Wednesday, April 22, 2015
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 situation. The good news is that you usually have legal rights to help you […]
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
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 forecasts by suppliers, you need to be aware of some of the unexpected risks that […]
Thursday, March 19, 2015
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 almost an afterthought. This view is based on the confidence dealers place in the buy-back […]
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
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 this impacts you as a customer, but do you know how you are impacted as […]
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
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 good reasons for all the wording, you are thinking “how am I going to get […]
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
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 profits on 100+ customer transactions? The world in which you operate is rapidly changing. Are […]
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
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 include some type of security interest granted by the dealer to the lender. A dealer […]
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
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 negligence to breach of warranty. Selling used equipment carries additional risk just based upon the […]
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Product liability claims can be devastating. When people are injured by equipment or the equipment causes damage to property, millions of dollars can be at stake. This is a recurring issue and all dealers pay for these claims either through direct exposure or increased insurance premiums. Although not all risk can be eliminated, there are […]
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
All dealers have experienced customers that complain about the equipment they purchased from you. Before you make a decision on how to respond, you will likely ask two questions: What is the right thing to do for the customer relationship? What is my liability if I can’t satisfy the customer? If your decision is based […]