Older 4WD Tractors Are Some of the Lowest Priced on the Market

Decade-old horsepower buys include low-priced 4WDs.

By

Published on November 8, 2019

Lead image from Nov 19 MI — Photo: Photo by Dave Mowitz

All the recent attention on late-model tractors, whose inventories were bursting out of dealers' lots until late, has drawn the focus away from one of the better buys offered on horsepower these days – the decade-old four-wheel drives.

Representing some of the cheapest horsepower available in used tractors today, the marketplace offers a good supply of 8- to 12-year-old 4WDs that consistently sell for a fraction of tractors 6 to 8 years younger. Case in point is a 2011 Deere 9430 that was, at press time, sitting on a dealer's lot in Sigourney, Iowa. Having clocked up 1,239 hours, the dealer asking price on the tractor was $151,000. That tractor is the first 9430 listed in the Pocket Price Guide.

I checked on the appraised value of a 9430 with 1,200 hours, and it was listed at $154,585 at IronAppraiser.com. This confirms that the $151,000 being asked was reasonable.

Now compare that price with the $249,000 to $270,000 being asked for on three 2016 model 9470Rs with 1,460, 1,500 and 1,925 hours, respectively. Equal hours and five fewer years tacks on around $100,000 to those dealer tractors.

True, those later models offered some technology advances not seen on the 9430.

Also true is the fact that there aren't large numbers of 9-year-old tractors with as few as 1,200-plus hours waiting to be sold.

"Low-hour four-wheel drives do pop up at our auctions," says Tim Myer of the Steffes Group (steffesauctioneers.com). "You can always ask auctioneers to be on the lookout for lower-hour machines and alert you."

You can also search the internet for dealer listings for low-hour tractors. Some websites even provide a service that will alert you to a tractor that fits your particular needs.