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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | I have a machine trade etiquette question. If you trade a machine mid-season or right at the end of the season, are you supposed to clean it up before it goes back to the dealer? Or maybe I should ask, how clean do you made sure it is before it goes to the dealer? We're facing a bit of an extreme case with our Claas chopper. The trade deal was make a couple weeks ago with the agreement that we could finish the season with our old machine. It's kind of a given that a chopper will get dirty cutting corn, but it really got bad this year. So wash it or send it?
Edited by Ben in the Basin 11/7/2012 22:42
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CMS | We usually try to knock all the heavy stuff off with a high pressure hose on the tractors, clean combines real good and all cabs are reaLly clean when the dealer gets them from us. Our dealer charges 70/hr to clean stuff up. |
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Woodham, Ontario | I traded a set of mowers two years ago that were not very clean. They are still not clean and still haven't sold... I am trading something this winter and during the haggling part the salesman asked for the trades to be cleaned, so I have little choice.
In your case I would do a quick wash. Doesn't take much to make it look a lot better. |
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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | screamin9860974 - 11/7/2012 19:37
We usually try to knock all the heavy stuff off with a high pressure hose on the tractors, clean combines real good and all cabs are reaLly clean when the dealer gets them from us. Our dealer charges 70/hr to clean stuff up.
You must have a better dealer than the ones I buy from. I've been amazed at the stuff I've bought that they've never done more than quickly (very quickly) pressure washed the outside. Usually cabs are dirty. Seems to me if you were in the business of selling stuff, cleaning it up would be a good, cheap step to make it look good.
To the original question, I think you've got a smudge or two of dirt on your fresh wax job. You'll never be able to pass it off as a clean Midwest machine if you don't get your wax back out... ;) I think it is fair to spend a couple hours pressure washing, blow the cab out and call it good. |
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| Clean it. |
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Rivers, MB | I wouldn't let a machine off our yard if it looked like that. We washed a combine that we used for 1 day (as a replacement for a combine that was down) because it got muddy roading it from the dealer out to the field.
We traded one of our combines this fall with the agreement that we got to finish our sunflowers with the old one. It got washed, blown out, vacuumed out as if it was going into our shed for winter.
I think it reflects back onto the farmer trading in the equipment. Someone goes to look at it at the dealer and sees it filthy. Thinks, "those guys don't take care of their stuff". Tells the salesman he's not interested in it because it looks rough. Now the next time the farmer goes to trade something in, the salesman remembers, "the last time I tried to sell one of their trades, it took a while because it looked rough".
Rightly or wrongly, it will reflect back on you.
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NE mt | I always clean pretty good, and fix any little things that i can that would help it sell, my dealer knows that is always happy to deal with my equipment, most of which is consigned to sell because it is never worth anything on trade! But really a clean machine says alot in my book. |
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SCIL, (South of 16) | I was told by a dealer friend of mine that some people "clean" their equipment and some "clean at" their equipment, but he has never refused to trade for something that has been "cleaned at", at least after it was "cleaned at". That chopper at least needs to look similar to what it did when you traded. |
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East Prairie, MO | I may clean something a little but most dealers around here fully detail anything sitting on the lot so I know it's in store for a deep cleaning when they get it. |
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NW MN | our deere and case dealers have a dedicated wash boy/girl that cleans everything that comes in on trade. no polishing but a good deep cleaning and vacuuming. keeps em busy all winter long |
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SW Illinois | +1! |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | Here's about how it looked at the time of the trade. FWIW the RI450 has already been cleaned.
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Iowa | as much as a new chopper costs I would think the dealer could wash yours for you. if not wait till it rains then send it out. |
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north central nebraska | do unto others as you would have them do unto you ! |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | mennoboy - 11/7/2012 20:07
We traded one of our combines this fall with the agreement that we got to finish our sunflowers with the old one. It got washed, blown out, vacuumed out as if it was going into our shed for winter.
Here's a picture of what it looked like late last winter. It takes two guys a couple days of cleaning to get it that clean, and I think the dealer will want it on their lot before I have time to give it that treatment.
As for not letting it leave the yard as dirty as first pictrued, I won't even bring the chopper back to the yard like that. Like I said, it's an extreme. We clean it with a 185cfm air compressor at each field, otherwise we'd have a truckload of crop debris in our shop yard from all the stuff that would come in from the fields on the chopper.
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West Kentucky | I would never send it in like that unless I finished near the dealer and it was a long trip to the shop (it has happened) and the dealer preferred to bring it straight in. Like some others, our dealers wash and detail all used equipment. I would definitely pressure wash the heavy stuff of and at least make it look decent from a distance, but we don't normally hand wash them either. |
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Iowa | i buy rebuildable junk so I never had anything to trade in. guess i dont know how it all works |
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| I would tend to say you can bring it in however you want, but financially, some dealers will still bill all work against a trade, so your salesman may have 2-3 hours of extra cleaning to apply against the trade, just as if he had to do a bunch of mechanical work. He may remember that when working up the next deal. So, I would try to get it in a condition that you normally trade at. I'm sure your power washing rate is less than theirs.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying the dealer will charge you for cleaning, but they will charge it against the machine and it will cut their margin on the deal.
Brandon |
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Iowa | I traded a tractor yesterday, and it's leaving today from the edge of the field I'll be working in. I just remove "My" stuff (monitors, 2-way radio) and let them go, however thy happen to be.
HOWEVER, I would wash THAT thing, for sure--a bit of an extreme situation and what goes around comes around--I wouldn't hand-wash it, but I'd knock the dirt of it w a power washer. |
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Near-north Ontario, French River | I don't recall ever cleaning anything we've traded in beyond a good power washing and a quick vacuum of the cab, having said that we tend to get our miles out of our stuff. Ie It's +30 yrs old and completely worn out when we get rid of a piece of equipment and in all honesty most of it is probably destined for a salvage yard so we aren't too concerned with getting it show room clean LOL. For the machine shown by the OP I'd give it a good power washing,and vacuum the cab out real good, do a neat job of removing any of your radios etc ( don't just cut wires and leave them dangle etc) ,peel off an decals you've put on ( farm names, unit numbers etc) |
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East central Indiana | We don't wash anything before takin it to the dealer for trade. Paperworks always done before drop off and our dealer wants them dirty so they can have them cleaned and serviced the way they want. When we were rolling brand new gleaners every year in the 90s all we did was drop the heads at the end of the field and drive it to dealer. They would even move our yield monitor stuff for us |
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Saronville NE | Id wash it, anything I have traded or rented before it goes back it gets a good cleaning. Rented a cornhead this fall, I blew it off anf powerwashed it good before going back, they were so surprised when it came in as clean as it went out, they werent going to do anything with it besides set it back on the lot. It says alot about a person, I think what it looks like when comes in about how you care for equipment. |
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Cambridge, southwestern Nebraska | I always try to clean them up. Trading a tractor this winter and am going to be waxing it today. We'll have it cleaned up nice since we have time and the weather is cooperating.
Last year I traded a tractor and a grain cart right out of the field. I asked the salesman if that would be OK. Told him it was going to come in a little dirty but saved about 30 miles of roading. The weather was kind of cold at the time and he already had the tractor sold and the customer was wanting it ASAP. He didn't have a problem with that.
I do think it reflects on the persception of the dealer about how you take care of equipment and he will have to take into consideration extra cleaning time if the machine comes in dirty. I know the saleman talks about other farmers and the way some of the equipment shows up and I don't want to be included in that category!
Cleaning up equipment is much like storing equipment inside. I had a dealer tell me on a $250,000 machine if it is stored inside vs. setting outside can be about an automatic $5,000 difference in price. |
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Alberta Canada | Dont trade often but when it does get on the truck to the dealers it is as clean as I expect the new or new to me one to be when it gets dropped off. |
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Villa Grove, IL | The approach I took at the dealership was if a guy keeps his equipment clean year after year and it comes in on trade just as clean as it went out, he has all the room in the world to expect a clean machine to show up at his yard when he trades. A lot of this applies to the guys that are on yearly roll programs. Some guys would demand their new piece to be absolutely 100% clean down to now waterspots or dust on the hood. To me, that was fine as long as the piece they had used for a year was at least cleaned up and looked like they had washed it off (not really concerned about waterspots or small stuff). If a guy was as particular with himself on cleanliness as he was with me then I would go above and beyond and do whatever he asked. If the guy was that picky but that was the last time a piece saw a pressure washer until it went back to the dealership, I wasn't nearly as understanding.
Back to the original post, I would was it with the pressure washer. I wouldn't be concerned with getting it to "show room" quality like you had in one of your pictures. But, the way I always clean up our rental equipment or something we trade in is I assume the dealer won't have time to clean it before it goes back out so I get it as clean as I would expect it to show up on my farm. If it's going back out then it's going to get dirty so it doens't have to be 100%. And if the dealer is going to clean it up, at least you've saved them a great deal of time by going over it with the pressure washer. |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | Thanks for all of the replies so far. Reading things over this morning, I realize I asked the question wrong in the original post. Instead of it being a yes or no question, it would have been better asked as to what degree one would clean up such a dirty trade. A few of the responses answered the question that way.
At this point we're planning to clean and vacuum the cab, remove our accessories, and power wash the chopper, but probably not do the disassembly and service work that normally would be done at this time of year.
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Waldron, MI | I would clean it throughly. The easier it is for the dealer to sell it the better your future deals will be. We go as far as painting the the coulters and openers on planters before they get traded, although we do that every year after they get cleaned up anyway. I had people walk though our shed and ask if our 4 year old planter is new. |
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Mid-Missouri | It needs cleaned before the dealer even sees it if you want top dollar. And if he saw it clean, it should be traded in clean, unless other agreements were made. |
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sw ontario | +1 |
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Fairbury, NE (Southeast) | +1 |
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Thompson ND / Grand Forks ND | The only thing I can tell you is that I have customer who turn things in completely pigged out and some than turn them in cleaner than we could get them. You can figure out who's equipment gets a better reputation and therefore a higher trade in value. Pride in ownership speaks towards care of the machine in my mind. |
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Somewhereville, Earth | take a little pride and clean it, stop being lazy
clean tractors, with complete paint, matching tires, looking like the owner gave a stuff are always worth more and sell easier.
if the dealer even looks at trading implements, its always the clean ones, that look well, and straight that he will trade first |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | I guess lazy is in the eye of the beholder. I know that there is still corn to harvest, cows need water, and irrigation systems need winterized; there are only 24 hours in a day and in a northern climate not all of them are fit for washing machinery. If the dealer wanted it this week, it would go dirty, but due to laziness.
Edited by Ben in the Basin 11/9/2012 12:29
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Field fresh trade-ins, do you clean them?
