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The only thing I can think as to why the manufacturers don't have bigger margins is that it wouldn't change anything if they did. If we start making $2000 on a bike instead of $1000, the price game is still going to be played by people buying bikes. They'll just whittle the dealers down like they always do until the dealers are back to square one. Sure, it might be nice in the short-term to have a couple sales with a little more padding in them, but it won't take long until people catch on and just beat us up even more... The only other option is to keep costs the same but increase the MSRP of the bikes, which the consumers won't be to keen on...
...who spent the time placing the order to get the bikes to the dealer to begin with...
...who dealt with the finance co to get the bikes approved for delivery...
...who deals with the floor plan people when they show up to make an audit of units...
...who checked in and logged the serial numbers for the bikes...
...who unloaded the bike from the carrier to the staging area....
...with what forklift...
...from staging..who brought the bike into the shop..
...with what forklift...
...who uncrated the bike...
...who discarding the crating...
...into what dumpster...
...who assembled the bike...
...who went over the 35 items + that are required ( as stated above )...
...who pays the insurance...
...who pays the electric bill...
...who pays the mortgage or rent on the property...
...who pays the employees...
...etc. ...etc. ...
Or, you sell the bike at current prices and can actually make a decent living, and/or grow your business and hire more people and help the economy.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
I'd love it if it worked out that way, but the biggest hurdle is convincing the manufacturers (in Japan...) to sacrifice some of their profit so that we can have some...
Hats off man. Even if you weren't intelligent enough to get accepted for undergrad, you're still OK in my books.
1) full name
2) current mailing address
3) date of birth
4) social security number
5) bank account and bank routing numbers
Anxiously awaiting your reply.
You will find few, if any, dealers in California that will, can or even now how to sell you a bike with an MSO & virtually ALL of them will tell you that they have to deliver it to you outside of the state/over the state-line (& usually don't know that an out of state BoL will suffice)...also, there are forms that're virtually a "release of liability/POA" that they don't even know about.
Berkeley Honda knows ALL of this (btw, they're VERY involved in Honda's Off-Road program).
In most cases, Johnny office worker isn't getting years of experience riding and racing, Johnny office worker is getting years of experience "moving units" off of a showroom floor.
I thank Johnny office worker for increasing the effect of "economies of scale", thus reducing the OTD price of my race bike. When Johnny has to choose between his townhouse and Lexus payment or his loan on the $8500 motocross bike in the garage with only 8 hours on it, I'll be happy to give him $5000 cash for it. Thanks Johnny.
One of those 'helpful' salesmen sold a buddy of mine (who is the apitome of a Johnny office-worker) a Yamaha R1. Unfortunately, my buddy had never ridden any kind of motorcycle in his life. Good choice johnny... Good choice.
You might want to check your math again, Einstein. Maybe that is why you are losing money selling bikes.......
It can kill you.
Shane
I've got a friend that runs a drop ship company out of his house...he sells anything and everything on his website, and then ships it from the manufacturer direct to the customer. He's not making a killing doing it, but probably makes low 6 figures...which isn't bad from his bedroom, on a crappy little website.
Again, I know nothing about running a dealership or a drop ship company...I'm just asking a question (not being Mr. Know-it-all).
Pit Row
I will say this, I have seen it asked several times, if you make so little money, then why do it? The answer is that we are all addicts just like you, but worse, we went pro. It's mostly done out of passion and many couldn't think about doing anything else.
Some try, but the normal world of 9-5 and having to work with people that talk about golf and baseball stats all the time is unbearable.
I don't work at a dealer but instead the other side, but can tell you everything they have said is very true. Everyone wants something for free and begrudge you if they think you made a dollar off them.
One last thing, being loyal to a dealership has nothing to do with proximity to said dealer. If your local dealer sucks, then drive right past him and find a good one. They are out there.
If I still lived within 250 miles of Kansas City, there is one dealer I would go to exclusively and never even question the price I was given. They are just that good and supportive of motocross and racing in general.
I also rode for a dealer in the 00s and got my 15% off. I was cool with and knew most of the guys at that dealership. I got Christmas cards because I spent 1000s of dollars there year after year. I brought my bike in to have the cases split and some work done one year and it came back leaking. That relationship went to shit right there, so keep in mind that loyalty goes both ways. I think it was a new guy that boned it but the manager didn't make it right. So I moved on. There are a lot of dealers that do shit work, but for what they have to pay it shouldn't be a surprise I guess.
Look, the system is broken and needs repair. Car dealerships are going away soon too: it's going the way of Tesla. We're tired of haggling for fees and being scammed because you need to make money. Make it a flat fee, a la Costco and let's call a truce. It's going to happen whether you like it or not. Remember Circuit City, Tweeter, Federated, The Wiz, Best Buy (maybe they're still alive for the moment?), etc? They didn't adapt, and now they're dead. It's really up to the manufacturers but the internet has empowered consumers to race to the bottom - sadly, that is capitalism. And it isn't just hurting you, it's going to strangle our way of life in the next 50 years. Your smart phone will tell a robot what McSandwich you want, and your driverless car will bring you there to pick it up or it'll be brought to you by drone. It will be cheap because robots are cheap but only a handful of people will be able to afford it because no one will have a job.
The past doesn't = the future in this case. So while you are still driving your 72 Cutlas Supreme and listening to REO Speadwagon on your 8 track, I'm sorry to bust your bubble, but in the future, thankfully, you, me and everyone else on this forum won't have to worry about haggling with salesmen any longer---The same will apply to buying a car, a house and many other products where's there's traditionally been a sleazy salesperson involved.
The real question is how will idots like you, which live in past,adjust to the fast approaching wave. If history repeats itself, you've be blown away. Now go turn up the music and STFU!
Post a reply to: Hey Dealers: Buying in the next 48 hours, give me your quotes..