kubota doesn't buy tractors back. They repair them. Well more specifically, 30 years of kubota work, tech, parts, very limited sales, and then 20 some years of service managment and foreman, they've bought one tractor back while I was at that dealer. One, out of thousands. So, assume it doesn't happen. Deere, Kubota, Bad Boy, Yamaha, Kawasaki, among others.
That one tractor. Had multiple issues, and the buyer got his attorney involved, and kubota decided that it was in their best interest to buy it back. It was also a "new" unit that was I think the 2nd one sold nationwide, of a new model that had just been introduced. And I fixed the problems, which weren't that horrible, all told. Now the downside, the owner had spent about ~$6200 on attorney and administration fees. Most manufacturers won't pay attorneys' fees either, so if that option is on the table, figure in those costs (which will likely be higher nowadays).
On 'buybacks". They took that one back, give him a new one (same exact model) but the implements and attachments, and all of the cosmetic imperfection body work had to be swapped to the new tractor. That meant, the dinged hood, both fenders, floorboard, step, wheels/tires, loader, backhoe, subframes, all hoses, were all swapped over, and that cost the customer. It was a good bit of labor, I want to say around 12 hours or so as I recall. That was part of the agreement. Then, all the new stuff had to be installed onto the old tractor once the old tractor was repaired, which in that case was nothing more than a flywheel but the owner didn't want his 74 hour tractor split to replace a simple flywheel. Kinda dumb if you ask me but whatever. I was doing the work. All of it (both tractors) including dealing with kubota reps. Now, once that was all done and it was delivered to him, he was upset because he didn't get a "new" tractor. he did get a new tractor, but with his abused body work. Why's that done? Because Kubota (and the dealer) have to do something with the "old" one. In other words, the most common option is to repair it and sell it. Sometimes the dealer will get a credit which they use for haggling on the price of the sale of the tractor they repaired. But it's not sold as new. It's sold mostly as a used tractor with the proper warranty (so if it's 6 months old, it still has 18 mo of warranty left on it, you get the idea). In this case it had a little under a year left. I know who purchased the old one. They have not had a single problem with it in the 6 1/2 years theyv'e owned it. So the repairs were made correctly, the problems were corrected, and it has been trouble free.
Lemon laws apply to new motor vehicles. Tractors (and mowers) are not considered motor vehicles in most states thus any lemon laws are null. Also, even if it did apply, the owner has to (usually) give the dealer and mfg'r multiple chances to repair the issue(s) before the process can even be considered, and it has to be under a certain age. There are numerous stipulations. It is honestly rarely used. It is rare because people tend to take advantage, many times unnecessarily. Warranty is the same way in that 85% of warranty claims aren't really warranty, they're user related failures that the manufacturer will pick up the tab on after the dealer words the claim in such a way to make it sound and look like a legitimate failure. I know--because I did it. A few years back they started asking for digital photos and that weeded out some of it, but not all of it. Now they are wanting videos, they want fluid analyses too among other things. Warranty costs and they are doing what they can to (A-and most importantly) use the data to determine what components can be improved and (B) to reduce the costs both to all consumers and to the manufacturer. Great example injectors. Injectors aren't made by teh people who make the tractor, they're outsourced. So when the people make the tractor get a request for warranty replacement of an injector, they want to know why it's requested, what's wrong with it, and in that process they want datalogs, fluid samples, pictures, videos---because the people who make the injectors want that data to determine what's going on with it/them.
if the dealer is a rental dealer, sometimes they'll "loan" a rental unit. Rare but not as rare as a buyback.
someone mentioned take pictures of the oil pan and hope it ain't bent. Apparently whomever mentioned that, has never seen an L2501 oil pan (or many other kubota pans) because this particular one (L2501) is a THICK cast aluminum pan, double hump style with the driveshaft running through the center of the "humps". It has two drain bolts one for each sump. You don't bend one of these pans, you don't really even ding them. You can break them but if you do, you have other serious problems. You can pick the entire tractor up by jacking up on the oil pan, and it doesn't hurt the pan at all. They are, honestly, THAT thick. I've had the pans off of other larger 4 cylinder engines doing in-frames and repairs, and they are heavy for just being aluminum. Kubota uses those big thick pans as a noise buffer and to a lesser extent, a stressed member of the engine block which increases engine rigidity.
can't compare a tractor to a car. Totally different. But since almost all of us have a car, that's what we tend to compare to anyway because sometimes our experiences are similar.
Insurance. KTAC would pick up the tab on this if there is evidence of an accident. $250 deductible I think it is. Warranty has no deductible but warranty is also a lot more stringent.
finally, replacing an engine on a L2501 is pretty easy. Any tech that has any mechanical skill should be able to do it. A seasoned tech should have it done in under flat rate and should also have it done accurately, such that you (the owner or operator) would never even know. Kubota trains the techs rigorously.
