The Green Industry's Resource Center

aklandscape · #1 09-03-2006, 04:16 PM

I have been looking into buying a new ztr. I own a toro model now that is a 27hp and 60" cut, i believe model 557. My question is how loyal are you supposed to be to your local dealer??? He treats me fair and gets my stuff looked at right away,but I pay the same price as anyone else who walks in off the street. Here's the scenario,I can buy a brand new 557 model like the one I have right now for $7700.00 plus $470 delivered to the door. Dealer price is going to be $9000.00 plus another $720 in tax. So there is almost $2000.00 difference in price ,the new one comes with a z-stand which I have to pay extra for at the dealer.My question is how loyal are youto your dealer???

newz7151 · #2 09-03-2006, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklandscape

I have been looking into buying a new ztr. I own a toro model now that is a 27hp and 60" cut, i believe model 557. My question is how loyal are you supposed to be to your local dealer??? He treats me fair and gets my stuff looked at right away,but I pay the same price as anyone else who walks in off the street. Here's the scenario,I can buy a brand new 557 model like the one I have right now for $7700.00 plus $470 delivered to the door. Dealer price is going to be $9000.00 plus another $720 in tax. So there is almost $2000.00 difference in price ,the new one comes with a z-stand which I have to pay extra for at the dealer.My question is how loyal are youto your dealer???

Question here should be, how loyal will your dealer be to you if you show up needing service on some internet/mail order machine?

MMLawn · #3 09-03-2006, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newz7151

Question here should be, how loyal will your dealer be to you if you show up needing service on some internet/mail order machine?

Spoken like the true dealer that you are......

aklandscape-show your local dealer the price and give him a chance to match it.....if he doesn't......well that should a) tell you what kind of dealer you truly have and b) tell you what to do. Afteralll $2K is a HUGE difference....not like we're talking a couple hundred bucks to stay "dealer loyal"

ALarsh · #4 09-03-2006, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMLawn

Spoken like the true dealer that you are......

aklandscape-show your local dealer the price and give him a chance to match it.....if he doesn't......well that should a) tell you what kind of dealer you truly have and b) tell you what to do. Afteralll $2K is a HUGE difference....not like we're talking a couple hundred bucks to stay "dealer loyal"

I agree with this, but the Z-Stand comes standard on the 557. Is your dealer pulling them off and making you pay more for it?

FearThisDeere · #5 09-03-2006, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMLawn

aklandscape-show your local dealer the price and give him a chance to match it.....if he doesn't......well that should a) tell you what kind of dealer you truly have and b) tell you what to do. Afteralll $2K is a HUGE difference....not like we're talking a couple hundred bucks to stay "dealer loyal"

I agree, I try to be as loyal to my dealers as they are loyal to me. Most of the time it works out great. If they try their hardest to make me happy, I try my hardest to keep my money going to them. The place I rent equipment from usually gives me a good deal, so I return the equipment always washed and clean before I bring it back. Just remember, at no time do HAVE to be loyal to one single dealer. If you can find a better deal that is a smart choice, then go for it, but you have to atleast let your dealer try to match it. That is being loyal.

Dunn's · #6 09-03-2006, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALarsh

I agree with this, but the Z-Stand comes standard on the 557. Is your dealer pulling them off and making you pay more for it?

He might do that most of our dealers around here are real shady they don't care if you come back or not when you tell them you found it for a better price at this place all except one so far has told us well then maybe you should go there. I think it has something to do with the size of our city its just to big. So you get no dealer loyalty no matter how loyal you try to be to them. And yes our dealer gives us a $100.00 dollar gift card to their store when we buy a machine but after 4 blades 2 oil filters and some foam pre filters it is all gone. I mean $16 dollars a peice for 16 and 3/4 blades come on. I can buy them online for two with shipping cheaper than one blade.Unfortunately the dealer in our area that we have found that is loyal doesn.t sell the types of machines we want.

Proscapez LLC · #7 09-03-2006, 07:17 PM

When I walk in the door at my dealer, I'm treated like a star.
They address my concerns as quickly, ask when I need it back.
Not when they'll get it done.
I may pay a little bit more, but they have to eat also.
I won't buy from anyone else.
They don't stock much pro equipment, as there bread and butter is homeowners. But when I want something, I just call and tell them when I want to pick it up. when I get there it is filled up and ready to go.
The best service around.

aklandscape · #8 09-03-2006, 07:27 PM

I have asked him about the "best" price he can give and it's $8500.00 cash only with no financing at that price. He also told me that toro wasn't putting the z-stand on and when he told them they should include it to keep competitive with other model ztr's toro said that they would sell him the z-stands and he could put them on to keep competitive. I don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars more to help out the local dealer, but when thousands of dollars are involved I have to do what makes good business sense. It does come with the same warranty no matter where I buy it but I understand that the wait to get it fixed may be longer now. By the way I am keeping my old one for a back-up.

LB1234 · #9 09-03-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklandscape

He treats me fair and gets my stuff looked at right away,but I pay the same price as anyone else who walks in off the street.

Do you give your customers/clients a break cause they use you exclusively to cut your lawn?

aklandscape · #10 09-04-2006, 08:45 AM

Yes,I do give a break to a customer that wants extra work done that I have as a weekly mowing contract . But what I meant by that statement was If I spend thousands of dollars at that establishment can you knock off 10% or maybe give me a free hat or tee-shirt or maybe give me some sort of extra for spending money at your place. I'm not looking for a handout everytime but maybe when I need some cheap $2.00 item maybe he could say "you spend alot of money here don'tworry about it. That's all I'm saying. I also wouldn"t expect it every time I went in either.