I am ready and pre-appoved to get a new 08 SG. Visited two dealers who showed no interest in helping me out much less answer any questions. To me first impresions are everything.
I did all the research I needed and know what i whant.
Business must be so good that they can afford to let customers walk away.

 

some dealers are still old school sh!theads ..... Keep walkin' . Fugem .

 

where are you from......i see socal you should go see moorpark harley or ventura camarillo harley there great people

 

I wandered around Laidlaws HD in Baldwin Park, Ca ogoogled the all the eye candy.

the owners son came up to me and began showing me all the new features on the 04 Sportys.
told me about financing options, and asked me what color I wanted! Everything after that was rocky, but the first impresion sold a bike, a Dyna though!

Its that bad *** biker sales pitch, you know the one where they make you beg to sit on the bikes[:'(]

you get alot farther with a more enthusiastic attitude.

 

I live in La Mirada.
LA Harley's guys spend too much time sitting around looking un-interested waiting for you to go to them.
The A-hole I spoke with at Laidlaws almost got his clock cleaned by me for hitting on my wife.
I will visit other dealers this week end!

 

My experience may not have been exactly the same as yours because most of the dealers I visited were happy to answer questions if asked but almost none of them did that car salesman thing I hate where they drop in on you like a hawk the second you walk in the door and then follow you around the entire time. Some places barely acknowledge you when you walk in the door, others greet you and tell you to just let them know if you need any help or have any questions and then they leave you alone. I actually liked that, at least to a certain point, in my decision process. In one shop, one of my buddies told a salesperson "hey you need to sell this guy a bike". The salesperson calmly explained that it wasn't his practice to "sell" anybody anything and that I should let the bike sell itself to me and take my time and make up my own mind. In other words, no pressure. Again, I like that but that's just me. However, when it came time to sign on the dotted line, I remember feeling like I almost wanted someone from the dealership to say or do something to push me over the edge. You know, the buyer's remorse and the "am I doing the right thing" feelings you get just before or just after makinga big purchase? I didn't get that from my dealer. I'm not sure they would have tried to talk me into it if I had dropped the pen right there in the office and walked out the door.

With all that said, I can tell you, and everyone knows, business ain't all that good... But it was that good long enough that they developed those practices in a lot of dealerships. It wasn't that long ago that you almost literally did have to beg them to sell you a bike and you'd typically pay more than MSRP to get it and then you'd have to wait for it to be delivered.

 

Don't let a few salesmen ruin it for you. I think they've been taught to size up customers when they walk in the door, whose gonna buy & whose gonna just look. I'd rather they just leave me alone until I'm ready to talk to them, granted I won't sit on a bike without permission. I'd like to offer a bit of buying advice if I may, precheck your sales tax rates for the different dealers in your consideration radius. For example, I have five dealerships within a 100 mile radius of me. Onehas a sales tax rate of 3.75%. Another dealers rate is 4.75%. A 1% difference is $150 & more in your pocket, $300 on a SE bike.
David

 

Just as a little side note, I don't really have a problem with dealers that want you to ask before sitting on the bikes. Do you want to buy a bike that someone's little crumb crunchers have been crawling all over only to find out later that something is scratched or bent that you or the dealer didn't see before the purchase and now you have to argue over whether or not you did it after delivery vs. it being done before? For those of us that know how to mount and dismount a bike without scraping out boots or shoes all over it, it's sort of a pain but there are a lot of idiots out there that don't know how or don't care. And all it takes is that one dumbass showing off to his girlfriend to sit on a bike, hold it upright and pull up the kickstand to put it back down and lay it right into the bike next to it.

Anyway, I'm ranting obviously. I don't know exactly how many dealers there are within 100 miles from but I think all but one requests that you ask before sitting on a bike. Then there is one that is 180 degrees from that. They actually put a sign on each and every bike that says "please sit on me".

 

Business ain't that good. Read the following:

http://www.bigtwindealer.com/bigtwin...tegoryId=35234

 

Short story... This is back in the 70's . friend of mne goes to buy a Sportster. The sale guy was " lets just say in a gang". Not to mention names. My friend offered the guy a little less than asking price in cash money... The sales dude says " I don't give a f>uk if you buy the bike or not... But if you don't want it get the *** out.... True story. Well, my friend bought the bike . If i remember is was a 1972 sporty .