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I'm not sure why people on here hate shops so much. Maybe try some smaller shops so you aren't paying the price for them have 25 employees to dust boots off all day and go in with a better/ less standoffish attitude towards these people simply trying to help you with parts/repairs/sales and you may be surprised by the results.
My local KTM dealer lost their franchise last year, they were so awesome to buy from…no BS, just fair pricing and I would show up with the check…I”m due for a new 300SX this year….Still waiting for the big KTM selloff😂…I also scan marketplace every morning….seeing some really nice low hr used bikes for good prices….I have always established a good relationship with my local dealers for bike purchases. Its hard to beat RMC for parts, no one is more OCD than me about double checking part #”s and making sure the order is 100% correct…
Dude, I live in PA (Chambersburg). There are good and bad dealers everywhere, same with gouging.
Assuming I know your dealership - their prices aren't that great on bikes, just an FYI.
What I pay and what you might pay are probably totally different. My point was building relationships goes a long way in what you get in return and there is nothing wrong with having motorcycle dealerships.
It's not that there are "good" and "bad" dealers. There are just "good" and "bad" people.
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Isn’t that what a relationship with a business really is, though? They are open to sell goods and services, and they can’t pay their bills if all their ‘customers’ who never really buy much and expect a big discount on the small amount of things that they do buy, even if those ‘customers’ are really nice people that they enjoy shooting the shit with!!!
You may be overestimating your IQ, I think.
Why would a dealer want to send customers to another dealer by advertising that their competitor has a bike in stock? The dealer is far better off trying to perhaps sell a similar bike of a different brand to a customer rather than telling that customer to go to a different dealer and buy what they believe is their first choice.
If you work for an auto dealer, do you send customers to a competitor if you don’t have the perfect car in stock? I would hope not!
Be happy, it’s a new bike you’re talking about here. 💯👍🏻
Stealerships need to go by the wayside. Use a direct to consumer model like Stark, Rivian, Tesla. The OEM makes more money and the consumer saves. No middleman for no reason. It's a win-win.
Problem is a lot of the family owned dealerships have either gown under, been bought out by “mega dealers”(multi brand) or have been dropped by KTm/Husky because they didn’t want to take on the required models/parts/equipment they were demanding. Thankfully WI still has family owned Port Yamaha that will treat you right on Yamaha and Metro Motorcycles that will treat you right on Beta
If you want to blame someone, a business or a group of people for the problem you describe, look no further than Amazon plus TV shows like Shark Tank, and The Profit. Where the people on the show are know-it-alls and blow hards who got lucky catching lightning in a bottle with a few business deals, then think they are smarter than they really are. Mark Cuban is one of the worst. Anyway, they emphasize on their shows the importance of not holding inventory and limiting SKUs to help businesses be more profitable. I'm a partner in our business and I fully understand the concept and need. But at the same time, a shitty customer experience is extraordinarily difficult to overcome as a business. Used to be, you could go to a Radio Shack and buy just about anything electronic related. Now, there are no more Radio Shacks. They were replaced by Amazon. And the demise of Radio shack and the growth of Amazon was consumer driven. As a business, you start small on what items you can and want to stock. Stock key, high moving items and slowly add other items over time to your inventory. Eventually, you have a good broad range stock of products and replacing items as you sell other ones in stock is no different than 2-3 day shipping yet you have products on the shelf. It's nearly impossible and doesn't make sense for a small business to go out and spend a ton of money on stocking a million items - you'll never get your money back in your lifetime. Start small and gradual with something that makes sense to stock and grow your inventory stock supply over time. Once you have a good stock, advertise that you keep items in stock and people will come to you. Watch what moves and what doesn't. If something isn't moving, sell it online via eCommerce. Then you get the walk ins plus the online orders. That doesn't happen overnight. Realize that you can't stock a billion products and SKUs. But stocking nothing and drop shipping everything isn't viable either with respect to customer experience.
I have tried several times to support local dealerships. Get hosed every time.
maybe the mentality needs to be the dealerships can support the rider and the rider will return.
Why can't we just go to the manufacturer website, and order a brand new bike. $ Msrp + Tax + Freight. Shipped to your door in the crate. Done! No BS, just business.
Dealerships are kinda pointless in todays world. Unlike buying a car, you can’t test drive several options to see what you like best. Might as well just order it online.
The problem is that there aren't many truly LOCAL dealerships left. Those were owned and operated by enthusiasts that lived and breathed motorcycling. They've been replaced by corporate groups that have bought up those once small Mom and Pop shops as the owners aged out and retired or burned out and gave up. We used to refer to them simply as "the Honda shop" or "the Yamaha shop" and now they are all "XYZ POWERSPORTS" and they sell for 8 different manufacturers and only know what the brochures tell them. The salesmen are all starving, the dealership is trying to make money in the F&I Office and the Service bays, and the parts counter is staffed by someone who has never seen half of the dirt bikes in existence.
If you still have a locally OWNED dealership support them for as long as you can and pray they don't get "acquired" by some investment group that is going to try to install an auto dealership mentality.
There is plenty of software that does this in all other businesses. If it doesn’t exist for dealerships, sounds like a great business opportunity for someone.
I happen to own a niche software company that a niche type of business uses to manage their operations …
Go create it, that’s what we did.
Purchased a YZ450F and YZ85LW from Port Yamaha last year. Mike (the owner) was great to work with and treats you as if you are his number one customer. Both bikes were sold at MSRP and tax only; no hidden bull to deal with. Sure the dealership is very small but overall a great experience and would definitely buy from again.
Like most all high dollar purchase there is not only an art to be able to sell but there is a art to being able to buy as well. Educate yourself and don't do a deal on emotion, do it by being prepared and do your homework.
So order a Stark and you can pay for it 100% up front and maybe you will get it or maybe you will have wait a year and they will stop taking your calls and emails and ghost you, and then where are you going to take it for any Warranty work ? After reading the majority of tech questions that pop up in this forum I would say the most of you all are not even qualified to uncrate a new bike no matter how core you think you are.
The warranty work on mine was easy, they just sent me parts and I installed them myself, then I shipped the old parts back to them for inspection. I paid a grand total of zero dollars and didn’t even have to take my bike to a mechanic who I don’t trust to tighten my spokes.
Pit Row
As much as I hate to say it this is where it’s going. I wish it wasn’t the way it’s become but I have no loyalty to any dealers anymore after being price gouged even though I had purchased numerous bikes before. I now view most of them as a car dealer. “Good morning sir, how can we bend you over today?” I travel to wherever the deal is, quick grab the bike, split for home, and then the bike gets immediately torn apart and greased. So in reality it’d be much more convenient and easy to ship it in a crate direct.
I am lucky, found an awesome local dealer, 3 Seas Recreation. Beta gurus and they treat you right, they are still a family business though.
We have the multi brand dealers to with the Bro salesman, make me sick. Try to avoid them.
I know this isn’t the case for you, but let’s say the owner isn’t much of a competent mechanic and installs the warranty part Stark sent him. Maybe he doesn’t install it correctly, the part fails, and the rider gets hurt. I feel like that’s a huge window of liability on Stark. I’d be really interested to learn the dynamics of that in a court of law.
I believe I had to sign something if I remember right in order to waive the dealer service, but it’s been a while.
I know you’re just bringing up a hypothetical and don’t actually think this way, but that mentality is exactly what holds our society back from so much. People not only have zero sense of personal responsibility but are reinforced in their idiotic beliefs by a government court system that wants them as dumb and helpless as possible. That’s a rant for another day but it drives me up the wall thinking how much we potentially miss out on and how many bullshit hoops this mentality makes us jump through in life.
Yamaha does that, you can check the website and it tells you who has what bike. Did that 2 weeks ago, wanted to buy a bike in las vegas, I called up a dealer that had 3(factory powersports) and they quoted me a OTD price of almost $11k I then called a 2nd dealer Ride Now in Peoria, They would sell me the same bike for $1700 less ($8,700 total with all fees). Got it last week, hope you get your new bike!
Sorry, but I think that’s a horrible take. If I spend $10k + on what is supposed to be the leading edge technology for an MX bike and it fails within the range of the warranty I shouldn’t have to be spinning my wrenches and hoping I did everything correct on it. It’s the companies responsibility to honor and back their products and take care of the consumer, not my responsibility to fix their mistakes.
I suppose in the event of a warranty claim, sans dealership, a company like Stark could have a travelling district serviceman like they have for industrial machines.
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