A dealer gone

[Idaho]

Local Suzuki dealer here in Pocatello has been in business for over 20 years and was a great dealer. Very fair and honest. My wife bought bought my 'first' bike for me from him 10 years ago and I have been dealing with him ever since. Today was his last day. He closed the doors for good.

I stopped in to see him two days ago and he told me that he should have shut the doors last year. This last year he told me that he paid out of savings to keep the doors open. He also told me that in his opinion the mc business is in serious trouble. Manufacturers are not shipping 2010 models because they are still trying to peddle 2009's. Dealers who go out of business have their inventory bought up at a discount which gives the buying dealer a leg up over others who paid full wholesale to the manufacturer.

Whether all of that is correct or not makes no difference. The point is that he is out of business because he could not sell enough hardware to make a profit. So much for this wonderful stimulus that is supposed to save us all.

[chainsaw]

Well after all the president can't work on stimulus if he's on vacation all the time.

[Netnorske]

Bud, thats not the same dealer where I met you that one morning is it? I know that was the Kawi dealer, but I was wondering if he did other metrics too....

[ringadingh]

Thats too bad, but I think the internet has a lot to do with it the last few years. It used to be that the local dealer was your only choice to buy bikes ,parts and accessories. Now the dealers stock very few parts, and when you need something it has to be ordered, and you wait for it. Many times when I do this it costs me two trips to the bike shop, one to order and pay for the item in advance and then go back in a few days to pick it up.
On the otherhand I can order it on the internet from home, usually cheaper, and still have to wait a few days, but I don't have to leave the house to do it.
Just this past winter I needed some parts for my snowblower, the dealer for that brand is about fifteen miles away, and had nothing in stock, they wanted me to stop by and pay before they would order the parts. Instead I found the parts online and had the shipped to my door, and saves a $100.00 . I like to support the local guy but if they can't deliver, I won't be racing to there door either.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Times have changed and dealers need to change with it. A lot of dealers don't even have a website. My local dealer doesn't have anything that can be done online. I can order parts over the phone from them and they order. I don't have to pay in advance. The part or parts usually arrive within two days or so.

Another thing that has hurt dealers are dealers like one in Chattanooga, TN that consistently sells below every dealer around. Of course he sells Hondas and doesn't sell Kawasaki. I have been told he is a big car dealer and he used the bike dearlership as a tax write off. He has put Honda dealers out of business 50 and more miles away.

[ringadingh]

Honda, Suzuki and BMW here are also selling from there own dealerships, you can buy any Honda product from a car, truck, generator, weedwacker etc. If Honda makes it they will sell it. The same for Suzuki. They sell at great prices until the private smaller dealers are out of business, then the price goes up.
BMW dealers here either sell cars and Mini Coopers, or cars and bikes. A freind works at a BMW dealer and their parts are all sold at list price to everyone, strictly no discounts to anyone, including garages and bodyshops.

[Idaho]

Kris, no this is a different dealer in town. The Kawi dealer is still there but he lost the Yamaha dealership this last year also. Yamaha showed up with several tractor trailer rigs and loaded up his inventory and packed it away. Don't know how long he will be able to survive as a Kawi dealer.

[glwilson]

You can be assured if the two largest motorcycle companies are hurting (HD and Honda); then surely most all other motorcycle companies have to be also.

I see where a Kawa dealer down the road from me has used-cars in his lot now -- apparently to make some money from another resource.

I noticed the scooter-craze died-down rather fast also. It used to be you would see scooters being sold all over the place. Not so much any more. (Those damned things are expensive!! I was kind-of surprised at what they ask for them. )

[macmac]

In NH things are still slow, maybe getting slower. Not just bikes either. Lots of car dealers crashed in the last GM drop out. Most are trying to keep what they have.

In places here you can see signs stating emergency sale/going out of business still.

I was hurtin in Spring and it looks to me like that may happen again in Fall. Some real big places down in Portsmouth are up and gone too. Too many poly tics all in the pie, all with their hand out wanting more than there is.

[pagemastr]

Last year was hard on both a boat dealer and a camper sales company a mile from me as they both closed early this year. The nearest Metric dealer has three shops in the area and all three are still going but I have to wonder for how long.

What... nobody here took advantage of the break on sales tax in the stimulus package to go buy another bike to help out the economy... easy to blame it on the stimulus spending when you could have helped and had a new bike in the process

[Loafer]

Two years ago, a new building went up. And then after it was finished a Honda-Kawasaki-Suzuki-Yamaha dealer opened up. Only 10 miles from me, I was in heaven. Great people. With the way things are, they are now gone. Fortunately, there are other dealers still in the state. None are close, but I can still get to them easily. We need to shop at our local outlets more.

[Cajunrider]

When the price of regular gasoline was over $3.00/gallon here after Katrina, motorcycle and scooter sales were booming. MC and car/truck sales over here have been very slow for the last couple of years forcing some dealership closures. The dealership where I purchased my Nomad laid off half of its sales staff last year. Things were slowly picking up for a while but with this deepwater drilling moratorium still in place, sales are turning in the other direction again. I keep seeing the same used HD's that individuals are trying to unload in our local newspaper. Some have been in the classifieds for weeks. Our local economy numbers have been among the best in the nation for the last few years but as long as these drilling rigs are idle and leaving the country that will turn sour quickly.

[Idaho]

Mitch, this is all part of Obama's econ stimulus......shut down drilling in the Gulf, shut down NASA and shut down a Virginia military base. Any one of these will lay off thousands of workers and he still thinks that his recovery is strong enough to make up for it all.

Just listen to Joe Biden and all will be well.

[Loafer]

[quote Just listen to Joe Biden and all will be well.[/quote]

who?

[dandantmm]

The victory dealer just built an amazing new building right accrues from the largest Harley dealership (which is also very nice). I drive by there every day and look and see cars and bikes in front of the Harley dealership and see nothing in front of Victory. They added Triumph to their mix, (prob to attract the sport bike & sport/tour crowd) when my dealer closed up (kaw/triumph) and they added Can-Am Spyders. I don't see how they are making it.

Even the big Honda wholesaler has a ton of bikes on the floor. They had prob 10 Goldwings lined up on the wall last weekend. I've never seen them with that much inventory though I did notice they had a lot of used bikes on the floor from trades.

Things were going good there when people were spending more than they earn and everyone was living on credit and buying oversized SUVs and campers and boats and 40k motorcycles (custom choppers), toys etc. Now that the credit dried up and people woke up to the fact that yeah you actually have to pay that stuff off, well those "non-necessity" industries are taking a beating. I guarantee you that the majority of them didn't plan ahead and save squat during the feast either, like the Victory dealer who built the massive new building. Most never even considered that it couldn't last forever.

I don't think we will see it rebound to what it was for a long time. I think a lot of dealers need to think out of the box and get away from conventional sales strategies. As much as Harley is bashed I still know guys that ride to the dealer on a regular basis to see what they have. They may not buy anything but they are at least going in the store on a regular basis which keeps them interested. Most metric owners only go to a dealer when they need something because there is nothing else there, and since the bikes run so good, it's like the Maytag repairman syndrome. That large Honda dealer does hAve some accessories and I spent $100 there last weekend on misc things. Most metric dealers and manufacturers never figured out how to create the culture to keep bringing people into the stores. if I had a dealership I would be trying to work out a deal with Cycle Gear to have a joint store so I could get traffic into my place.

I do wish that Victory dealer would take on Kawasaki so I have a place close to buy parts, etc. again. :^)