"Cold calls" and the economy.

[Porter]

I had a new rear tire put on and my first set of new rear brake pads put on yesterday at the same dealer in my post. They did it all in 1 hour while I waited. During this time mechanic came out and said that the rear pads wouldn't make it till the next tire change, so since the tire is down and the pads are easy to get to, do you want me to replace them. I typically would do something like that myself, but I said, "Sure, pop in some new ones while it is easy to get to." I have had 5 tires put on my UC and they always have charged an hour labor for a rear. They put in the pads with no extra labor. I thought that was nice.

I had an hour to talk with 2 sales guys and the service desk manager about "business and the economy". They said service is doing OK (all the lifts were full, that I could see). But sales were hurting and the dealership is pretty much packed to the gills with new and MANY used HD's. No lay offs yet, but Maryland with so many govt jobs is different that most of the country. By whatever numbers you use, MD hasn't been hit with unemployment as badly for that reason. This winter (and last) has had more snow and ice and been colder than the previous 3 years before and that may be hurting the sales as well. There is bike show this weekend in Timonium MD and this dealer was getting things ready to go. I am going to try and make it to the show to check out Stone Lake Leather (who is supposed to be there). It might be intersting to see if the show is as large as it has been and talk about "business" with some of the venders/dealers.

My father took his ATV to the HD dealer in Cumberland MD for service and repair. They are doing whatever they can to stay open. That is not good.

 

[JerryL]

They ain't hurting that bad cause they ain't budging on price! There financing is just short of robbery.......

Bodeen

I don't think their pricing will come down anytime soon. My HD dealer said Harley was cutting production in half. Said they were back to a waiting list type of thing, like back in the early 2000's. I wish they had never flooded the market in the first place. When they did, the worth of my bikes nosedived.

 

[DakotaRob]

I haven't gotten any cold calls, but when I was looking for a bike last spring, the dealers were pretty good at calling me back to follow up. A few years ago, it seemed you had to be sitting on a bike waving a stack of money to get a salesman's attention.

The economy around this area hasn't been hit as hard since agriculture relatated businesses are doing ok. The dealers still want top dollar for new and used bikes, and I ended up buying from a private party.

 

[Porter]

Went to the Timonium MC show this past Saturday. The place was a mad house. Tremendous number of people, but it did not appear to me that many were buying much of anything. (I didn't see shopping bags in the hands of many people. The leather company I wanted to check out (Stone Lake) did not show up (bummer).

Harley Davidson of Maryland (Troy Hill) is going out of business. The owner is retiring and closing the doors. They have had (for the past few years) the first space as you walk in the gates. It appeared to me that they had their entire inventory there trying to sell bikes, but the prices were still pretty normal. I don't know all the detail on the closing of the store, but it is not being bought by another owner. It is being closed. This store had a great parts department and was 3 minutes from my house. I talked to two of the staff that I am familar with and they are understandibly upset. There goes another 25 people or so out of work.

Perhaps this will help the other dealers in the area, most notably Old Glory HD (about 10 miles away).

MD/VA/DC may be in for a dose of what the rest of the country is struggling with in the economy. As congress has the "continuing resolution" on spending, many government agencies are being frozen as far as projects and spending.

So talk indicates that HD may start cutting back production and try to get people to place orders instead of having inventory sitting around. I know from the past two years, the Old Glory dealer that I just had a new tire intalled, has a tremendous amout of used bikes for sale. Many more than before, it seems to me. They have even removed the customer seating in the service area to place used scoots. Not completely sure what that means but it is interesting.