Hello, I'm a little new to this site but would like a little advice, my company are putting together a new pipe crew outside Nashville TN where we have plenty of rock (and not much else) and we usually couple the pipe crew with 2x50,000lb excavators, 40,000lb dozer and wheel loader. Until now we have always used CAT but I'm over paying that high price tag for equipment I don't think is much better these days than Deere/Komatsu. We try and buy a decent amount of equipment from the same dealers which are both within 5 miles from HQ and wanted your input on which is better equipment out of Deere and Komatsu and which is better bang for the $$ Thanks for the advice Oscar Olives
Komatsu all the way, but then again, I can't stand RDO.
Based on my experience you'll have better support from Komatsu. More machine choices and the dealers around here seem to have better techs and parts availability than Deere. Komatsu parts are high though.....often higher than Cat.
That's been my experience as well.
Interesting advice, thankyou all. Do Komatsu machines usually run a little higher price than the Deere machines if they are better? I have heard that about the Komatsu parts being higher price but I am also used to Cat part pricing
Komatsu in our area beats Cat and Deere on initial purchase. Find that Komatsu and Deere parts pricing is much higher.
It has been my experience that Komatsu dealers use a matrix for pricing. The more of any one item they sell the higher the price for that item goes. I almost choke sometimes saying this but Cat parts prices in my area are usually less that either Deere or Komatsu. Now days they are also easier to get warranty coverage from too.
Interesting, so if you were going to purchase new equipment (all under warranty) you recommend Cat? JD or Komatsu?
I have never been wedded to any one brand of equipment and I have worked on most all of them and worked for both Komatsu and Cat dealers for more years than I sometimes like to admit. Nobody makes a real bad machine anymore. With proper maintenance and reasonable operation they all last a long time. My recommendation is to purchase the machine that best serves your purpose for the capital you have available and maintain it to the best that you can to fit the situation you have in front of you.
Also the relationship you have with the dealer, it's as an important as the machine in the decision making process. I prefer Cat because I like the machines and I have a good relationship with the dealer. I've done business with Thompson tractor for 15 years, my original salesman is now VP of Equipment Sales for the entire company, so I know a lot of the people integrated inside the dealer. My salesman and PSR has went to bat for me many times, getting items covered under warranty and even one time got Cat to pay for a rental excavator while the 321 was waiting on duo-cone seals. I've had the regional sales manager and salesman from Komatsu visit on the job once. Told them I wanted to set up an account and interested in seeing what they had to offer. We exchange phone numbers and email addresses - I never received any correspondence.. That experience has nothing to do with the machine or the brand, it's the local dealer and it's staff that dropped the ball.
Salesman and dealer relationship is far more important than what brand a machine is. When I bought my skidsteer many years ago, I liked the salesman compared to the others. It was a new company and great to deal with. A few years later when the company seemed to be doing great, all of a sudden the salesman I had wasn't mine anymore because I wasn't in his territory. What I crock. Dealer service went way down too. Take my machine in for service or warranty and they'd wash it no charge. Take it next time and they charge me an hour and a half for cleaning when I never asked for it to be washed. It wasn't overly dirty that it needed to be washed. I asked the mechanic why I'm charged over $100 for cleaning and he say's, it's not something we always charge for but after 2 or 3 will charge for cleaning. He basically told me the cleaning charge was accumulated from a couple washes done for the free service I got with machine or warranty work. Maybe you might want to let the customer know that the washing isn't free and give them the option to wash it themselves??? You can't say it's free and then charge for it later. Went to rent a backhoe and wanted the biggest bucket they had. A guy starts giving me crap that I should have said I a wanted a larger bucket the day before and even worse then says the large bucket I saw was for a different machine. This was a bucket for a skid steer backhoe that would take 5 minutes to change and it was the right bucket to fit! Some employee's never got paid their last 3 month's salary and the owner started deducted pay from their coffee breaks claiming they were only required to be 10 minutes and the employee's were taking 15 minutes. Stupid crap like this and it's no wonder this company went into receivership.