When it comes to the future trade-ins, I’m not so much concerned about trying to find a home for the $100,000 combine. What I’m more concerned about is that first and second trade that are $350,000 or $280,000 machines. So when I look out there, I try to see how many guys might be interested in those units. Unfortunately, right now when we go to talk to somebody about a high dollar, late, low hour used model, that same person is probably someone who could buy a new one, too. So we have to be careful who we talk to. We have to get to know their business before saying, “Hey, why don’t you buy a new one?” Because there’s a likely chance they should be buying a used one.

Casey Seymour swears by this strategy for managing used — and new — inventory for the best cashflow.

Managing used equipment inventories and remarketing equipment is a big — if not the biggest — challenge for farm equipment dealers today. And while the used equipment problem is improving, dealers still have a lot of cash tied up in the used equipment inventory sitting on their lots.

The biggest couple of things I heard at the 2017 Dealership Minds Summit included keeping the late model stuff moving and how much new equipment should be sold to support used sales. Most of the customers who can buy late and low are also the same buyers who can by new.

There are two things you have to consider. First, you have to understand the washout cycle. The washout tells you how long you will hold equipment and how many units you will need to sell through to get to a cash/no trade scenario.

When it comes to the future trade-ins, I’m not so much concerned about trying to find a home for the $100,000 combine. What I’m more concerned about is that first and second trade that are $350,000 or $280,000 machines.