Allen Certified Pre-Owned Program

[MarkS]

The June issue of "The American Organist" contains a new Allen ad, announcing a certified used organ program.

[radagast]

Interesting. Auto companies do this, so why not Allen? It might be a way to boost profits for the company or dealers.

[jbird604]

Here's the blurb on Allen's website. Three-year warranty. And they only do MDS and later. Interesting idea. Probably going to be a lot pricier than the refurbished ADC organs that some of us small shops are selling. But it is a testimony to Allen's commitment to their legacy organs, at least the fairly modern ones.

http://www.allenorgan.com/www/produc..._preowned.html

[circa1949]

"if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"

you knew I'd be all over this thread!

This ties in perfectly with my comment earlier this year about how I'd noticed various Allen authorized dealers were suddenly nationally advertising used organs which had never been permitted before. Obviously, they (both Allen and the dealers) have realized that the used organ market, however miniscule, does pose a minor threat with respect to one kind of buyer. The buyer who simply has an absolute ceiling on what they can pay for a certain organ with certain features. More of these buyers are probably private individuals than institutional: with institutional buyers like churches that can hold fundraisers, wait for rich donors to die, etc...raising a few more 10s of thousands of dollars is just a matter of waiting a few more months. Conversely, for the hardcore bargain buyers, waiting for a used organ is just a matter of knowing that, eventually, a similar organ to what they want will appear somewhere and be missed by RobahWarran et al. And that they will eventually get it at the true wholesale price. (as has been the case with several buyers here) This program answers the needs of those somewhere in between the two extremes...thrifty institutional OR wealthier private buyer, who can afford NOT to wait 1-3 years to find a bargain organ on craigslist or whatnot.

Overall a good idea on Allen's part...one suspects of course the dealers had been pushing for it for some time, but I think it benefits Allen HQ, too. Look at it this way: if this middle segment of thriftiness "downshifts", they just wait like the bargain shoppers to buy a used organ. Might be Allen, might not be, but Allen or their dealers aren't likely to benefit from it either way. Conversely, maybe they decide to hold out for a brand new organ. Who's price competitive in the bargain area? Well, not necessarily Allen. There's the risk they buy one of those tiny new Rodgers. Better to keep these moderate income shoppers hooked on the brand instead of going to a competitor.

Lastly, of course, their products are so well built that it's an acceptance that their own used organs are becoming one of their biggest competitors. In a way it's very complimentary to the brand: as I've said ANY camera shop that sells Leica, will sell used Leicas as well. I kid you not...there will continue to be a drawdown of churches w/traditional music programs. Allen & dealers know those MDS/early Ren. organs will be coming on the market one way or another. I was just talking to a Catholic friend of mine who was a former coworker, and I asked her about services at her big Catholic church in the suburbs of DC. She said NO ONE under 50 goes to the classical liturgy service.

[myorgan]

I LOVE the opening statement: Designed and built to the highest quality standards, the lifetime of an Allen organ often exceeds that of its original owner. Are they saying that their original owners are all old people who die before the organ, or churches that close before the organ dies? Either way, it's about time Allen came up with the certified used program. Not good for me, but probably good for those who, as Circa said, are in the middle ground. In fact, they may be cutting into a certain Florida organist's market, unless he sticks with older organs.

Michael

[Admin]

This doesn't sound like anything new to me. Allen dealers have always had used instruments for sale and I expect they were always sold with some sort of dealer warranty. The difference may be that the warranty is now corporate policy rather than the discretion of the dealer.

It helps their dealers and service reps, since the service company gets to do the certification and the dealer gets the mark- up for the certification badge. The benefit to Allen is indirect in that it helps keep their dealers and service network intact during the tough times, but I don't see a benefit to the factory. Of course, if you want a darker view, those organs that Allen takes in and don't pass certification wind up in the dump rather than on ebay or as a Hauptwerk console.

[arie v]

Hi,

This certification program looks to be for only MDS, Renaissance, and Quantum badged instruments. This means that Protege, Chapel, and other such models would not be included in this program.

Also, reading the blurb on the Allen web-site, the certification is to be done by the factory technician. This means that someone from the factory, comes to the dealer (who are the only ones they will work with), to inspect the organ(s) to be certified. Even then, seems from the web-site that the warranty will only cover certain electronic boards.

All this will means the end costs will mean much higher selling price for these used organs. Likely will mean that used Allen organs will be priced higher (much higher) than they are now, even if they don't sell quickly. I can see this costing the dealer at least $2,500 to $3,000 extra. Whether there is a market for this kind of thing, I don't know.

Maybe other manufacturers will have to dream up something like this as well.

Good idea, but likely just a lot of smoke and mirrors.

AV