Machinery Pete: Mid-Range Strength

On Aug. 20, I was sitting in my office checking up on machinery auctions. Two sale prices rolled in on used tractors in the 120 hp to 140 hp range confirming a trend I’ve been watching the past 12 months: Used values in the mid-horsepower range are holding steady.

Case in point: a one-owner 1998 John Deere 7410 two-wheel drive (120 hp) with 1,718 hours and a loader sold for $51,500 at a farm auction in southeast Minnesota. That’s a solid price for a two-wheel drive, especially when compared with the first John Deere 7410 I saw sell at auction on Nov. 8, 1997. The 1997 model with just 25 hours, mechanical front-wheel drive and no loader sold for $54,000 at an auction in east-central South Dakota.

This trend is holding for all brands. On Aug. 20, 2016, a 2010 Kubota M135X with 880 hours and a loader sold for $45,500 at a consignment auction in northwest Michigan. 

This 2008 New Holland T6070 with 476 hours  holds the highest auction price for this model  without a loader at $60,000. The tractor sold  at a farm auction in southeast Minnesota on  April 23, 2016.

At an April 23, 2016, farm auction in southeast Minnesota, a 2008 New Holland T6070 with 476 hours sold for $60,000. That’s the highest auction price on a T6070 without a loader.

Another sign of the relative strength in used values for tractors in the mid-horsepower range can be found by comparing auction prices to dealer advertised prices. Let’s take a look at a Case IH model: At a March 18, 2016, farm auction in southeast Iowa, a 2011 Case IH Maxxum 140 with 1,404 hours and an L750 loader sold for $69,750. On www.Machinery Pete.com, you’ll find a 2011 model with L750 loader and 1,345 hours listed for $76,900 by D&D Equipment Company in Chilton, Wis. Do the math and the Maxxum 140 with loader sold at auction for 90.7% of the dealer advertised list price for the comparable model. When I see auction prices pushing past 84% to 85% of the dealer advertised price, it’s a sure sign of a hot used equipment sector.

Another example of a strong auction price in the table below is the 2011 Kubota M126X from northwest Kansas with 379 hours and a loader that sold for $54,500 via a www.BigIron.com auction on April 13, 2016. A peek at the www.Machinery Pete.com dealer listings found five Kubota M126Xs with loaders for sale between $53,500 and $59,000. Again, the auction price barely trails the dealer advertised price.

One other telltale difference in the 120 hp to 140 hp range versus used higher horsepower tractor models is the raw number for sale by dealers. As of early September, www.Machinery Pete.com has 39 John Deere 6140D tractors and 109 John Deere 6140R tractors. Step up in horsepower and there are 315 John Deere 8320R tractors for sale by dealers. 

Buy your next piece of used farm equipment from the best online resource. With more than 100,000 listings from dealers across the country, shop at www.MachineryPete.com