Choosing an Equipment Dealer

This series is more for the maintenance pro than the homeowner, but some valuable tips can be gained here for everybody on choosing who you purchase your power equipment from!

The power equipment dealer whose service, expertise and parts inventory are so superior that they can get the commercial customer back on his way today is the Holy Grail of the landscape world. Don't have such a dealer in your area? Then you are faced with some tough choices which usually end up as purchasing backup equipment for your main work pieces. Why? The unfortunate part is that for the commercial crew, schedule is everything. Schedules must be full and tight to maximize production and profits and if you miss days, you cannot recover them unless the season extends for you, a risky bet. For the homeowner, this is not a concern. A delay of several days or even a week just means a task is a little more difficult to perform, not a loss of income. This becomes the difference between a thousand dollar machine and a ten thousand dollar machine with similar functions! Heavy duty, commercial grade, (hopefully) over-engineered pieces that can take daily use, trailering, abuse from employees, wet or dusty conditions and keep on performing their task hour after hour after hour. So what happens when you've invested in that $ 20k skid steer, that $ 10k  Z mower or those countless other pieces of equipment that we use, you sell the next months worth of work for it and it spits it's guts out on the ground on your third day?! Well, here's what your choices are. If you are fortunate enough to have your own in-house mechanics and a large stock of parts for your machines, you jump on the cell and get them out there ASAP. If you are mechanically inclined, you may try a field repair or limp it back to your shop and try to fix it there. You may take it to your local dealer for repair. Here is where the wheat gets separated from the chaff.

You roll into your dealer with a dead machine that you need back into service something like an hour ago. What's going to happen? Well, one of four things will now go into motion. 1) Your machine is under warranty, they tell you to pull around to the shop where they take a quick look to see if they can quickly fix you and get you on your way or unload you and send you out with a "loaner" replacement to keep you working while they figure out what is wrong. 2) Your machine is out of warranty, they take a quick look and have a rental to keep you going while they get you into the schedule. 3) They tell you to drop it off and they will get to it when they can, they have no loaners or rentals, no one to have a quick look at it, but maybe parts for you to fix it yourself. 4) Same as number three, but they also have no parts, but are willing to order them in, but it takes a week or two. Which one is it going to be for you? If you didn't have these scenarios in your mind when you purchased your equipment, it's very, very likely that it's going to be number 3 or 4. You missed doing some critical research on equipment before you made that big purchase and now you're going to pay the price.

So how can you avoid this pitfall? Well, you need to do some testing and ask some questions BEFORE you ever buy anything from a dealer. The greatest machine is of no use when it sits dead from a pump, belt, hose, tire, plug, etc. failure. So start by asking the dealer if they stock the wear parts for these machines, go LOOK at their inventory and find out what their policies are on warranty and non warranty machines, have a look at their shop and see how many people are there to work on machines. Ask  others in your biz that have done business with them. Loads of disgruntled former customers are not a good sign!  A disorganized shop with a lot of machines piling up, very little inventory and no guarantee of timelines for machines to be returned, regardless of the repair, are all red flags. No loaner or rental equipment for the major pieces are also a sign of a dealer that is more interested in selling than servicing. Finally, take something in to be serviced to test them out. Even a routine tuneup can tell you a great deal about a dealer! Did they do it as promised, when promised? Everything look correct? No loose or missing bolts after they had it, no low fluid levels, did they replace those plugs? Pull them out and have a look! If they shortchanged you somewhere  on something minor, what will happen when it's something major? Do they have a lot of excuses when something didn't turn out right?  Even if they have a big, shiny, new facility, they do not pass the stink test. Leave now and do not return.

You've got your heart set on this particular piece of equipment though, so now what? Start by looking at other dealers and repair shops in your area, if you can find someone that is capable and fair at servicing your equipment, consider the alternate brand or see if they will service the brand you are after in a pinch. Yes, this may void your warranty but a warranty is worthless if it causes you to lose business, a fact that seems to escape many equipment manufacturers and how they govern their dealers. It's what you can get today, in your area, to keep working that counts, not all the steps and checks they want  to see if they want to cover something. If they want to take their time, fine, do it on their own dime. You need to keep working, so if they want it, they need to replace it for the time that they have it, right? Remember, YOU are the customer and you have the choice to take your business anywhere you see fit. Bad policies & poor service will eventually lead to the reputation that will doom those that earn them. Can you repair a machine in house? Can you afford an inventory of parts for it? It's going to need service and repair, regardless of how heavy duty it is so what will your plan be?

Two of everything. The ultimate insurance plan. This is where you are forced if there are no dealers in your area that can be counted on to keep you rolling. An almost must for small pieces (under $ 500.00 of value) that take the lowest priority in just about every shop. A backup blower, trimmer, edger, sprayer, chain saw, hand tools, etc. are all good examples of this and most contractors recognize this fact. It's when it becomes keeping seconds for equipment over $ 2500, that things start to become irritating. Storing, servicing and keeping the investment in large equipment backups to make up for your dealer's shortcomings, can eat away at the bottom line of your business. Whether it's a backhoe, tree chipper, mower, truck or the myriad of other pieces that we use, you've got to keep looking for the dealer that will value your commercial business. Recognize that their actions can help or keep you from expansion, with more and larger purchases down the road.