So lets say I want o fix my bike out of my pocket and many people have done this for any number of reasons. Would you pay for one estimate and then say okay or would you take it to another dealer or three and find the best deal, all the while paying for the estimate. OH that crazy American free enterprise thing I guess. So I see some of you are okay with that.

This leads me to suspect some of you may have purchased your scoot buy going to the dealer in your area and just dropping cash on the table. No need to search around for a better deal. No way I know none of you folks did that, at least I hope not.

I could see me having no real choices if I had to haul around a near totaled bike but mine was cosmetic. I ride my EG year round, its my primary source of transportation. And yes people's time in business is worth something but for some of the line of thinking I have seen here, if you leave the dealer without buying the motorcycle you were just looking at, shouldn't they be stopping me at the door asking me to pay the "salesman's activity fee."

What pissed me off from the start was the wait a day or longer for an estimate idea, one dealer told me it would be two weeks AFTER I dropped it off before i would get it back. That's when I decided this job was getting done by me. I can respect paying a small fee as one of you replied. Please, two or three hours labor, waiting two weeks nothing more than a rip off plain and simple.

My father in law has been in the auto body industry for over 40 years and he said its just part of a service to write an estimate and hope you give the customer a fair price and make then understand why they are going to do a better job than the other guy. Its called selling yourself and your business and that's how its done.

Not one dealer even tried to sell themselves, drop it off we charge x hours of labor and that's that. Where do they think I'm going to get my parts from anyway.

 

Nine times out of ten we go get the crashed bike then we put in the schedule with the other crashed bikes waiting fot there estimates. we have a busy workload and try to take care of everybody so getting your crash estimate in a day might not be possible. There are six crashed bikes in our shop right now and sadly more will be coming in. who do we make the priority? the guy with the recall that just spent "$20,000" on his bike or the guy that wants his service right now,or the guy on the road with a flat tire. Most dealers are a week or more out with scheduled appointments if we screw a guy out of his appointment then he is upset. either way nobodys happy.

But I will agree 3hrs is a little much for a estimate....

 

Wow, some strange people on this site. I've had my fair share of crashes in my life, and all I'm going to say is, I've "never" paid for an estimate. Never. I've had contractors come to my house, sometimes three or four, and I choose the cheapest. Sometimes. And the next time I have a project, I call the same contractors for an estimate and they never charge me. Never. It's a common buisness practice. It's a customer service. Those that charge for it, probably charge too much for all their services and have lost many jobs in the past because of it. So, they realize that they probably won't get this job either so they have to charge for it. I just crashed my bike about three weeks ago and the shop that did my estimate, did it in about 1 hr. I had $7600.00 in damage. The parts list is ond and a half pages long. Guess what, they didn't charge me anything for the estimate. Don't make excuses for dealers that are ripoffs.

 

Did you get the work done there or did you do it yourself??

 

You know friend I have a nice working relationship with a number of dealers but this has just gotten under my skin. I will probably do the job myself, I do most of my own work anyway and I just don't want the bike down for an extended period of time at the moment. I know the dealer's service shops are busy and lots of work/wait etc...so I will probably order some parts next week and take an evening and get it done.

Oh, don't get me wrong I have no intention of trying to get ahead of someone else or screw them out of their place in line and I fully understand circumstances change and things have to be adjusted. If they told me the estimate was free but you would have to wait a couple of hours because we are busy then so be it. To say flat out 2 or 3 labor hours is the flat rate...wow.

 

I think the biggest difference between HD delaers and auto body shops is if you get into an accident there is a LOT less time involved in an estmate. I stopped by a dealership and the HOG Chapter president was gettting an extimate when he crossed in front of a car (he was making the left into the dealer parking lot.) The service tech had 4 pages of part numbers. most modifications were not HD so there was a lot of time spent identifying the maufacturer of each damaged item and then the cost to replace.

If you don't want ot pay the dealer then you always have the option of having the INS co direct you to one of their approved appraisers but then you shouldn't complain if they don't get all the "accessories" documented.

 

Even though the techs time has to be charged somwhere 2 to 3 hrs does sound like a lot, most charge only a hour.

Well I hope you will get up and running ok and dont have to deal with this hassle again.

 

I agree that a Techs time should be paid for. After $20,000 for his school for 1 year of training in school, a $200.00-plus a month snap-on tool bill for the rest of his career. There is one huge difference no body mentioned here. An auto body shop is just that, auto body. They dont have to contend with out of town travelers that are down, factory recalls, mechanical repair comebacks, warranty work, (and we all know warranty work rarely happens with a Harley). Auto body shops are a whole different animal. You are comparing apples and oranges. We have 3 HD dealers in the Sacramento area and times they are booked up over a month for appointments.

 

We have a bodyshop on every corner in our town. there are some real good ones and some real bad ones, just like any other business. the price of schools and tools has gone way up Im sure glad I have been doing it long enough I dont have those bills anymore.

 

I charge 2 hours standard for every estimate and always have. Jager and Newwrech are right on. This does take time and hidden damage is a huge concern. All sublet estimates must be approved by the insurance company before repairs are made and another check submitted. Insurance companies do not like additions and sublets. It is best to look the bike over completely and give a good estimate first. This reduces the chances of add ons. Alot of body shops have contracts with adjusters and insurance comapnies that eliminates estimate fees, but is made up to the body shop over guaranteed sublet repairs. Imagine if the shop is doing the repairs after the free five minute estimate, then realizes the fairing brackets are broken and other damage behind the fairing. They then have to stop work, call the insurance company and wait for approval. Imagine how pised you might be then. Bottom line it takes time and that is what service departments are selling. Post back after you make repairs and the adjuster wants all the take off parts. Legally they are the insurance companies parts now because they paid for replacements.