FEATURE - The Value of Experience

Like many aspects in life, experience matters. It applies just when buying a tractor, too. From your own point of view, buying your second or third tractor is almost certainly a different experience from when you bought your first. And just as your own experience is valuable, so is experience in who you buy a tractor or farm machinery from.

You’ve probably seen new tractor dealerships with fresh-faced staff and yards that look great, but do they have the experience to understand their own stock, those of rival brands, the needs of the farming industry in general and, more importantly, what you need?

At the other end of the spectrum, there are dealerships that may not have all the gloss and razzle dazzle, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re doing. The old adage of never judging a book by its cover applies here, as a dealer without the best facade may actually have the best content within. 

Experienced operators will usually focus on what’s in the yard, rather than how the yard itself looks and will be keen to get an understanding of your needs before steering you towards something they think is best suited. They may discuss what you want in detail, or walk you through the available stock before making suggestions.

A dealer that points you toward one model straight away (usually the one with the biggest profit margin!) and wants you to sign the paperwork ASAP can be a red flag.

That being said, experienced dealers aren’t always experts, especially in the farming arena that has some very diverse offshoots. For example, they may not regularly encounter the need for specific cropping tractors and related implements, but if they’ve been in business for a long time, they’ve probably had customers with similar requirements to yours in the past. That experience means they can either point you to what best suits your needs, or at the very least, offer some valuable advice if what you require isn’t in stock.

So, how do you pick an experienced tractor and farm equipment provider from a newcomer? Some things are obvious, like the dealership façade, online presence and so on. But you often need to dig a little deeper and the internet has made this so much easier.

If a tractor dealership has experience in the field, they’ll be pretty proud of it and say as much online and in their advertising. Conversely, if a business was only founded a year or so ago, it’s rare they’ll promote that. New dealers aren’t an instant red flag, but they can be cause for concern. Same goes for address and/or phone contact details that are hard to find on a website or absent altogether. Tractors are very much an “in person” decision, given farmers spend so much time in them, so that requires direct, person-to-person communication and vehicle inspection. Given this understanding, if a dealer only has an email contact on their website, that’s another potential red flag.

When looking to buy a tractor – or tow-behind implements, 3PL accessories, trailers and the like – it’s the default option these days to start by searching online. For many, if they can’t find what they want on the first page of google, they give up. But logging off and looking at other options, like advertising in newspapers and magazines, mail-out flyers, catalogues and even attendance at events (particularly field days for farm machinery) can deliver results. Yes, the internet is essential for any business these days, but it’s not the only choice when it comes to advertising and promotion. Dealers that have a presence beyond the digital world are more likely to be experienced and understand that not all customers are found exclusively online.

Experienced sellers and traders in farm machinery understand their customers and the best way to reach them, whether it be online, through print or other avenues. As a sidenote to this, the internet can offer answers to anything these days, but it doesn’t necessarily have the answer for everything. Long-running farm machinery sales outlets would have started out using print advertising, so if they’re still using it today, that shows it’s still an effective way to reach customers. It also shows they have enough customers who find their stock via print advertising to warrant continuing with it. So, searching print options is another avenue, and potentially a very effective one, when researching who may be the best tractor and farm machinery provider for you.

Ultimately, if a tractor dealer has been in the game for a decade or more, you can be assured they’re doing something right - they wouldn’t still be around if they weren’t! That means they can be trusted, too, which is so important when buying farm machinery that often requires such a big outlay, regardless of whether it’s new or used.  That trust factor is particularly applicable to used equipment.

An experienced second-hand dealer will have seen many tractors, front-end loaders and the like pass through their yard over the years, so will know which are the makes and models that farmers hang onto longer, pointing to greater reliability, as well as those that pass through the yard more frequently, suggesting they may be problematic. Same goes for trailers, 3PL accessories, tow behind implements and more.

There’s plenty to think about when need to replace or upgrade a tractor (or bring in an additional one), so one of the first areas of research you should do, after working out your budget and financing options, is to seek out an experienced dealer who’s more likely to understand your needs and be able to supply the tractor that best suits.

Maryborough Machinery was founded in Victoria in 2004, so are on the eve of 20 years in business, but the founders have been selling tractors and farm equipment, as well as trucks, trailers, industrial machinery, earthmoving equipment and more for even longer – all over the country.

Family-owned and operated, Maryborough Machinery has vast experience in the field of second-hand farm machinery sales, with hundreds of items in stock at last check. They accept trade-ins, buy used tractors and occasionally have stock for wrecking, too.

While Maryborough Machinery deal exclusively in second-hand vehicles (they sell trucks and earthmoving equipment, too), trailers, implements and accessories, some stock is refurbished, so it’s like new, but without the new price tag.

To see the range of used tractors, implements and accessories available, as well as a variety of second-hand earthmoving equipment, trucks and more, contact Maryborough Machinery on (03) 5464 2387, call in to their yard at 4126 Pyrenees Highway, Flagstaff (Maryborough), see their online listing with JUST TRUCKS HERE or visit their own website HERE.