Sept. 11, 2021, gave us collective pause and forced us to look back 20 years. As I look back, I’m struck by one thing mostly: change. Everything changed that awful day, but so much of our daily lives have changed as well.
When I look back 20 years in our auction price data (free on MachineryPete.com), it is incredible how much is different.
Here were the four highest-selling tractors at auction the first half of September 2001:
- 1996 John Deere 8300 MFWD, 1,864 hours, $62,000, sold on Sept. 14, 2001, dealer auction in southwest Minnesota.
- 1998 Case IH 8910 2WD, 467 hours, $45,000, sold at the same Sept. 14 Minnesota auction.
- 1989 Case IH 7140 MFWD, 3,348 hours, $33,750, sold on a Sept. 12, farm auction in northwest Nebraska.
- 1995 Case IH 5220 2WD, one owner, 875 hours, $21,500, sold at the same Sept. 12 Nebraska auction.
Anyone else wish we could go back 20 years and buy these low-hour tractors? You could have put them in a shed and sold them today for a lot more than you paid in 2001.
Case in point: Guess how much that 1996 John Deere 8300 that sold for $62,000 is going for today. On Aug. 18, at an auction in Monroe Center, Ill., a 1995 John Deere 8300 with 875 hours sold for $117,000. That’s $12,000 above the previous record, which was set at a Nov. 26, 2011, farm auction.
Used tractor values were in an elongated period of softness 20 years ago. Farm profits had been down and dealer lots were stuck with tons of late-model, low-hour, used tractors. There were a lot more farm equipment dealers around 20 years ago, too.
THE CONSTANT IS CHANGE
As someone who has been documenting the used farm equipment values for 32 years, I’ll continue to advise … things are the way they are, until they aren’t.
Change is a constant. Plug into the very latest pricing data to avoid machinery buying, selling or trading mistakes.
