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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | SongFan - 2008-11-02 8:08 AM I paid MSRP and let my awesome local dealer do all the maintenance by the book. (First vehicle I have ever done that with.) At 19,500 miles I probably have one of the best running Visions in the world. Coincidence? Ditto on that SongFan!! I put down a deposit, waited 4 months and paid MSRP. I have 23,500 miles on my Vision and not one problem. My dealer’s service department is staffed with real pros. My dealer respects and appreciates my business and when I need service on my bike I get preferred treatment which is worth a lot to me. If you give value you will receive value. The bottom line is you get what you pay for but you do need to apply some discernment in who you do business with. My Grandfather used to say “The bitterness of a poor product or service lingers long after the sweetness of a low price”. I have owned several businesses and I made sure the clients that allowed me to receive value in the relationship got exceptional value from my company in many ways. Good customers are hard to fine and when you get one you want to keep them. I would send people who were only focused on price and not value to my competitors to speed up their demise. Most of them would end up doing business with me after my competitors went out of business and were then happy to pay for good service and value after experiencing what they got out of their last business relationship.
Edited by Spock 2008-11-02 10:37 AM
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | I'm sure most of the early purchases of the new Vision were at list price, I know that's what I paid.
The folks that are getting the discounts now should be happy, your getting a great motorcycle at a pretty good discount. My hope for the future is that those that buy the Vision like the Vision that way the resale price will stay up because they are not dumping them. There were only ~2500 made in the first year, so my hope is there will be folks that want mine when I'm ready to get a new one. If your looking for more of a discount than what the dealer is wanting to give you, then my advise is to move on, don't buy something your going to be unhappy with. |
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Tourer
Posts: 353
| SongFan - 2008-11-02 6:08 AM
I paid MSRP and let my awesome local dealer do all the maintenance by the book. (First vehicle I have ever done that with.) At 19,500 miles I probably have one of the best running Visions in the world. Coincidence?
Yup, Besides my '08 Vision, I also have an '05 8-Ball with about 19k miles, my dealer did the first 2 services on the 8-Ball and I've done the rest, changed to full synthetic and increased my oil change interval to 5k, so far I've had no issues and the bike runs great.
I'm doing the same with the Vision. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 95
Alberta, Canada | $21,500. for a Premium comfort with an extended 4 year warranty. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
Fate, TX (near DFW) | Great points from a lot of different perspectives. Motorcycle buying should not be compared to cage buying. Motorcycle buying for me is very emotional (read impulse). I have to temper my motorcycle buying enthusiasm with knowledge. It is a balancing act where I don't want the dreaded buyer's remorse because I found out I payed way too much but I also want the dealership to be profitable. Here is what I do and have done more times than I can count. I first research the crap out of the motorcycle I want (like lurking in the forums...I still haven't bought my Vision yet) and then turn to the internet and research pricing via cycletrader.com. That let's me get an idea of bottom dollar. Then I call local dealers and find one willing to let me test ride. That dealer is now at the top of my list. I get to know the salesman prior to showing up for the test ride by several phone conversations setting up the demo. I ALWAYS tell the salesman that we have other bikes to test ride and we will not be making a decision that day (it usually is true). They will usually ask which ones so have your list ready. After test riding, I casually ask "what type of discount I could expect if this were the bike I were to buy" at which point the salesman will usually throw out a discount amount. I do not ask any further questions with regards to pricing and only ask bike related questions that day. After I leave (allow several hours to pass), I will call back and ask warranty / extended warranty information. Tell the salesman that you really appreciate him/her answering your questions and that you are still in the bike decission making process. The next day, call the salesman and ask about freight and prep charges as well as financing questions but do not commit that you have decided on that bike. Next day, call and ask for an out the door price and financing details if that is the route you plan on going. This is the point where I will mention that I noticed a dealer ____ states away offering same bike for ______ amount. I do not say any more as I want the ball to be in their court. Most of the time I get "We can't possibly sell that low" to which I reply "what is the best you can do?". Now sometimes I have gotten a silly high price at which point I politely say thank you and move on to another dealer....but most of the time, because I have developed a relationship with the salesman, I get an honest low price to which I reply "sold" and I then commend the salesman on a job well done and inform him that I will buy all of my accessories through him as well. I know that there are some dealers / salesmen on this thread and I do not want to offend any of you. However, I also don't want to pay MSRP unless that is what ALL the dealers are selling at. Several of my recent bike purchases were done this way and I can tell you that the dealership got all of my service and accessory business. Maybe it is a point of pride.....people always ask you "how much you paid for the bike" but nobody has ever asked how much the extra chrome cost. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 102
Madison, AL | I paid 22,500 for my bike, out the door. It had the exhaust upgrade, GPS, included the IPOD connector, extended warranty, and first free service. I have since spent thousands more, and go back to the dealer each time. You know you buy too much stuff when they give you a free catalog, hat, tee-shirt, and gremlin bell. I have since bought the wind deflectors, xm radio, CB/Intercom, 2-Helment mikes, Some victory clothes, solo tour pack, luggage set, trunk carpet, trunk mirror, shock air pump, bag organizers, trunk organizer, fork mounted riding lights, oil stick with temp, bike cleaning stuff, helment stuff, gloves, (Utopia seat but not available through dealer at the time, and LLoydzs intake and fuel control), Victory Transition sun glasses, victory patches, motor mount chrome, trunk plate cover thing, HID light, Plenty of Labor, and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now. I plan on getting the gattling tips, the trunk rack, and the American Flag that goes on that. But boy do I save money on gas, ha, ha, ha. I just realized how much money I have spent and think I'm about due for another free hat.
Edited by david.terry 2008-11-04 12:19 AM
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
Fate, TX (near DFW) | Wow David, when someone mentioned dealers struggling, you didn't have to take it upon yourself to single-handedly keep your local dealer in business (LOL)! I sure hope you get an invite to the Christmas party. On a serious note, it is customers like you that will help a service oriented dealer stay in business. I hope that the Vic dealers take a long look at HD dealers and realize that the bigger profit is after the sale of the bike as long as you keep your customers first and transform the "box" dealer into a destinataion. If they do that, selling only 75 to 100 bikes per year could be a formula to a very successfull business model with the potential of having 750 to 1000 happy customers after 10 years.... returning for accessories, riding apparel, engine mods and service and possibly a new bike. I know that the bikes I have purchased are a drop in the bucket compared to the "rest of the story" making each bike "my own". |
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Cruiser
Posts: 102
Madison, AL | At first, I fully planned on a road glide or another ultra classic, however, the way I was treated at the Harley Davidson Dealership, made me start shopping around. I have since converted 4 harley riders, so there is the potential to lose more than one customer.
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
Fate, TX (near DFW) | I owned an 04 Roadglide and put a little over 30K miles on it the 2 years I owned it. It does not hold a candle to the Vision. |
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Dealer invoice
