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Recession or not?

DarinDan

DarinDan

Active Member
I was at our local dealership yesterday and was amazed how many people were there. Talked with a salesman about a Heritage. They are having a three day father's day sale this weekend. Believe me I did not see the savings as far as bike sales. They charge destination of 335 and a dealer prep of 1290 on top of MSRP. In the first two days the dealership sold 22 bikes. I have seen several stories about how Harley is not doing well which is evident in some states. With selling 22 bikes I was amazed at the money that was flying out the door. This is good because I am always excited seeing people pick up a new Harley with a huge smile on their face. Has anyone in their area experienced this happening with bike sales? Of course, you can pretty much ride 10 months in this area though.
 
1600 bucks for setup and destination is very high! But sales on all bikes. not just Harley, are kind of slow here.
 
Their will always be folks that will pay list and the other over the top fees. I'm not one of them. I bet they would have sold 32 or even 42 had they waved the overly high set up cost. Shipping is passed on to the consumer in most cases. Better to have more sales and drop the over charges since you will have more of a customer base for accessories and service work down the road.
 
glider said:
Dealer prep of $1290 will come back and bite them hard. They are gouging people.
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I agree with this , dealer prep and PDI, baloney they are going to take a hit on this unless they really want to move there inventory and get new bikes in stock:D
 
The market will dictate what amount they can upcharge on their bike sales, 22 bikes sounds like a pretty good week to me. You have to remember that there is not a never ending supply of new bikes these dealers can get. Fortunatley for us existing bike owners Harley does a pretty good job of controlling supply and demand, keeping demand above supply and keeping resale values higher on new and used bikes. Can you imagine what would happen to the value of our used bikes if harley were to drop bike prices on new bikes by 10%?
I know that I feel like I am getting ripped whenever I buy anything that says "Harley" on it , but you know what, I just keep on buying. And to the dealers defense it does cost alot of money to keep their doors open. There are probably alot of times when they don't sell enough to pay their overhead that day/week/month.
 
My local dealer usually has a patio full of used bikes, but it's nearly empty. Last week there were three preowned bikes left on display outside, and two or three inside. They had one of each new model on the floor, but far fewer bikes than I am accustomed to seeing there.
 
Several dealerships in my immediate area are upcharging quite a bit and it reflects in their overall sales. When I get my new one I am driving a little ways away to get mine. This dealer also mentioned how Harley didn't plan on shipping a lot of 10's to this area because so many dealers still had 09's. Even if I go on cycletrader it shows the big differences.
 
I have gone to the HD dealer and seen the place busy on weekends, but buying bikes...not so much. Many of the "old time" knowledgeable staffers in parts and service have left that I remember there since going there 3 years ago have been layed off. The local dealer is still very active and having summer events coming up so the customer potential and interest is there. Hope what DD saw will be a trend here as well...we all need it...!
 
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