Dealers in my area frequently running promos that provide discounts on parts like a 20/20 sale on parts and labor or Black Friday discounts. I was told this week that at the end of the year the MOCO is putting a stop to ALL parts and accessories discounts in a effort to "level" the playing field for dealers. Those dealers that fail to comply run the risk of losing their dealership. Have any of you heard this from your dealers? I think it blows but no one asked me

 

yeah hat blows big time... if they do that.. they run the risk of dealers selling aftermarket parts for less then the MOCO parts... and selling less of the MOCO parts. thus loosing H-D revenue... They wont like that at all.

 

What? Now they want me to pay full price for all the chinese made **** accesories they sold me? Nearly everything out of the P&A book I bought from HD was made in China. I am getting to the point where I wont buy another "harley" I will buy from a US V-twin manufacturer, who uses American labor.

 

MoCo is very big on "Brand Marketing", in fact Harley-Davidson is the Poster Child and is probably the most successful company at this. Dealers who sell at less than the suggested List Price are generally considered to be "Diluting the Brand". When a Franchise trys to enforce list prices it is called "vertical resale price maintenance," or "RPM". Basically this practice is illegal per se because it is assumed to hurt competition in the marketplace. The only thing that has changed recently is that in 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that the company could present evidence that this practice could in some cases increase competition and increase the benefit to consumers . . . but the odds of such an argument being successful are slim and none and slim's walkin' out the door. Discussions about this between the company and the dealer are usually about as productive as playing a game of Trivial Pursuit for 6-Packs of your favorite adult beverage after work. In the end, if a dealer is selling a lot of stuff the company may "say" one thing, but actually "do" very little. BTW, no dealer will loose their franchise over something like this . . . This isn't to say that it makes for the best of friends between dealers . . . and sometimes that can be important.

 

My local dealer told me the same thing. They can run discounts. They just can't advertise in advance.

 

Used to list prices at 20% off and saved me a lot, but I got an email the other day stating they are dropping the across the board discount and are now going to a "email for quote" system. My guess is they will be the same prices as my local shop who won't discount anything. Unless you're a HOG member and I don't know if this discount is affected or not.

 

One word. Zanotti's. Great service and prices.

 

I agree

 

Never heard of Zanotti's, will google them and check them out. Thanks for the tip...

 

Yep, Zanotti's HD:
https://www.zanottimotor.com/shopping/pLookUp.php

Great people to work with and prices usually around 20% off all the time. No tax also if you're not in PA. Very easy to spend a shitload of money there. Trust me, I know.