in australia we pay about $650 or more+P&H for a pair of V&H shot shots or $316+ about 200 P&H from the USA. here we pay nearly double for anything so here we buy a lot of anything on line from the states. yes the local dealer will offer 10 or 20% discount but is that after they have added their 30% mark up or you have to go back to them and pay top dollar for work to be done.

 

I buy online and save a bundle. I support the dealer buying the bike from them.

In 2012 I bought a 12 Night Rod Special, 12 Road Glide Custom and a 12 Road Glide Custom CVO. Check the HD site for MSRP on those and include ABS and Security on the Vrod and RGC. That's what I call support.

In return they offer 20% off for TEN DAYS. I can beat that on the internet and no sales tax and shipping all year around.

Most understand what it costs to make a bike their own. Try that on 8 bikes.

But don't tell my wife.

By the way the CVO Road Glide is a beautiful work of art.

 

Supporting the local dealer is always a good thing, but it is hard to swallow their markup on PARTS that you can find cheaper else where.
Even when you go to the Harley web site and they give you a "suggested Retail price" and the dealer charges you an extra $20 on everything and tells you it is just suggested.
I am not close to the border like 128Auto, so I can not just go for a quick drive to get parts.
I was on a trip down south and went into a dealership and bought everything I needed to upgrade my cams. The cams alone were $100 cheaper from your dealerships than mine!
Your dealerships and your on-line dealerships will not ship parts over the border due to some agreement with Canadian Harley. Sucks that they have a monopoly and are screwing the customers by hiking the price for the same parts. Do not tell me that it is export costs, due to parts made in the US are duty exempt.
This is not just Dealers, it is also aftermarket parts. The same parts you can buy there from places like JP Cycle and on-line shops, have their prices jacked up up here as well.
For most Harley parts, I have no choice other than buying from the dealer, but I can buy aftermarket parts on-line and have them shipped up north at a considerable discount.

If the Dealers did not have such a monopoly on merchandise, did not gouge the customers and would be competitive with their pricing, we would not be having this discussion.

 

Not a cheap SOB but a smart cookie!

 

I try to split it up between the dealer and online. I like to keep a relationship with the local dealer, and they have been good to me, but at the same time I like to save cash.

 

i was in recently stopped by my local dealer the other day. to pick up a few small items that if i would have ordered online it would of been only a few dollars saved. well we got to talking about what my plans are for winter for mods to the bikes. since last year i finished the wide glide up and figured that this year id do the streetglide since i picked it up new in march. well i started throwing out ideas to him on what i wanted to do and everything. he told that is gonna be an exspenive winter this year for me well over 9 thounsand. that is when i made the comment well true right you but i order alot of my parts off line cause i get 20% and no sales tax and free shipping. i even went so far as to pull up lakeshore on my phone n showed him? than he asked me is this why you dont buy all ur parts from us anymore. i wasnt gonna lie to the guy so told him yea and he comes back with well from now on you get 25% offany parts that you buy from us ill make a note on your account about your discount. a few days later i went in and orderd a stage 4 kit and the boom audio custom system. but since the head parts guy i go to was busy helping customers i had the new parts girl order them for me and true to my parts guys word i got 25% off which is gonna save alot of coin.

 

Good for you ... that's a good business man ... 75% of the revenue on $9,000 is still probably a pretty good deal for him ... and, it keeps you as a satisfied customer ...

Win-win ...

 

This is the point many.most dealers fail to grasp - if you've got regular customers (or potential regulars) that you know will be spending $$$, why would you let them go online and spend their money instead of giving the discount and having them spend it locally. It's not like the places selling online are like Amazon that buy in huge quantities, just another dealer, same as them that knows they can bring sales they would not otherwise have.

 

The only reason online dealers can afford to lose the profit on some of those parts is because they don't have to pay a sales staff to "sell" the parts. The overhead is less, when you consider they have half the work to do.

That being said, I think any brick and mortar store should almost always match prices to help a customer that is physically in the store and ready to buy. I will price match up to the point that I'm losing money. Even if it means I'm not making anything, as long as it's not COSTING the company anything to take care of the customer, I'm OK with that. When people ask if I price match I always tell them, "So long as it's apples to apples and I'm matching prices with another AUTHORIZED dealer, then yes, I will be more than happy to price match. I want my customers to have the same product at the same price, and I'll give them better customer service."

I've never had a potential customer just walk after hearing this, and I've started some great two-way relationships in doing so.

 

Wish you were further north.