How to Determine Year tractor was made?

lugbolt

Well-known member

Equipment
ZG127S-54
Oct 15, 2015
4,807
1,575
113
Mid, South, USA
kubota's dont have year models

but you can call any dealer with your serial number and ask them what the selling date was, and also ask them if there are any safety recalls while you're at it
 

DustyRusty

Well-known member

Equipment
BX23S
Nov 8, 2015
4,952
3,690
113
North East CT
When I was looking at a used tractor, Kubota wouldn't acknowledge if the tractor was financed, or even the selling dealer or date of sale. In fact, the woman hung up on me when I asked a second question after she said that they give out no information at all whatsoever. The original selling dealer confirmed for me that the tractor was paid in full upon purchase, so I asked for the Certificate of Origin, to prove that I own the tractor in the future.
With free financing, what is to keep someone from buying a tractor and financing it, and then selling it before it is paid off? If the new owner were to take it to a Kubota dealer for service, and the tractor serial number was listed on a "hot sheet" because the original purchaser was in the wind, how is the new buyer to protect themselves from losing the tractor because of a scammer?
 

GeoHorn

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4700DT, LA1002FEL, Ferguson5-8B Compactor-Roller, 10KDumpTrailer, RTV-X900
May 18, 2018
5,570
2,936
113
Texas
If you don’t get a valid Bill of Sale when you buy anything expensive….you are asking for trouble.

I get a BOS which specificaly states it is being sold “free and clear of all liens and encumbrances” , and a photocopy of the sellers I.D.,

PS: As an illustration of the import of that BOS, I once arrived at an airport where an airplane sat with its propellers removed and it’s landing gear chained with locks on it. The owner was frustrated beyond imagination and in the coffee shop he explained why:
He’d owned that airplane for 8 years and flown it all over the country wihout difficulty, but when he landed in this western mountain state airport and completed his skiing trip he returned to the airport to see his airplane in such lock-down. Checking into it, he found that the previous owner had purchased new props from a local repair station and his payment had “bounced”… and the shop had a mechanics lien filed in that state against that airplane. When the airplane was seen on the ramp, that shop removed the propellers and chained the airplane.
The present owner could do nothing about it except to pay the invoice, interest on the invoice, legal fees, and a months storage fee to the tie-down facility (FBO). Then he had to buy new propellers to take it back home. Eighty thousand dollars later he had his airplane again….all because of the lien and encumbrances from that shop. He told me he’d already suffered the insult a few years earlier when he landed where an unpaid fuel bill the previous owner had left.
While the BOS that promises “free of liens and encumbrances” may not prevent such surprises… it does provide recourse against the previous owner. Hope this helps.
 
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