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Pay Me, Please. How Do I Get Customers to Pay for Repair Work?

Each of you repair your customer’s equipment every day.  Although this work is a profitable addition to your dealership’s business, you inevitably deal with customers that can’t or won’t pay for your services.

I get many calls from dealers in this […]

Financially-Challenged Manufacturers Can Create Unexpected Risks for Dealers

The farm equipment industry has been riding a wave of strong farm income over the last several years, leading to positive results for most in the industry.  But with commodity prices falling, relatively high used inventory levels, and reduced sales […]

Inventory Transfers: Buy-Back Laws Don’t Always Provide the Answer

Over the course of the last several years, Seigfreid Bingham has had the privilege of representing many equipment dealerships in their sale, purchase or merger.  During that process, I’ve discovered that most dealers view the transfer of new inventory (including parts) as […]

Customer Data & Privacy: What’s the Big Deal?

It seems like every week a company makes the news regarding theft of credit card data from millions of customers, concerns about the collection of call data by the National Security Agency and countless other stories about privacy.  You understand how […]

Implementing Important Dealer Protections Without Creating a Negative Customer Experience

Lawyers are always full of advice about how you should do this or that to protect you and your business.  Inevitably, that advice seems to require 5 pages of small print in a contract.  While your lawyer may have very […]

Turning Profits into Loss: Changes in Industry and Dealership Business Model Create Risks for Dealers

Turning profits into loss?  Why would I do that?  No dealer is in business to lose money.  But what if the types of products and services you sell lead to a situation where losses from one bad transaction wipe out […]

Dealer Financing Documents: Avoiding Collateral Description Dilemmas

Most dealerships obtain financing from a variety of sources. Dealers may have an operating line of credit from a local bank, multiple floor plan providers for wholegood purchases and direct financing from suppliers for equipment and/or parts. Normal finance documents […]

Product Liability Claims: Limiting Your Risk for Used Equipment Sales (Part 2)

Product liability claims can be devastating.  Products liability claims are generally defined as claims for personal injury or property damage caused by equipment.  The legal theories for which a selling dealer may be liable can range from strict liability to […]