Keith
08-21-2002, 11:59 PM
Part of me wants to bring this up and part doesn't, at risk of actually accomplishing something and landing Exmark at a not-so-good dealer. But anyway, I've always been curious about this one. I live in Lake County in Central Florida. You see a few Exmarks around, but other mowers are far more popular. A drive out to Orlando brings the Exmarks out of the woodwork, but not here. I believe this to be due to one simple fact...there is no dealer here!!! Well technically there is, but it is in the southern part of the county, much closer to the Orlando market than the rest of Lake county. They also seem to cater to a residential market more than a commercial one. Basically put , there are decent Exmark dealers closer to me than they are. Other than that, there are quite a few dealers around, just no Exmark dealers. There were several years ago, but they gave up Exmark long ago. Would Exmark want it that way? I doubt it. Sounds like a distributor problem.
Before you blow this off as some crazy, mindless rambling, think about this. There are 2 or 3 Husqvarna dealers, a couple Scag dealers, 2 or 3 Walker dealers, numerous Toro dealers. A Dixie dealer or two, a few Great Dane dealers and the list goes on. But no Exmark. Funny thing is the Shindaiwa dealers are few and far between too :confused: Hmmm, Roberts is the distributor for them too. Coincidence???
I personally own one Exmark, just a walk-behind. I figured the next mower would certainly be and Lazer, but I bought a Yazoo/Kees ZT Max instead, three years ago. I figured by the time I was ready for another there would be a nearby dealer that was satisfactory. Well, it's time and there is no dealer :o I am not ruling anything out, but, I might buy another brand again.
I asked a dealer, that I have dealt with for a long time, about trying to get Exmark, but he acted like it was a pain, and said he was not interested in doing it. I picked up on something, and I believe it was dealing with the distributor that he was trying to avoid. Several years went by and I asked him again. He said he would talk to Roberts, since he dealt with them for Honda engines, about a limited number or Exmark and Shindaiwa. After all there seems to be know real territory conflicts with other dealers :rolleyes: and who knows, they might actually sell pretty well :eek:
Well, he got back with me and told me Roberts would only do it if he commited to "X" number of machines and progressively more in the future. I could understand that perfectly if there were other dealers, but there are not. So, they are saying if you can't commit to this many, you get none. As aggressive as Exmark has been in the market, I wouldn't have thought this matched there ideas. Granted, at the same time, I would rather them not be in the area at all than to wind up with a lousy dealer. I am not sure the dealer I was referring to would even bother with it now or not.
Before you blow this off as some crazy, mindless rambling, think about this. There are 2 or 3 Husqvarna dealers, a couple Scag dealers, 2 or 3 Walker dealers, numerous Toro dealers. A Dixie dealer or two, a few Great Dane dealers and the list goes on. But no Exmark. Funny thing is the Shindaiwa dealers are few and far between too :confused: Hmmm, Roberts is the distributor for them too. Coincidence???
I personally own one Exmark, just a walk-behind. I figured the next mower would certainly be and Lazer, but I bought a Yazoo/Kees ZT Max instead, three years ago. I figured by the time I was ready for another there would be a nearby dealer that was satisfactory. Well, it's time and there is no dealer :o I am not ruling anything out, but, I might buy another brand again.
I asked a dealer, that I have dealt with for a long time, about trying to get Exmark, but he acted like it was a pain, and said he was not interested in doing it. I picked up on something, and I believe it was dealing with the distributor that he was trying to avoid. Several years went by and I asked him again. He said he would talk to Roberts, since he dealt with them for Honda engines, about a limited number or Exmark and Shindaiwa. After all there seems to be know real territory conflicts with other dealers :rolleyes: and who knows, they might actually sell pretty well :eek:
Well, he got back with me and told me Roberts would only do it if he commited to "X" number of machines and progressively more in the future. I could understand that perfectly if there were other dealers, but there are not. So, they are saying if you can't commit to this many, you get none. As aggressive as Exmark has been in the market, I wouldn't have thought this matched there ideas. Granted, at the same time, I would rather them not be in the area at all than to wind up with a lousy dealer. I am not sure the dealer I was referring to would even bother with it now or not.