Yep. That's exactly right.

Cash/check won't get you the best price. The financing companies give dealers kickbacks. May as well take advantage of it.

No reason to over-complicate it though. The standard is as long as you make three payments, the dealer gets their kickback. So finance the vehicle. Make two regular payments. Pay it off with the third. You'll pay negligible interest, but if you work the deal correctly, you'll get far more than that in price discounts.

And there's another angle to this as well: Let your dealer know you don't care about the interest rate or the term. Tell them to put together whatever financing gets them the most kickback, but that you expect to get a substantial discount as a result. 72 months at 12%? Perfect! That's how you leverage the power of being a "cash buyer" today: Accept the "take it dry" financing terms they offer, get the resulting discount, then use your cash to pay off the loan after 90 days.

 

Howdy Seen your from the Seattle area
Here are a few little pointers
Eastside HD and Emerald city HD are owned by the same person
Sound HD is under a new ownership.
Jet city is owned by a company that owns over 15 dealers across the country,

I have bought bikes from 3 of the 4 dealerships. But dont except some crazy below msrp. Best your going to get I bet is a free 1k service. Or wait till the very last day of the month. and might get maybe $1k off sticker price.

 

Exactly right...

You don't have to do this either and then have a fight on your hand at the dealership. Just finance it, go home and turn around and pay it off the same day. They can't do anything to you for paying it off early. I just did this when I bought my '18 Tahoe new.

 

Don't wait the 90 days. You don't have too and there is nothing they can do to you about it. Pay it off the same day. They front load the loan with the interest so that when you pay it off in 90 days, the majority of the "rebate" they gave you is paid back. This is why they "tell you" you have to keep the financing for 3 months or 6 months. That is an outright lie. You do not have to, you can pay it off the same day if you want. I just did this. The lender will just not give that kickback to the dealership.

 

I agree, finance and pay it off as soon as you get your first billing statement. Dont listen to the dealers and their sob stories. How would they know you paid off the bike when you come back to finish? They could care less actually.

 

Personally I would got each dealer and tour the facilities and pick the one with the best customer service and cleanest service area. They I would be a regular there and buy all things from them

 

How about telling them your going to check out the Indian dealer.

 

Good advice for picking out s service dealer. Doesn't matter much for a dealership you are buying from... often they are not one and the same.

For any of the younger crowd with little experience - here's my approach.

Do your homework - easy to do these days... far easier than in the olden days... find out MSRP, and if possible dealer cost.

Look at the secondary market - what new dumps are going for, NADA book, etc.

Figure out your bottom line budget is - out the door pricing.

Go into the sale (private or dealership) with a number. ALWAYS negotiate from the OTD number. If you find something close, work it hard. If you are far apart, give them your bottom number and be prepared to walk. Don't get sucked in - tell them this is your first and final offer, and walk away if they choose not to accept. There are plenty of other options out there, if you choose to look and play hardball.

I got my '07 FatBoy for $20K OTD while everyone else was trying to get me to pay $24k. I'm now in the market for a CVO bagger, and will be doing the same. They want your money, and the bike is only one of xxxxx hundreds or thousands, so if you are diligent and think outside of the box and are able to go beyond your local stealership you can likely do right by yourself.

 

The guys who advocate 1) focusing on OTD price only, and 2) playing the finance angle....they are correct. Another finance option you can take is to let the dealer find you his ('your') best interest rate on a fairly big loan. Meanwhile, line up your own financing through a credit union or other lender to get the best rate possible. Let the dealer firm up the sale price, but then (you) decline the dealer's financing, to go with your own. The dealer will almost always be disappointed, but won't scratch the sale. Depending on the loan amount, terms and rates, you can save many hundreds to even a thousand or more dollars over the life of the loan. And of course you can pay it off early at any time.

 

That was going to be my point. 3 dealerships close by means it's a good chance the same company owns all three of them. Unless you can find a salesman that is willing to give up his commission there won't be any difference in price.

Look into who owns the dealerships, shop the different owned dealerships.

As others have said, pick the price you want to pay, walk in make your offer, if they don't accept it walk out.