5 Things To Know Before Buying a Tractor
Buying a tractor is a huge investment, even more so than a standard vehicle. At the bare minimum, a new tractor is going to cost around $10,000 while some of the higher-end ones can cost hundreds of thousands. There are many people that are looking into buying a tractor for the first time, while others are looking for their next one and wondering what exactly they need.
Before you go shopping for a tractor, there are a lot of details that you should be aware of. Some things are more obvious, while others are much more subtle. Here are the five things that you need to know first before buying a tractor.
1. Budget
Obviously, before you hop into any big purchase, you’ll want to know how much you can spend. Some people go the old-school route and buy a used tractor with straight-up cash while others finance a brand new one whether it be through special loan options via John Deere, Kubota, etc.
You’ll need to know about the ins and outs of financing if you’re going the latter route. From the down payments to interest rates, to the length of the loan, you’ll want to do your homework to make sure that you can afford the payments. Once you’ve figured out how much you can spend upfront or per month from a loan, you’re ready to start seriously shopping and look at the finer details of the tractor itself.
2. What Do You Need
In the same way it is with buying a car, a lot of us have eyes for something that we don’t really need. Sure, you can walk to a car dealership with the money for a convertible, but you live in a cold climate and what you really need is an SUV for the same price. This line of thinking should be placed into purchasing a tractor, as well.
Sure you might want the biggest and most powerful tractor since you can afford it and it looks amazing, but it might not be practical. If you’re on a small acreage of land, that big tractor won’t do much for you, especially in tighter spaces. If your land is small enough, you might not even need a tractor at all!
3. How You Ride
Are you someone that likes to just go along for the ride and let the tractor do most of the work or do you want to get really hands-on? Tractors come with automatic and manual transmissions, so how much work you want to put into riding is up to you, just know that the manual tractors come cheaper.
You’ll also want to consider how much the tractor will be able to do for you in terms of hauling, cultivating, etc. If you don’t need all of the extra bells and whistles and just want a smooth ride, you can get a small automatic tractor just to do some light work around the property while saving a ton of money.
4. Know Your Brand
There used to only be a handful of tractor brands, but as the years have gone one, there have been more to choose from. Because of this, you really have to do your homework to see which one is going to fit best for you. Look at the tractors that you’re thinking of getting, and ask around with people who have owned the same brand.
There are the obvious tractor companies like John Deere, Kubota, and New Holland, but there are plenty of other tractor brands both foreign and domestic that might be right for you. Maybe a Case IH, Massey Ferguson, or Class could be a good option in the long run.
5. Gotta Go Fast
One thing that you won’t want to skimp out on is speed. After all, the reason that tractors are needed in the first place is that they simply make jobs faster. With that said, there’s no such thing as having a tractor that goes too fast. You invest in a tractor to save time and therefore save money.
With that said, a faster tractor might cost more, but it will save you much more time. Brands like JBC are known for having the fastest tractors around, making even the toughest jobs are quick breeze.+