S
doobin
Well-known member
Well they didn’t seem to make anything particularly special anyway.
TiltyShaun
Well-known member
Hopefully they support the 5 year warranty that was sold with them!!
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
they make some superb cranes Ruben ....
a wonder they can't sort summat out through that arm of the business ... Kato have been around a very long time and make quality gear
doobin
Well-known member
Fair enough. The minis were big standard when I was looking.
Shovelhands
Well-known member
Weren’t they also very expensive?
Regy53
I like cake
That was always going to happen.
I remember when I ran Southern Plant, we were Terex dealers for the south uk inc London and we had a few other bits. 5 sales men, admin, parts, yard rent, etc . The cost of running a dealership is immense vs the profit made on machines. You need to shift a lot of metal we had a great area but to look after it properly was hard and expensive.
Look at how many dealers have gone pop , it’s because they are dragged into margins that would scare you . Couple that with having to over buy trade ins, warranty claim rejections, warranty claim job time knocked, stocking plan cost and ultimately manufacture support being very very little. When we took on case after 6 months the tail started to wag the dog, and they would not budge on anything machines were loaded onto stock plan when the left Europe , it was 60 days intrest fee then flat rate 8% or something daft . We had cx130s that would sell for 65 k at a push, cost us 61k and the interest each month was £900 or something daft . Where in the world is the profit to run a business there
There are somthing like 21 mini excavator brands in the uk , let alone the cheap Chinese ones. That’s a lot of competition and the speed Kato came out the blocks with staff etc was to much not sustainable given the few sales they will have achieved . Customers will be left high and dry. Stick with you know!
I have often thought about taking on a digger dealership but I would only ever go for one of the top 5 which basically means it will never happen. The rest is not worth the chase
I remember when I ran Southern Plant, we were Terex dealers for the south uk inc London and we had a few other bits. 5 sales men, admin, parts, yard rent, etc . The cost of running a dealership is immense vs the profit made on machines. You need to shift a lot of metal we had a great area but to look after it properly was hard and expensive.
Look at how many dealers have gone pop , it’s because they are dragged into margins that would scare you . Couple that with having to over buy trade ins, warranty claim rejections, warranty claim job time knocked, stocking plan cost and ultimately manufacture support being very very little. When we took on case after 6 months the tail started to wag the dog, and they would not budge on anything machines were loaded onto stock plan when the left Europe , it was 60 days intrest fee then flat rate 8% or something daft . We had cx130s that would sell for 65 k at a push, cost us 61k and the interest each month was £900 or something daft . Where in the world is the profit to run a business there
There are somthing like 21 mini excavator brands in the uk , let alone the cheap Chinese ones. That’s a lot of competition and the speed Kato came out the blocks with staff etc was to much not sustainable given the few sales they will have achieved . Customers will be left high and dry. Stick with you know!
I have often thought about taking on a digger dealership but I would only ever go for one of the top 5 which basically means it will never happen. The rest is not worth the chase
Regy53
I like cake
I also see there accounts are dormant , wonder who they traded under
M
Monkeybusiness
Well-known member
Really interesting post - crazy figures!
Regy53
I like cake
We had outgoings as a business of 40-50k back then and the rent was cheap as it was in group. nobody had flash cars and nobody was overpaid really. You can run to 3-4% margin on machines before costs if your up against it.
Regy53
I like cake
What is worth the chase is niche things, as the margins can be healthy and the targets reduced. We did compact loaders in 2016 but it was just a few years too soon as we couldn’t invest.
Case for example when they started to turn the pressure up on sales and stock orders really started to wag the dog, i.e the dealership. I was a young General Manager back then and while i was very good at it pre Case when the big bosses come down for meetings i was out of my depth, i was a better sales manager and better suited to it as i was selling in excess of 300 - 400 dumpers etc a year and have a very loyal customer base from my time in the industry. I was wasted sat behind a desk signing of invoices and all that rubbish.
Case had lead times of 6 months, it was down to us to decide what to order and what spec, once we ordered we were committed, was very difficult to manage
Anyhow Case had been burned by CPMS or whatever they were called for many millions where they had machines on SOR and CPMS before they went bust sold them all and took the ££ so Case were very nervous which made it worse. It really was a horrible time for me, having taking Southern Plant on I and a few others with board support turned it from a 400k a year loss company to a profitable one. Only to be undone by the want and need from the holding company trying to grow it hence taking on Case. It completely unbalanced the company and i ended up of with chest pain which was very severe ( i had symptoms for months ) turned out to be stress I had some time off, and my managers at the holding company then tried to employ a sort of friend of mine and asked me to stand aside (without telling me) my friend called me and asked some really weird questions one day and he was doing the dirty too, rather than tell me he had been approached he said things like oh do you still have your car etc etc (Some friend hey) I couldn’t and wouldn’t work for him and the damage was being done.
I had given my upmost for the company and they did a pretty dirty thing, in the end i left under a bit of a cloud as i never wanted to it was a baby I grew and changed with fantastic sales numbers, customer service, and ultimately the team I had built around me. Some great people. When i left so did many others and the board bought in more experienced General managers and sales people etc but customers also left and they lost the customer service etc i heard many sad story’s . A year later the company wound up. Would love to have done it again with my experience i have now some 8 years later. Problem is I couldn’t work for somebody now, ultimately it made me start Sandhill Plant so all ended well.
Case for example when they started to turn the pressure up on sales and stock orders really started to wag the dog, i.e the dealership. I was a young General Manager back then and while i was very good at it pre Case when the big bosses come down for meetings i was out of my depth, i was a better sales manager and better suited to it as i was selling in excess of 300 - 400 dumpers etc a year and have a very loyal customer base from my time in the industry. I was wasted sat behind a desk signing of invoices and all that rubbish.
Case had lead times of 6 months, it was down to us to decide what to order and what spec, once we ordered we were committed, was very difficult to manage
Anyhow Case had been burned by CPMS or whatever they were called for many millions where they had machines on SOR and CPMS before they went bust sold them all and took the ££ so Case were very nervous which made it worse. It really was a horrible time for me, having taking Southern Plant on I and a few others with board support turned it from a 400k a year loss company to a profitable one. Only to be undone by the want and need from the holding company trying to grow it hence taking on Case. It completely unbalanced the company and i ended up of with chest pain which was very severe ( i had symptoms for months ) turned out to be stress I had some time off, and my managers at the holding company then tried to employ a sort of friend of mine and asked me to stand aside (without telling me) my friend called me and asked some really weird questions one day and he was doing the dirty too, rather than tell me he had been approached he said things like oh do you still have your car etc etc (Some friend hey) I couldn’t and wouldn’t work for him and the damage was being done.
I had given my upmost for the company and they did a pretty dirty thing, in the end i left under a bit of a cloud as i never wanted to it was a baby I grew and changed with fantastic sales numbers, customer service, and ultimately the team I had built around me. Some great people. When i left so did many others and the board bought in more experienced General managers and sales people etc but customers also left and they lost the customer service etc i heard many sad story’s . A year later the company wound up. Would love to have done it again with my experience i have now some 8 years later. Problem is I couldn’t work for somebody now, ultimately it made me start Sandhill Plant so all ended well.
Lancs Lad
Well-known member
We are in strange times...middlemen are rapidly disappearing..take power tools for instance the way it's going they'll be about 2-3 internet dealers and that'll be it . Simply not worth selling. A £300 quid jigsaw for a tenner profit ..? No thanks.
That's interesting figures on the big machines often wondered. Ridiculous margins hence we see JCB selling direct via website during covid.... beginning of the end I reckon for dealers of that sort.
Like you say it's the time for niche stuff.
That's interesting figures on the big machines often wondered. Ridiculous margins hence we see JCB selling direct via website during covid.... beginning of the end I reckon for dealers of that sort.
Like you say it's the time for niche stuff.
Regy53
I like cake
That jcb thing is a laugh, some dealers are quoting 6 month lead time and jcb quote direct 5 weeks........ very strange setup
GazCro
Well-known member
Yeah but what profit margin is on the direct sale. Could be worth jumping the queue so to speak.
Lancs Lad
Well-known member
Pretty obvious what's going on innit?
Gunners
Well-known member
They are selling them direct for all the money too. Much better deals to be had out of dealers.... if you can handle the lead time.
Hg2702
Well-known member
Must admit the price of the tracked barrow was intriguing
GazCro
Well-known member
And then if you have an issue it'll be for local dealer to sort. If they're busy you're not gonna be top of the list.
Regy53
I like cake
Yep that also. It’s a bit of a con . No idea why they have done it . Undermines their own dealers and sales people
JD450A
Feral as Fk 🐾
JCB are busy letting high up's and Yes men stick there fingers in plug sockets via the feedback I am getting.... Designers and engineers making cutting edge stuff and then accountants slashing things and quality creating the product we all moan about.... Paint, Chrome, Etc
Cat can't be said to be any better with the current well documented dealer issues.
I've the arse with the new stuff..... was told last week that a 2010 Takeuchi 4t machine at 4000hrs ish is worth around 10k top's trade in..... Not sure how accurate that is but I've got one lined up for me if there that fkn cheap.
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