Combines NH support

In this area NH sells because they have the best support of any of the brands- far better than JD. Do not want to start a color war, but I am impressed with the service we recieve. NH must not be all that bad or the dealer could not be that good. A good dealer could make up some for a poor company, but a bad dealer could not make up for a good company. It mainly is up to the dealer

Before we went 'lexion' a few years back, we were funning a NH, dealer support was great, there was no reason for the move, except that NH didn't have a high capacity machine at the time. I wouldn't be afraid of NH if you have a good dealer, where I'm from dealer support for all brands is great, except Gleaner.

The dealer is talking about dropping NH and going to JD. This has already happened with another NH dealer. But its all speculation and I won't believe any of it until I see it.

Unfortunately, these days equipment manufacturers are becoming more and more like other big companies. They think of the customers, dealers, parts and service support, etc. and all they see is numbers and dollar figures. Seems that more and more the big manufacturers do not care (on a personal level) about the end users and the dealers that have to support and directly face these end users as much as the old days. Whatever is seen as most cost effective, or supposedly makes the most sense from the business end, is the way they handle things. They do not realize the enormous struggle that dealers are facing more and more to keep their customers loyal and productive and overall happy. It takes a fantastic dealership to compensate for manufacturers shortcomings or mistakes. Smaller dealers have it very difficult these days because they sometimes do not have the resources such as that extra equipment in the yard to rob parts off of or to lend out when your new piece is down in the field. larger dealers are able to do this, but at a very huge expense to the dealership themselves. The same old story may be sad but is true - the big get bigger and the small fade away. I am making a very general statement that, in my mind, pertains to not one, but all of the large equipment manufacturers. I am saying this because I deal with green, red, yellow, all of them, and one is just as good or bad as the other. All I can really say is, we need to be very greatful of our dealers, because they are usually doing the best they can to help us out. Face it, they want to stay in business, and without the farmers, they can't. This was just an opinion that I have, obviously a very strong one.

in over 30 yrs in the machinery business, being a factory rep "blockman" in the old days, for NH, FIAT_HESSTON, being a major line dealer having CASE_WHITE_NH, and in the wholesale trade for a bit, yes things have changed. the big companies want numbers, numbers sold, market share, of the stuff they want to sell. if they want to sell 150 hp tractors and your market area is 50 hp tractors, sell the 150 hp tractors, that's what we got, that's what we want to sell, that's where we make the money. because eqpt is getting bigger and bigger, agriculture in our area is changing drasticly. i am a used machinery dealer buying and selling. every time there is a new line announcement from a major, i see a new face in my business, a farmer that can't afford the fancy new stuff. for every 9400jd, 4425jd, 4435jd, 4420jd, 4400jd combine (which there are darn few, for all the hipe jd puts out),there are 10 300mf, 205mf combines in my trade area. mf combine market share here is nearly 75%. why cause these farmers are small. 50_60 hp tractors are the norm but there are a ton of 35 hp tractors out there. the personal service afforded to the customer of 20 yrs ago is gone. many a day i hear from the little guy, "i want to buy a new 35 hp tractor , but the salesman was to busy chasing the dairy farmer for the 90 hp cab , 4wd loader tractor, so he couldn't talk with me" or "they gave literature and a price, take it or leave it, we don't want your trade, it's too old". we've built our business on personal contact, no retail calls unless a trade-in is involved, super fantastic service on some products , none on others and advertised as "asis" and we survive. the 20,000$ computer system tied to jd, or ih, or agco, or whoever cost us 1000$ and it does our books and keeps track of things. we have 1 day parts service from our suppliers. we can do what we want, concentrate on machine models that have a good reputation and a good population, carry the parts we need and give the 7_24 service required,...and remain profitable. BUT THINGS ARE CHANGING! and one needs to see this. it is cheaper today to completely rebuild 5 smaller combines and run them , than it is to buy one giant combine and run it. in either case, if a combine breaks down, one way we are still operating and the other way we're sittin on our ass. big is the way of the future, but everytime something bigger comes along, fewer get sold, fewer people are involved, fewer dealers exist, fewer.., fewer.., fewer.., . where will all this endIJ a few of my thoughts..........more than 2 cents worth.

The NH dealer in Glasgow, MT; Farm Equipment Sales is now in the process of closing out their NH dealership. They sold Case and NH for years but when Case_IH merged, they lost their Case franchise to the IH dealer in town. They pushed NH combines for a long time, and because of their support, NH moved a lot of them in this area. JD never had a strong presence in Glasgow, but a few years ago, a small dealership was started in town. The dealership struggled and finally merged with about 5 others in a quasi-corporation type of conglomerate. That struggled under that for a few years but that wasn't the silver bullet either. This fall, Farm Equipment Sales got the JD franchise and are now going to sell the JD line. Doesn't look like NH will have any more support any where close to here. It isn't only a NH thing here either. One of the other participants in the JD conglomerate thing, the JD dealer in Scobey, MT completely closed their doors about a year and a half ago. They were a traditionally strong dealer with a very loyal base and a nice fairly new building and lot. I think the pressure exerted by the CRP program and the cheaper parts and equipment available just across the Canadian line had a lot to do with their demise. Ed in Montana

Those are valid points, but todays large operations are demanding larger equipment. We all know the reasons why, labor, same window of opportunity to plant_harvest with more acres, higher efficency and tax benefits. The problem is that the secondary market for large equipment is shrinking. Just reveiw auction results around the country and see how much values of good used equipment have decreased. Businesses like you with low overhead have a place in the ag cycle, but a large majority still want new equipment. The manufactures and dealers are making that possible with great rollover deals and cheap money.

In the last year parts stocking by NH and CaseIH has been very slim. This is because CNH Global is owned by Fiat Group which having its own finincial troubles borrowed itself into GM's hands. GM purchased 20% ownership in Fiat Group and loaned it quite a bit more with the option to buy the remainder of the stock if Fiat management (the Fiat family) could not turn the finincial situation around. So Fiat sent down directives that all subsidiary companies should shave their budgets. The idea was to use the subsidiary profits to repay Fiats debt to GM. All companies involved had long backordered parts last year, NH both ag and industrial which includes all of the former Fiat joint ventures such as Fiat Allis, CaseIH ag and industrial, IVECO ect. Things have improved alot by this fall but not everything that should be in the warehouses is there yet.

717-371-8222 is Harvest Supports number, but I'm not sure they are still traveling. I know Richland Co. Implement has as much experience as anyone. They are in Wahpeton ND. 701-642-9266. Wes in the shop is very knowledgable. Hope that helps