| Author | Message | ||
     Chrisb |
I can get a Uly for 500 less in WI vs buying locally. That number (500) is after subtracting the cost of a airline ticket and Gas to ride it home. How ever it doesnt factor in a day's worth of vacation or convincing the Mrs that she needs to drive me to the airport 1.5hr away (plus she will demand a full tank of gas). It would be close to a 900 mile ride. So most of it would be at break in speeds. The local dealer already made the comment "If there was warranty work..although we will honor the warranty reguardless of where the bike was purchased" I get the hint I will be waiting a month for a the simplest fix to occur. I'm leaning towards buying locally | ||
| Lorazepam |
How would you feel if someone came to your store with something they bought from a competitor and wanted you to take care of the warranty work? | ||
| Thunderbox |
If I was selling bikes and someone from my area was going elsewhere to buy a machine I would earn the right to sell it to them by lowering the price the $500 it required to make the sale. It's a two way street partner. That dealer has no real business sense as far as I'm concerned. Too many poor business people today. Besides why would the dealer cut off his nose to spite his face by giving you trouble about warranty? They still make good money on warranty repairs. He should be happy to do any warranty work for you as he wants to be "your dealer". Any dealer who won't go out of their way for you the customer doesn't really deserve your business. I take it for granted that you have asked him to match the price. Be fair and only ask for the difference after your expenses so that would be $500 as you have stated. | ||
| Daves |
Of course, I think you should come to Wisconsin if you mean Appleton Wisconsin! There are pros and cons of both. I really feel the promotion I have put together is worth more than just the 500.00 discount. It will be the best experience you have ever had purchasing a motorcycle. Plus, you get the gift certificate and the bike buyers 15% discount for one year on all parts and accesories.(example,a set of luggage saves you 150.00) Trip to the factory Ride to the U.P. to play in the woods Special edition t-shirt I do understand if you decide to buy the bike from your local dealer. But, I would love to earn your business! | ||
| Lowflyer |
I would do it for even money just for the fun of it all. My next Buell will most likely come from Daves. | ||
| Bondo1007 |
Chrisb You are doing a good analysis but need to factor the rest of the soft costs. The trouble is truly estimating those soft costs. IE. 1. Your wife’s 1.5 hour “drive back” from the airport, alone, and the list of “honey dos” she will create. 2. Your frustration at break in speeds for 500 miles. (i.e. 50-60 mph for 500 miles = 8.5-10 hrs plus cool down stops) 3. A night of hotel costs and meals because if you fly out in the am you still will not be back home 900 miles later that night. Or you will arrive with a poorly broke in motor. 4. Arriving back at your local dealer for you 1K service later that week. 5. Losing a day or two of vacation in lieu of the fun local rides or weekend rides I went through a similar analysis and was able to push my local dealer a few hundred $$. Some dealers want to hold hard on price, so you can also get satisfaction and savings on service or accessories, etc. It is worth something to have the ability to look them in the eye and say you sold this and now you need to provide services. IE. At 400 miles I found a nail in my rear tire, had to buy a new one. The Uly parts are not plentiful, yet and lucky they had one in stock. (The tires are for another thread) This January my friend received a Screaming Eagle Ultra Glide from an out of state dealer. It was set up and serviced, then re-crated and sent via FedX to a local terminal. I took him down to pick it up. Long story short, the bike did not make it home, 35 miles. A local Harley dealer was nice and picked up the bike and after a large investment lot of my friends time and phone calls to the selling dealer, local dealer and the, Harley factory, they wound up replacing the entire motor. This process was a couple of weeks with the new bike sitting in the shop. (It appeared to be a freaky deal with some lose or extra bearings in the engine.) That part had a happy ending, but when he picked up the bike the mechanic told him the transmission also has a real bad whine if 4TH gear. He has been unable to get this serviced to his satisfaction. Not even the Regional Service Manager will honor repair at this time because it is still operational and saying that they all do have some gear whine. We believe it is due to lack of the local dealers push for support. So now he has a transmission he does not trust for a long trip. All of this was to save about 2k on a 35k bike. Good luck on your decision and regardless of where ever you buy it, it will be a ULYSSES ! and YOU WILL LOVE IT!! | ||
| Josh_ |
I would buy locally and count the $500 towards "goodwill" But I would not buy from a dealer that already threatened to cause problems over work later. Mitigating factors might be you already irritated them (something I'm good at) and they don't see you as a good customer. When I bought my FJR I could have saved ~$800 going to a dealer 500 miles away. The local guy I bought from was along the lines of "sorry we can't go that low, but we hope you keep coming in". I bought from them. | ||
| Thunderbox |
Well one thing is for sure. If they don't see you as a good customer before you give them any money, it's highly likely it will be worse after they have your bucks. Go somewhere else and if they give you a hard time over any warranty issues give Buell a call right in the showroom. | ||
| Bomber |
ya gotta make up your own mind about what's important to you . . . . no one else can perform that kinda math while $500 is nothing to sneeze at, neither are the other benefits that DaveS is offering keep in mind two data points: point the first -- you're taking about approximately 5% of the purchase price second point -- I doubt ifyou'll be thinking about the $500 bucks for more than a couple of days after riding the bike point 3 -- it sounds like you've already talked yourself into one frame of mind -- Daves represents a great organization, and offers some once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to boot, but supporting your local dealer has benefits, as well (so long as they are worth supporting) -- in either event, enjoy buying the bike, do it in a way that won't have you second guessing yourself over important-to-you things, and ride safe | ||
| Cygnus_x1 |
I think Josh and Bondo are on to something, I also considered buying from Daves, but at 2000 miles away, and the fact that its been in the upper 60's this winter, was hard to justify waiting for the promo. But now I'm sorta glad I bought it locally, them guys at HD are really nice and kinda go out of their way for me now, I think maybe they are cool because I bought the first and only Uly from them, (and maybe the first Buell?) But they are cool to deal with now, no great deals on the price, but when my kickstand broke, they sent me home on the Harley of my choice. No questions asked just good service, and that dont come around often anymore! | ||
| Reepicheep |
I would pay at least $500 more to get it from DaveS. It's a question of managing risk, and for $500 dealing with Dave, I get an exceptionally high chance of getting an absolutely square deal, both before and after the sale. I would not (and did not) spend $500 on an extended warranty, but I would spend an extra $500 to deal with Dave. Oh wait, you mean Dave is Cheaper!!!!! Well, that makes it *really* easy  To be truthful, after two experiences with local dealers that I could not trust, my third "sort of local" dealer turned out to be trustworthy and was trying to support Buell, so I gave them my business to try and help them along... | ||
| Chrisb |
For what the local dealer wants to do the 1k service I can buy the TPS reset software and the oils/filter and service manual. Plus they are over an hour away. My parents house is right at the 500 mile mark on the way home.... | ||
| Stevenknapp |
Chris, I had a similar dilema. I'm only 180mi from Appleton. I bought from DaveS. Why?t - First off my local dealer(s) seem really good. I doubt they care where I bought the bike too much. - Their initial price was MSRP+. "If you're buying today we might have some room". I hate that crap. DaveS offers a fair deal, posts it on the internet for all to see. - They called me back with a drop in the price when a friend mentioned to them the DaveS deal. But they didn't match it. - They also couldn't match the discount on parts. "That's a seperate department." So why would goodwill in sales make goodwill in service? DaveS stocks a lot of good stuff. Not just OEM Buell stuff. I'm pretty sure it's 15% off it all. - Cool UP trip and factory tour. As someone new to Buell this really struck me as cool. - If I have some sort of weird issue with my bike I believe DaveS will stand behind me, even though I'm 180mi away. I picked my bike up last weekend. It was a short notice deal, I had an opening pop up and Dave made it work. It was one of the smoothest new vehicle purchases I've ever made. The bike was/is perfect. He setup the suspension with me. All of it was top notch. | ||
| Jlnance |
Chrisb - I've been thinking about your delimma all day. Here is what I've come up with. First, your local dealer threatened you. Thats not a very promising sign, whether you buy your bike there or not. Secondly, I suspect dealerships make more money servicing bikes than they do selling them. The sales person, however, only gets a cut of bike sales. So he only has an incentive to make you buy the bike. He doesn't care where you have it serviced. But the service manager and the owner of the dealership DO care. My guess is the salesman is making idle threats to try and get a sale from you. I would suggest that you talk with either the service manager or the owner of the dealership and say something like: "I was thinking about buying a bike, which I would like to have serviced here. I may not buy the bike here, and I was told that you all are not interested in servicing bikes you didn't sell. Is this true?" They will of course deny that it's true, but how vigorously they deny it will tell you if they are interested in working on your bike. BTW, if you do Daves promotion which involves riding around the UP, You can probably get the 1000 mile service done up there.  BTW II - I bought my M2 in Pennsylvania and rode it back to North Carolina. It's an adventure, enjoy it. Stop along the way and meet badwebbers if you can. | ||
| Chrisb |
Actually it was finance "girl" that made the Warranty "threat" The sales man was at lunch when I came back from the Demo ride so she stopped me and asked if I need help cause I was standing near her office. Which was the office he went into get the keys to the bike. I wasnt going to leave them in the bike parked outside. So I called yesterday and it was his day off. So I ended up talking to her again seeing how she put the pen to the paper on the demo ride day. And thats when I threw out "I can elsewhere for this.." Thats when she responded with the "threat" There is a another dealer around if there ever is a issue with the bike. | ||
| Lorazepam |
I would clue her boss into her sales tactics, and let him know that is not a way to develop a relationship with a customer. If he gives you grief, go elsewhere. | ||
| Ftd |
"BTW, if you do Daves promotion which involves riding around the UP, You can probably get the 1000 mile service done up there. " That is exactly what I plan to do. I could drive 65 miles north and buy my ULY from the Ocala dealer for a great price. I'd rather give Dave the business, get the bike set up properly, and have a cool vacation plus a 1300 mile ride home. The warranty work is the least of my concerns. Frank | ||
| Namibian |
Until you actually do business with someone, you are going on "faith & the kindness of strangers." I ordered my Uly from DaveS & made the 250 mi trip to Appleton to get it. It was WELL worth it & I didn't get the add'l $500 off, just his "normal" deal. He & his techs set the bike up properly (check static timimg & primary adj. as well as reset TPS) plus whatever dealers are SUPPOSED to do PLUS properly set the suspension to YOU. You may not get what you paid for BUT you NEVER get what you didn't pay for. With DaveS you get value & superb + proper service. H*ll yes, the trip is worth it!!!!! John | ||
| Daves |
Your salesperson left for lunch while you were on the demo ride? That alone tells me how much he values your business. Unbelievable. Thanks for the thumbs up from those of you that have done business with me.  | ||
| Namibian |
Dave S, Your VERY welcome. When does my race kit & Pit Bull ship? Thanks Again, John Becker | ||
| Mikej |
ChrisB, For whatever it's worth to you, I'd suggest shopping at a different dealership if that is an option to you. Don't even go to that dealership for parts or oil or filters unless you are willing to help them resolve their problems in customer service. If you are willing, though, to help them resolve their issues with customer service then go talk to the general manager. Do so with an open mind, but be resolute in your stance, and do so only to help them improve their customer service for all customers. You are not going there to berate their sales people nor their warranty people, you are going there to simply point out the negative impact their words and actions had regarding your consideration of a purchase there and if you are to ever become a customer it would have to be under the belief that things will improve and your actions will not negatively impact your future visits or dealing with the dealership nor the staff there. There is a local "good" dealership that I don't frequent much anymore because it wasn't worth the hassle of working with them or some of their staff anymore. There's another one in pretty much the same situation. But I'm just one person, and they'll do just fine without my business. | ||
| Bomber |
I think the attitude of the employee that made the threat should help you make up your mind (it would certainly help me with the decision). what you got was an attitude check that cannot possibly be limited to one employee -- more than a specific person, you'll be dealing with the attitude of the shop overall, and you were just blessed with a very clear indicator of what they will be like to deal with over time . . . . the days of treating customers like a bother should be over -- you can do much better, I know -- go to Daves | ||
| Mb182 |
I am just shy of 500 miles from Daves with two local dealers and I bought from him. I did not like how either of the local dealers treated me even after I told them I was ready to buy. Both are MSRP only and I have heard HD guys complain about both. I plan to buy the software and do my own maintenance. In the rare event that I need dealer service and can't get it local, I will haul it back to Dave I have been VERY PLEASED with my dealings with Dave! He is an honest salesman and that in it's self says something!! MB | ||
| Brucelee |
I would go to DaveS for my next bike. I live in San Diego. | ||
| Chrisb |
 He doesnt need my business this is Washington DC "Metro Area". A respectable white collar worker will pull up in his Rover shorty. Now as soon as we get your grubby blue collar finger prints off of this "thing" and shove it back into the poorly lit corner of the showroom. We shall get back to selling respectable people HD's, along with every chrome accesory they want at full price and charge him the full shop rate to install them, plus a six ext warranty. And please stop looking at the price tags on the bikes and saying that $1200 fgt/setup is a F##$ ripoff so loudly. So either pay up to join our faternity or I will have to say "I'll be right back" and never return, cause I just saw an Esclade pull in out front and it looks like he just bought her that new set boobs she's been wanting, so he can get his latest garage trophy now. Sorry didnt mean to get up on that box.... The proceeding comments are not directed at any one Dealership but as a whole that's | ||
| Court |
>>>He is an honest salesman That is an accurate statement. Dave Stueve treats every customer as it they were his first and only. If he says it . . "it's so". Dave didn't "get" a reputation, he EARNED it. Court | ||
| Daves |
I just got in a black one so now I have both black and orange available | ||
| Bjack |
Throwing my two cents in here. I definitely recommend going the extra distance and buying from Daves. I bought my CityX from Dave during his Buy, Fly & Ride promo last year and it was great. I live in Missouri and it was worth the trip to Appleton for the experience. When you throw in Daves integrity, the way he treats his customers, meeting and riding with other Buell enthusiasts, it was well worth the trip. I would not hesitate to buy my next Buell from Daves. If you still need convincing, search the archives for the posts and pics from the Buy, Fly & Ride promo last year and you'll see what a great time we had. |
