Value of an extended warranty on a used L47 purchase

[chrisvconley]

How's your day going?

I bought a used 2019 270-hour Kubota L47 TLB. My dealer is currently looking it over and offered an extended Kubota warranty beyond April 2203 when the current warranty expires. 1 or 2 years.

Any advice on doing the one or two year warranty? The unit was on a rental yard with 33 rentals in the 270 hours.

$1600 for one year and $3000 for 2 years which covers tractor, backhoe and loader. No deductible.

Thoughts?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I don't know the tractor or contract details but.....
if the tractor has DPF aka 'emissions' on it..
or some problem 'computer'.....
that alone might be worth the deal ??

be interesting to look up some common parts and their cost
plus figure labour at $100 per hour ??

 

[Vlach7]

Ouch $$$, always a crap shoot in their favor. Got my 2016 last year with 330hrs, have 610hrs now, 1 blown hose and rebuilt the rams of my bucket tilt. Doubt that would be covered under the warrantee.

 

[mcfarmall]

I was told that if you feel the need to buy an extended warranty on anything, then you might need to be looking for a product with higher initial quality.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

I have not yet found a financial advisor who recommends buying extended warranties.

They are great money makers for those who sell them.

 

[fried1765]

How's your day going?

I bought a used 2019 270-hour Kubota L47 TLB. My dealer is currently looking it over and offered an extended Kubota warranty beyond April 2203 when the current warranty expires. 1 or 2 years.

Any advice on doing the one or two year warranty? The unit was on a rental yard with 33 rentals in the 270 hours.

$1600 for one year and $3000 for 2 years which covers tractor, backhoe and loader. No deductible.

Thoughts?

I have an older brother, a 2006 L48 TLB, (no anti pollution crap) and bought it almost 4 years ago, with 251 total hours.
I have mine for personal use only, and have added VERY few additional hours. (I have two other tractors).
I purchased from the original owner.
270 hours is certainly low,..... but IMHO any rental use can be problematic.

How many hours would you estimate using it, during either the one or two year extended warranty?
If you can claim the additional warranty as a business expense, maybe the warranty cost is worth the price.

If you expect to add only another 100 hours or less per year, I would certainly not spring for the warranty.

My 2006 L48 TLB has needed ZERO (not even a now 17 year old hose) repairs to date.

The L47 TLB is a FANTASTIC machine!
I know that you will enjoy your purchase!.

 

[NCL4701]

For non-professional use, or even intermittent professional, wouldn’t get either extended warranty at that price, but if you really want to be covered for latent hidden problems, I’d go with one year.

There are some very expensive repairs on a machine such as that but $3k is a lot to bet on a high dollar failure unless you’re going to put 1000+ hours a year on it.

Now, if you have some sort of business where you’re planning to trailer it around and put an operator on it averaging 30 hours a week seat time; that’s a bit different scenario. I say that based on the assumption the risk of a payable claim increases with use so your risk is more related to hours on the meter than years on the calendar.

For example if you’re going to put around 200 hours a year on it (which is kind of on the high side but not unrealistic for a weekend/evening maintain your own place use); that’s $1600/200hr = $8/hr or $3000/400hr = $7.50/hr. That just sounds nuts to me, but it’s your money.

If you’re planning to average putting 30 hours/week on it that puts annual use around 1500hr/year. Now it’s down to $1.07/hr for one year; $1.00/hr for two years. That is getting to be a bit more reasonable.

 

[mikester]

50% of your extended warranty is paid out to your sales person as a bonus sales commission.

Your standard warranty and period covers three standard deviations of defects the manufacturer expects to see. That means 99.7% of defects would manifest themselves in the warranty period. Your "extended warranty" is essentially pre-payment of a potential expected future repair in the extended warranty period. The more expensive your extended warranty is and the shorter warranty period is reflects the less confidence the manufacturer has in their product.

In short your extended warranty cost is half the cost of an expected repair in the extended warranty period.

Personally I'd rather put that money into standard maintenance items like filters and fluids. Better for me, better for making my machine last longer too.

 

[chrisvconley]

.... but IMHO any rental use can be problematic.

How many hours would you estimate using it, during either the one or two year extended warranty?
If you can claim the additional warranty as a business expense, maybe the warranty cost is worth the price.

...

The L47 TLB is a FANTASTIC machine!
I know that you will enjoy your purchase!.

Thanks, @fried1765 - good stuff.

I'll be re-developing 55 acres of property with 16 acres of farmland, 18 acres of fields and 18 acres of honeysuckle infested forest. And we have 12 or so RV sites to rehab into tiny cabin rentals.

I imagine putting more than 100 hours on it with a wide variety of tasks.

Love that you've had such great experience with your L48! I did get the L47 for versatility and beefy build!

Thanks again.

 

[chrisvconley]

For non-professional use, or even intermittent professional, wouldn’t get either extended warranty at that price, but if you really want to be covered for latent hidden problems, I’d go with one year.

There are some very expensive repairs on a machine such as that but $3k is a lot to bet on a high dollar failure unless you’re going to put 1000+ hours a year on it.

Now, if you have some sort of business where you’re planning to trailer it around and put an operator on it averaging 30 hours a week seat time; that’s a bit different scenario. I say that based on the assumption the risk of a payable claim increases with use so your risk is more related to hours on the meter than years on the calendar.

For example if you’re going to put around 200 hours a year on it (which is kind of on the high side but not unrealistic for a weekend/evening maintain your own place use); that’s $1600/200hr = $8/hr or $3000/400hr = $7.50/hr. That just sounds nuts to me, but it’s your money.

If you’re planning to average putting 30 hours/week on it that puts annual use around 1500hr/year. Now it’s down to $1.07/hr for one year; $1.00/hr for two years. That is getting to be a bit more reasonable.

Really great thoughts - and I have to start looking at costs in $1/hr. Love that quick analysis. It is under a business and will be using more than weekend warrior to redevelop a property into a homestead/retreat.

Thank you!

 

[chrisvconley]

Thank you, everyone - you're helping me make a very informed decision!