Dealers losing the dealership

[kemo]

When a dealer loses his dealership and becomes an independent how does he buy OEM parts. Does he buy from another dealer and have them shipped or can he still order from Harley. Does he get dealer prices or does he pay retail.

I was in a dealers show room and was checking prices on items on the shelf and I thought they were charging over Harley suggested retail prices. I am sure it was old stock from when he was a dealer.
Ken

 

[Jack Klarich]

When a dealer loses his dealership and becomes an independent how does he buy OEM parts. Does he buy from another dealer and have them shipped or can he still order from Harley. Does he get dealer prices or does he pay retail.

I was in a dealers show room and was checking prices on items on the shelf and I thought they were charging over Harley suggested retail prices. I am sure it was old stock from when he was a dealer.
Ken

Very good question Ken,I am betting the MOCO will come down hard as more time goes by Corporate greed by the MOCO will force the independents to go aftermarket unless they can find NOS for a good price JMO

 

[R_W_B]

I know my lawnmover shop told me they could get "some" Harley parts but I would have to bring them the part number before they could know for sure. For all I know this just means they are selling their current inventory LOL. They said that last year everything changed with the HD policy.

Additionally most current HD dealers will not sell any of the shop (SPX type) Harley tools to anyone anymore, they are just not for sale.

You can buy some of them made independentally by Jims or Georges and various resellers of such on Amazon. Be carefull if you buy thru a reseller though since it's a mess. Many of the pictures on Amazon show the entire kit, but if you search the part number down being sold thru the HD PDFs it's only on single part of the kit and will not complete the job by any means. I have written reviews on Amazon warning folks of this and also written the reseller telling them that their add pics are incorrect. I think most of these resellers are just work from home business that don't have a clue or just don't care. But if you look at the price on these scenarios it's usually a big warning sign to investigate further.

It's obvious both the dealers and HD make enough money on warranty and service work that they don't mind letting their tool sales go to independent clone manufactures. There was a time when it could be called greed, I sense now it's more survival as many sectors the U.S. and world economy restructure and change to remain solvent.

 

[dangerdan]

When a dealer loses his dealership and becomes an independent how does he buy OEM parts. Does he buy from another dealer and have them shipped or can he still order from Harley. Does he get dealer prices or does he pay retail.

I was in a dealers show room and was checking prices on items on the shelf and I thought they were charging over Harley suggested retail prices. I am sure it was old stock from when he was a dealer.
Ken

Ken I know of one dealership that lost its dealership (name withheld). From what I hear, an arrangement has been made with a dealer that still has has its Harley dealership.