Quoted $7750 for Super Z, over the phone....

[LawnSmith]

called a place up in Indiana(im in KY) for a price check on a 60" Super Z and they quoted me $7750 while i was on the phone. i called a couple others in my area and havent had any below $8000. 7750 just compared to the other prices seems like a steal!
what have you guys been paying and/or been qouted?

FWIW, i paid $8000 out the door for my 61" TT w/ 25 kohler.

[P&J Lawncare]

That seems real low for a new one. I would check to see if the unit is a demo. If it is a new one I would be real interested in the phone number of the dealer. My dad lives in louisiville and I visit him a couple of times a year so it wouldn't be to much of a hassle to bring my trailer with me next time.

[duke]

bet its got a regular seat on it.

[captdevo]

is it worth the $250 to travel for service?

i'd rather spend a little extra and establish a good relationship with a dealer nearby.

remember....dealers are no different than you when it comes to making money, you bid some properties and get them at your bid price, or your customers call around for more bids and go with someone cheaper.

it's true...you get what you pay for.....and service is the name of the game when you have a problem.

when i sell a mower and make a good profit, i have no problem dropping what i'm doing to take care of that customer.

[LawnSmith]

its got the suspension seat, whatever that is and its brand spankin new. this place doesnt lend out mowers to demo, they let you demo them on site or meet you at a specified location for you to use.
this place is in southern indiana about 10 miles from louisville and i am about 10 minutes outside louisville so we are only talking like 20-25 minute drive for service(if need be).
i absolutely love my SCAG mowers and the place i purchase them from is unbeatable. the only thing lacking in my TT's are the ground speed. not so much in mowing, but in transport. i dont need to mow any faster than 10 miles an hour anyway and thats what my TT's do.

[KirbysLawn]

Mine was on sale for $7900.00

[P&J Lawncare]

Capt Devo so what your saying is if you don't make good money off someone you wont provide good service to them. The dealer that I was using for the last ten years had great service but charged sticker for everything so this year I decided that service wasn't worth the $1000 more I was paying for my mowers so I shopped around and bought a super z from a dealer that I had never dealt with before and saved over a $1000 on my mower and his service is as good as my old dealer so I plan on doing all my buisiness with him in the future but that doesn't mean he can start raising his prices on me now that I am going to him on a full time basis. I spend thousands of dollars a year on service and equipment so I believe the dealer should take that into consideration when he decides on a price for me. Service is very important in this buisiness but so is the all mighty dollar so if a dealer decides that I should pay the same price that a one time buyer (home owner) would pay I will take my money else where. Not that I would ever do this but if I did buy a mower from Indiana and brung it back here and something went wrong with it and the nearby dealer wouldn't give me service or decided to give me sh#tty service I would be on the phone to the distrubuter rep explaining to him about how he is about to lose me as a customer (I buy new mowers every year) because the AUTHORIZED DEALER in my area isn't doing his job, how long do you think it will be before I get proper service.

[captdevo]

p&j

it went over your head.....

i'm saying if you buy from a farther distance to save a buck, don't expect service from the closest dealer.

it's so sad because this gets hypocritical.....it is the same in the lawn maintenance biz.....if you don't make good money (turn a profit) you won't give complete service or service at all for that matter. (mow -n- blow one price, additional charge for edging, trimming, spring / fall cleanup)

myself for instance, i won't drop the gate on my trailer for less than $45 regardless of the size property, it's my way or the highway.

...but my price is everything......edge, mow, trim, blow and bed maintenance.

do you give bids and then when the customer says it's too high, you drop the price for the job and still give it your all...hell no!

what makes dealers any different?

i have alot more $$$$$ at stake as a dealer than you'll ever dream about as an lco.

don't get me wrong, i work both sides of the fence, but as an lco your equipment makes you money.......no equipment...no money, as a dealer......his equipment makes him money......no equipment....no money (but dealers have alot more $$ invested)

do the math, it's plain and simple.

i have a couple $100k of equipment sitting around as a dealer waiting for someone to buy it for a couple hundred profit and then also have to be there if something goes wrong to keep it going for the user to make a profit.

do you think dealers are non-profit organizations? are lco's?

to be honest, i wish power equipment dealers would get their $hit together and stick to retail on equipment so we would eliminate to lowballing and underpricing beacause of volume.

buying power equipment from dealers should be like shopping at Wal-mart, here's the price, take it or leave it!

and yes, you can call me a hypocrite, i'm guilty of giving great deals on equipment because i have very little overhead, if i didn't the next dealer would!

Being an Authorized Dealer does not mean it's mandatory that i work on that piece of equipment, i service what i sell....period!

no rep or manufacturer can make me service their equipment.

in fact most manufacturers will make the selling dealer give the servicing dealer up to 10% of the original sale for service it.

sure you can drop it off, i'll get to it (if i ain't watching the game or going fishing)

it's just like saying to your customer "well ok, i'll drop another $20 off the service and throw in a free aeration" yeah...right... that'll never happen?

not to pi$$ anyone off, but give it some thought, dealers are no different than consumers, we are in the biz to make a living.


btw...did you see my new $44k truck in the truck forum? pulling a trailer of mowers to cut or to sell, i still have to make payments...


cain't we all jest git along......

[P&J Lawncare]

It didn't go over my head I just think that you dealers need us alot more than we need you. I can fix my own mowers and I can order my own parts with out you, but can you pay all your overhead without us. I also have $100 thousands in trucks and equipment so it is just as important to save money when it is possible. I also would never buy a mower from a dealer that cuts grass also, why should I buy a mower from someone who is in competition with me, would you sell a mower to another dealer in your town. I aint some scrub driving a $500 truck with a 21 inch mower in the back I do this on a large scale and invest alot of money in my buisiness and I would guess that my bills are pretty comparable to alot of dealers, at least when you get a mower to sell you know that you will see a profit in the near future but I have to wait alot longer to see my profit. I am sure that you do a good job at what you do but I am also pretty sure that I as a consumer I would benefit you alot more than you would benefit me.

[tgrebis]

I would love to buy my mower and have it serviced by someone who also cuts lawns. This guy would have tons of valuable advice.(If he was honest of course)

just a thought

[LawnSmith]

well, i hardly ever have any break downs(knock on wood) and i hope its because i am very into maintenance. sometimes i think i go a little overboard but maintenance is the key to a dependable machine.
if, i purchased a Super Z from someone out of state or out of town, i would have it serviced at the same place i get my SCAG equipment. i have already talked to them about the situation and in all honesty, i am waiting for them to match the price of the Super Z with one of the TT with the 27 KAW. if i wanted to spend a little extra money i would hands down get the 61" SABRE TOOTH turbo diesel. that thing is a monster!
anyway, i am still waiting to get my butt into the seat of a super Z so i can start making my decision. Super Z and TT are the only two mowers i am considering and i already know what a TT is capable of.

[David Gretzmier]

we were around that price, but we bought a few, and the bagger for one. Dave g

[FL_Rob]

I'm not an LCO at least not yet... I come from the IT world which really sucks now... and I think you guys are missing the point...

If you're spending thousands on service why are you so worried about the cost of capital equipment?

I don't mean go pay list price for anything that can be negotiated, however what makes you think it's okay to squeeze all the profit out of the deal for the guy thats probably gonna service you.

Do the math.. you pay $500 more for a Z you might find for $7500 else where... or about 6% more... or about $13 more a month over the course of three years (I hope you're getting at least 36 months out of your capital equipment).

I would expect margins at the dealer level on a Z to be around 15-25 points(percent) before cost of money (the dealer most likley paid for it and shipping when it arrived and thats money not at work if he doesn;t make a profit)

Now as an LCO think about your service margins... margin in almost any service business is closer to 30-60 percent (if not you're doing something wrong).

Try to negotiate your service rate down... there's more flexibilty on his end and trust me... he wants your service business if he know what he's doing.

In the long haul you'll come out ahead...

[LawnSmith]

well, i will more than likely not have any problems until the warranty is up and after that happens i will do the work myself and just buy parts. i do all the work on my mowers.

[fastcut]

If you can get it for $7750, buy it. Paid $8000 for mine last fall with suspension seat.