few years later I stopped there again, talked to his partner. Told him I was looking for a USED trailer, something I could strip down as much as possible. I didn't even want a deck, wanted to put a log loader on it, make my own logtrailer. He insisted what I really wanted was a brand new trailer for I believe it was around $6,000.

so far in the dozer hunt I have avoided them.

Terry

[Tigerhaze]

I think as a general rule the salesmen tend to be way less educated about their products than the parts or service guys- I'll share one event I had.

I went into my local JD industrial dealer a few years back and needed some bucket pins for my Model 50 backhoe attachment. While I was waiting for the parts guy to get freed up from a previous customer, one of the bored salesman asked what I was in to get. When I told him, he was adamant that the only JD Model 50 was made in the late 80s and was an excavator, not a backhoe attachment. I told him that he needed to brush up on his JD models because there was an earlier Model 50 hoe attachment made in the 60s.

I then went up to the parts counter and the parts guy promptly found what I needed; I mentioned the conversation I had with the salesman and he said something to the effect of, "Well, that's why he is a salesman and not in parts or service".

[townlineterry]

This thread is not to say all dealers are sleaze, my dealings with most have been fair and I have no major complaints. It is just that these two jokers stand out becasue they are such, well, sleaze. They both have well known reputations for putting the screws to people on used equipement. It isn't right to take advantage of someone who i s a neyophyete and is clueless, but you can understand how that can happen. But,if they know you have been around equipement and are some what knowlegable and they still try to b.s. you it is kind of insulting.

[Lavoy]

I guess I will take a different tack. I was a salesman for what at the time was the largest single owner dealership network in the US. As a general rule, what that parts guy said was indicative of what probably many parts guys say about the salesman, and the salesman say about the parts guys, and the techs says about the parts guys, and the parts guys say about the techs, and the sales guys say about the techs, and the techs say about the sales guys..........is anybody getting the pattern here?!?!?!?!?
In defense of salesman being too stupid to be a parts guy, one of our dealerships did from 10-20 million a year with 4- 5 salesman. The same dealership maybe did 2 million a year in parts with at least half a dozen parts guys at minimum, so I think the parts guy should wise up and figure out that without whole goods sales, there would be no dealership for him to sell parts out of. Whole goods sales is what allows the dealership to have a contract with Deere so that they can even exist. I have never seen a John Deere parts only store, and I used to travel 7 states calling on John Dealers after I left Deere. On occasion you would run into a "Service Center", but typically only in the instance of a multiple dealership owner that did not renew his wholegoods contract at that dealership, and was allowed to do so by virtue of having many other wholegoods dealers surrounding the service center.
Lavoy

[oldtanker]

Terry, we had a local kid who I know for a fact was dumber than a box or rocks about anything mechanical. He graduated HS and took a 2 year degree in sales and marketing. Then went right into auto sales at a new car dealership right in Lavoy's back yard (Fargo). Did he know anything about what he was selling? Well he knew they were cars, SUV's and trucks. My one SIL is a wrench at a Chevy dealer. Couple of years ago they had a guy come in who wanted to trade in his F250 diesel. Seems he loved the power but hated the mileage. He was the original owner hand had ordered the truck to pull his Bobcat for his business. Was his first diesel too. He ordered 4:10 gearing because that's what he always had and the 5 speed over drive manual. The sales guy didn't tell him that with the diesel he could pick better gearing. Maybe lazy or maybe just didn't know any better. Yea you may have talked to a sleaze ball, a new guy who hadn't been trained or anything in between.

Rick