Not sure if this has happened to anyone else, but I actually had a dealer recently refuse to sell me a bike. Here's what happened.

I am a professor and had a chance to teach a summer class at Stanford. I had just sold my other bike a couple weeks before I left and had been looking at a couple new models. The local dealer didn't have the bike I was looking for, and they were not sure that they could get it. So they actually suggested that I wait until I get to California and see what they had there. They knew they would be doing maintenance and selling accessories anyway, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I found a really nice bike at a dealer in the Bay area. I won't post the name simply because I don't want this to sound like a rant about a particular dealer. They were very nice about everything else, and I'm sure the local folks may really like them. But in my case they simply did something that I still don't understand.

I had gone in three times in just over a week, and the sales staff was getting to know me pretty well. We had discussed my reason for being in the area as well as my particular interests. I had also visited a couple other dealers in the area so I had some good ideas on what was being sold around the Bay area. During my visits to this particular dealer we discussed the pricing on the '07s, and they had indicated they would "beat anyone" else on price, so I felt pretty good about the whole thing.

On the 4th day I went in ready to buy. I knew the bike I wanted, knew the price, and was willing to pay it. Then it happened ...

"Wait, did you tell me you live in Utah?" She asked. I confirmed it, and told her why I was in California. "Well, then we can't sell you a bike."

Huh?

Seems this particular dealer will not sell to anyone who does not have a California address. They were certainly polite about it, but really made no effort to try to find a way to sell me a bike.

At first I thought that maybe it was a Harley thing; i.e., the MoCo won't let dealers sell outside their zones or something similar. But it wasn't. Other dealers would gladly sell outside their zones.

I went so far as to call the sales manager at my local dealer to make sure there wasn't some super secret sales rule I was trying to break. He said he'd gladly tell the SF dealer that they were okay with selling me a bike. So Iasked for the sales manager of the SF dealer. Hequickly confirmed that they could sell me the bike, but they wouldn't. "Too much paperwork," he said. He didn't care that my local dealer didn't have the bike I wanted or that they were okay with the sale. They simply would not sell to anyone from out of state.

It all worked out for the best anyway, since I came home and found a great bike (with a great deal) at the local dealer. I was originally going for the Fatboy, but it was a short trip to be convinced that the Heritage is equally impressive. So I went with a Heritage locally, but it all still seems a bit odd.

I guess the gods of Harley work in mysterious ways as well.

 

That is an amazing story! Too much paperwork. I think they meant the sale wasnt worth the effort. Go ahead and post the dealer, help everyone else avoid these people.

 

Too much paperwork??? Talk about LAZY!! If I were the owner of that store I would be looking for a new sales manager. Hell my dealer will stay open after closing just to help complete a sale of a bike whether its in or out of state.

 

Very odd, maybe they already sold their quota for the month...

 

Oh yeah... welcome to the land of fruits and nuts! It's a new sales technique we use around these parts... we call it "the bait,switch and tell you to take a hike tactic" We have found thatso manypeople wantto buy a harley from us that if we have to get out of our chairto make a sale... weeelll... it's just not worth it!Too much energy!
JK
Sounds like they are bunch of fools and will be out of business soon!

 

I've ran across dealers in different states that would not sell to anyone out of their state. Or outside of a certain mileage radius. But to say we can but it is too much work is a bunch of lazy b.s. Please post the dealer. Maybe a few e-mails and a dip in sales will make them change their tune.

 

No kiddin...a few ppl walk in ostensibly to buy a bike, only to say

"I'd buy, but I have heard it's too much paperwork for you guys", then walk out.

 

Seems like more and more companies hire people to head their sales prevention department!!

don

 

Could be they knew they would not get any after the sale money.[sm=confused06.gif]

 

I've heard of this in the past (pre 2003 model year) when waitng times were long for a bike because each dealer was only allowed to purchase so many bikes per year/month. If a pattern of sales showed that people from the territory of a dealer were having to go out of their area to get a bike, the wise guys at HD would transfer some of those allocations from the dealer that sold the bike to the dealer that was short. The next year, the dealer that sold you the bike would be shorted. I can't believe this still happens with the overstock of bikes most dealers have now.