The Most Important Thing to Negotiate in Your First Tractor Purchase - The "Walkaround"

[@DougBittinger]

When my dealer delivered my new (first) tractor, a technician came along to do the walk around training. He also offered a few tips on maintenance. Very informative and much appreciated.

[@claudenormandeau9211]

Congratulations Mike, Brian seams like a great fit for your channel.

[@A48L16S091366]

Welcome to the new guy. Brian, just a tiny bit of on-camera advice. Try to reduce how many times that you say “you know.” Also, I think the best time for a walk around might be a few weeks AFTER the customer has the tractor at home. Financially not a money maker, but it might head off those “something seems wrong” calls to the service manager, and some of those on line negative posts about dealerships.

[@joewbowen]

Welcome Brian!

[@thomasbowen2463]

Hello and Good to see you on Mike’s channel Brian and we got to see Jerry too!

[@jamesmorrison1884]

Hello Mike good video nice meet your friend will stayed tuned. Have a good day

[@larryparsons6397]

Glad your channel is at the point that you can bring on another person with a vast amount of experience to assist your viewers.

[@markbuetow2351]

As a first time tractor buyer, I appreciated the dealer doing a walkthrough. I really recommend reading the entire owners manual too.

[@brucerushing2363]

Almost 100,000 👍

[@Bob-vb8lc]

Another great segment Mike. Welcome to the channel Brian. I must say that when I purchased my Deere 1025R a few years back, the local dealer (D.H. Marvin & Sons in CT) did a great job explaining and walking through every aspect of general usage, disconnecting and reconnecting attachments & maintenance. That was a HUGE plus and I always go back there for parts or service (none needed yet). I am glad that other dealerships do it as well. Enjoy gents and thanks for sharing.

[@audreydrake805]

Just bought my 1st tractor and I wish I had the benefit of that.

[@michaeljeffcoat9096]

Congratulations on your expansion. I’m extremely happy for you. Great job sir.

[@leepickler7286]

Welcome Brian, good to see the channel grow.

[@warped2875]

Where I bought my sub-compact tractor, they showed me how to completely mount/unmount the loader, bucket, and mid-mount mower deck. Then, they had me actually do those things myself, while they helped guide me through them. Also, explanations of every function imaginable was also given for knobs, levers, switches, and demonstrated if necessary. All that was not specifically asked for by me, it was just an integral part of the purchase. A set of service manuals is something to try negotiate for to be thrown in (hopefully for no additional cost), if you are a DIYer. Those manuals a very expensive to buy after the fact.

[@jasonknight4906]

I agree 100 percent

[@robertdaly9036]

Very knowledgeable bloke, great addition to your channel.... 👍 👍

[@johnjennings4435]

Hi Mike, I bought my tractor sight unseen. After doing some research, I figured out which one I wanted but the dealership didn't have it in stock. I requested that when it was delivered there would be, what you call a "walk around". It didn't happen, the guy that delivered the tractor was a really nice person, but knew nothing about the tractor. I learned by watching your channel, Messick, Tractor time with Tim, and Tony's tractor adventure. You all provide useful and detailed instructions and are appreciated. That You. John J from mid-Missouri

[@_AndromedaGalaxy_]

Video idea: (pto generators) do's and don'ts, maintenance. I got one with my tractor but don't know much about it. I know I want to use it for my welders.

[@jasonkosmal1125]

Hi Mike. My dealer sent a technician out when my tractor was delivered. He went over everything on the machine as well as how to load it on my trailer safely. Dealer support is as important as brand if not more..Love the videos

[@earlyriser8998]

Welcome Brian. I am a newbie and Mike's target audience. Subscribed to Mike for years, Just spent 3 hours on a Kubota M6000 pulling fence post and moving 10 yards of dirt. I am 'finally' learning, after 60 hours, how to use some of the tractor capability. Not afraid of breaking it any more. I agree on the walk around, importance. Ours came late in the day when the delivery guy still had another delivery to make. He showed us how to start the tractor and raise the loader. We 'forced' him to hook up the 3 pt brush hog and show us how to do it. Very disappointing to have spent $100k on tractor, utv, and implements and get a 10 minute 'here you are' 'walk around'. We did tell the dealer we felt like we had been slighted in the delivery. But no one else came out to answer any questions.

[@larryg8742]

Mike, great video. You probably don't recall but I emailed you a year or so ago about this very topic. My first tractor, sub compact. Only knowledge was via internet. Bought lots of attachments. When delivered I got a bit of the bum's rush along with a 15 minute walk around. Didn't know what questions to ask. I suggested to you that dealships should have a class scheduled for new buyers to spend a day with a tech for a hands on demo of the tractor and attachments. Your solution is an agreement negotiated in the contract to have a complete walk around with suggestions on questions and answers. Bravo, customer service. Not so much any more.

[@andreymarchuk2129]

Thank you Mike for your videos I learn a lot watching you One year ago I decided to buy compact tractor went to a dealer you are standing in they told me the truth that I have to wait for tractors then I went to a local bobcat dealer they told me I can get a tractor same week to couple months before I got the tractor just took my money and spend me around Now I go to this dealer to get all my stuff really honest people like you thanks again for all of the advice

[@richardjones1220]

Great advice as always Mike and welcome Brian. Wish I had found you before I bought my compact tractor. I got very little instruction from the guy who delivered it and not much at the dealership. Have been happy with it but I could have asked more questions before I bought this particular model. Might have went with a slightly bigger one. Keep up the good work guys! Happy you are expanding.

[@jimputnam2044]

LOL That's a good idea Mike, most people don't know how to read a manual. Most after a week does not know what they did with it. Lost into the abiss with all the other lost manuals.

[@rp1645]

YES, the walk around is the most important. My former workplace was buying a big Loader. won't say the two brands because I liked the Brand we did not get. forward and reverse opinion, you could choose the shuttle lever, or the button on Loader control. Anyway the one that the company bought, the Salesman spent all day with us. In small groups. Going over everything. He would admit if he did not know a item. The brand I liked because of what I said previously. The salesman was really short with everything, Intimate you. He would tell about operating it, then say "got it" real quick. Just seemed like he wants to get through with us. I asked other coworkers questions about how they felt about him. They all felt like they were stupid to ask questions, so they said nothing. You can guess what Loader when asked by higher-ups witch one everyone prefers, and it was the one the salesman stayed all day. Was very humble with us. He arranged for a shop person to come out to go through it again for further teaching. It had a computer screen that was very hard to understand if you never used one before. Funny thing was the salesmen from brand we did not buy, was always coming around, hounding are Supervisor. Always wanting to push equipment trailers. Real high-pressure sales. You would just drop off are older Equipment for service at the dealer we did not buy from. And salesman would be in yard before you could unload equipment. Wanted to sell you Equipment. It was a real turn off. Just sell,sell,sell. High pressure on you. Very intimidating.

[@brianhillis3701]

Try to get a salesman that actually owns and uses a tractor. My salesman had 50 acres and a 70 hp tractor. One of my first questions. The delivery man was very helpful. We mounted most of the attachments to the tractor and even found one the would not mate properly with the skid steer on the loader. Got good experience watching him mount the equipment and drive it off of the trailer. He went through things and tested function of the equipment. Helped to block pieces so they remained level and easy to attach. This dealer also fuels and starts every small engine and explains the procedure then has the customer do it (chain saw, tiller, brush cutter, etc) simply because too many people return stuff because they never figure out how to start it.

[@frankmoreau8847]

It's hard to da a walk around when the dealer doesn't have any stock. When the NH Boomer 50 was delivered, we did a quick, less than comprehensive walk around, but I did get the owner's manual and studied that thoroughly. Having been around trucks and equipment for the last 30+ years, it was all pretty easy to figure out.

[@wildbill23c]

When I got my tractor last year, they dropped it off and left. They asked if I wanted a demo I just said nope, I'll figure it out myself because I know when they show stuff its completely different than a newbie trying it out, they do it every day, I'd never done it at all, so I just had the manual in front of me and went step by step through it all until I had it figured out. Is now 9 months later, and the loader operation is great, just got my mid mount mower and spent several hours going through everything on it, setting it up, adjusting it, etc....something you can't get if you let the dealer do all the setup for you, you'll honestly never really know how to adjust or set anything up if the dealer does it LOL. I learn by doing stuff not by having someone demonstrating stuff for me. The owner's manual tells you step by step on how to do everything, and it has taught me a lot between reading the manual and doing each step, as well as all the KZbin videos...and none of the loader install/removal stuff, and mower install/removal stuff is as easy as they show in the videos LOL....its a struggle at first until I've done it a couple times, then its like ok, now I got this and after that its pretty simple. The loader operation took me the longest to get used to, but its pretty simple now, once I got over moving the joystick in the wrong directions LOL....ooops.

[@johnburk9157]

Great point, you need to be shown how everything works, if they don't offer this. Don't buy the tractor

[@troykelso]

We're losing the language. There's no such thing as a "salesperson." They're all salesmen - man, woman, it doesn't matter. They're all salesmen.