Another proposed utility tractor had options Leonard considered unnecessary.
He deleted them.
Tom did not object.
Then they reached price.
The total made Leonard remove his glasses.
“That is a large number.”
Tom nodded.
“Yes.”
“Your confidence is expensive.”
“So is iron.”
Trade values reduced the net significantly.
Leonard compared every machine value against the regional sales records he had collected.
Fair.
Not generous.
Not low.
Fair was enough.
Then Leonard turned to the page that mattered.
SERVICE CONTINUITY ADDENDUM.
During designated critical field periods defined annually by the customer and dealership, any covered tractor experiencing a field-stopping failure will receive priority response. If the tractor cannot be returned to workable service within seventy-two hours of confirmed notification, Selby Ag Systems will provide one of the following at no additional rental cost:
-
Required replacement component sourced by expedited regional acquisition.
-
Compatible component transferred from dealership-owned inventory or demonstration equipment when technically permissible.
-
Temporary replacement tractor of sufficient capacity to perform the customer’s scheduled field operation.
Transportation covered by dealer.
Leonard read it twice.
His attorney, Mark Sullivan, read it the following day.
Mark looked at Leonard.
“Dealers agree to this?”
“This one did.”
“It’s fairly specific.”
“That’s why I wanted it.”
“You realize there are exclusions.”
“I read them.”
“Accident.”
“Reasonable.”
“Abuse.”
“Reasonable.”
“Customer failure to maintain.”
“Reasonable.”
“Parts failure outside their supported equipment classes.”
“I know.”
Mark smiled.
“You actually read contracts.”
“I pay people like you because contracts matter.”
“Most clients pay me so they don’t have to read them.”
“That seems wasteful.”
Mark laughed.
The decision still frightened Leonard.
He admitted that only to Margaret.
They were sitting on the porch after dinner in early September.
“I know the numbers,” Leonard said.
Margaret looked at him.
“But?”
“Seventeen years is a long time.”
“You’re not divorcing anyone.”
“Feels like it.”
She laughed.
Leonard did not.
Margaret softened.
“You trust the decision?”
“I trust the data.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Leonard looked toward the equipment shed.
Green tractors visible through the open door.
“So far.”
Margaret nodded.
“Then maybe that’s all you get.”
Two days later, Leonard signed.
No ceremony.
No photograph.
No dealership social media post.
He refused that.
Tom signed.
The attorney witnessed.
Six trade agreements.
Six new purchase agreements.
One service addendum.
Seventeen years of equipment loyalty ended in eleven signatures.
The following Monday, Leonard called Dan Rourke.
He could have let transport paperwork notify the dealership.
He did not.
“Dan.”
“Leonard.”
“I signed elsewhere.”
Silence.
“All six?”
“Yes.”
“Fendt?”
“Yes.”
Dan breathed out.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I wanted you to hear why from me.”
Leonard explained.
Not every frustration.
Only the facts.
Thirty-four-day downtime.
Spring yield cost.
July repair.
Four-year service trend.
Labor changes.
Parts access.
Dealer response model.
Dan listened.
At the end he said:
“I wish we could’ve fixed it before you made the call.”
“So do I.”
“Was it price?”
“No.”
“Machine quality?”
“No.”