Options and accessories are reshaping combine valuations

I was searching through the availability of Case IH 8250 combines as a follow-up to the August issue’s focus on the Deere S780 — both are their respective company’s most popular harvesters — and I was repeatedly surprised by the asking prices for machines with tracks. Typically, tracked combines bring top prices at auction or on dealer lots, but that is not the situation with Case IH combines. The following example bears witness to this.

A 2021 Model 8250 in Missouri equipped with tracks, rear-wheel drive (RWD), and numerous other features was listed with an asking price of $449,500.

In Minnesota, another 8250 with duals and RWD was listed for $495,000.

The asking price for the tracked combine was $50,000 less than the machine with duals.

I dug deeper into the data. Both combines had comparable separator hours — 395 for the tracked combine and 502 for the dualed-up RWD combine. Then I saw the price explanation in the listing of the second combine. One term stood out: full automation.

The Minnesota combine came equipped with the AFS Harvest Command automation feature. First available in 2019, this advance was increasingly ordered on 2020 and 2021 Case IH 250 Series combines. The feature automatically adjusts the combine to changing crop conditions, employing 16 sensors throughout the machine. Using that sensor input, Harvest Command controls seven combine settings automatically to suit an overall preference of, say, maximum speed or harvesting food-grade grains.

Available Options Greatly Influence Combine Value

Options have always influenced combine values, but it was to a far lesser extent in the past, when such enhancements were mostly limited to drive systems (tracks vs. two-speed drive) and enhancements such as lateral tilt feeder houses.

However, options have proliferated greatly in the past decade and, in the case of Case IH harvesters, have culminated with AFS Harvest Command.

The influence of options on combine values is best displayed in this Price Guide.

These are all 2021 combines whose separator hours are very comparable. Yet their asking prices cover a whopping $342,000 range! That is more than 80% of the price of that plain Jane combine at the bottom of the Price Guide.

Options alone nearly double the asking price of these 8250s. “Combines in the past were basically equipped the same with fewer options, such as bin extensions or residue choppers,” observes Tim Meyer of the Steffes Group. “Today those differences are extensive so it pays to look into the [specifications] when shopping for a combine."

Use, in terms of separator hours, comes into play with older combines. Take the 8250’s predecessor, the Model 8240. I looked into 2016 offerings of these combines. With this vintage combine, separator hours varied widely from 722 to 2,566.

Unsurprisingly, asking prices also varied widely from $365,000 to $121,800. Optionwise, both the low and high priced were similarly equipped.