Funny, your dealer says PC-V will void the warranty and my dealer installs them all the time.

 

There is a big difference, you are correct! Some will install the PV-5 or other fuel management programs. Mine told me the other day if I used XIED's he didn't care and they didn't look for them. Of course he threw in if you fry your computer..I had taken mine off before bringing it in.

I believe at times is it the relationship you establish with your dealer and I feel this tough economy is bringing some of them around also. Before this recession/depression is over I bet a lot more will start acting more human if they stay in business.

 

Coupe, that’s a nice thought and after all, this is the season for miracles but the cynic in me says its not going to happen. As strange as this may sound, right now, I find car dealers more flexible than Harley dealers. I attribute that to the fact that there are less Harley dealers than just about any brand of automobile. Hence some of the arrogance!

I live in a small town that does not have any automobile brand competition, just one Chevy dealer, one Ford dealer, one Jeep dealer, etc.; the closest competitors are about 175 miles away. In the past, the local auto dealers had the attitude that you “HAD” to buy from them and would not deal. Since the recession hit, I see more buyers calling the dealers bluff and traveling out of town to competitive markets. Consequently, the local dealers are starting to be more willing to deal and their service departments being more accommodating.

I bought a new Corvette from a very competitive internet dealer in NJ (1800 miles away) and took a courtesy delivery at my local Chevy dealer thus saving over $3,000. Three of my friends did the same thing and it drove the local guy crazy! But guess what, the local guy is now willing to meet all out of state offers.

I hope you are correct and this recession will have the same affect on Harley dealers.

Jim

 

When we are turkey hunting and into a group, you start shooting the bird in the rear and work your way to the front! Dumb birds don't even pay any attention if you work them from back to the lead.

Have no illusions about the charitable nature of used car and Harley dealer's but if they are a little more attentive they will notice all the dealerships disappearing behind them. Seen a lot of threads on the forum since 07 about this or that HD dealership closing thier doors.

Survival of the fittest, the last few standing may get a clue, then again you may be right! I just noticed their bike sales dropping a hundred thousand units last year but have seen no stats on the chinese clothing line. That may be where they make their money now!

 

Even though the HD Dealers are tough to deal with, I certainly don't like to see anyone go out of business. It puts people out of work and we certainly don't need that. When traveling the huge dealership network was sure nice if you had any problems.

 

I bought HD so I could buy American, keep those American assemblers working. However for a dealership to be useful on the road they would have to have the person in mind that bought that HD product. Most do fortunately but the guy that sold it to you needs to work on customer satisfaction also.

Just a sign of the tough economic times, you have to do extra to take care of what few customers left in the economy that can actually purchase your product. Not Harley bashing just a fact of life right now for all dealerships, no matter what brand they sell.
Money is tight, consumer's are more informed and shopping smarter. They may pay a little extra for the hype and the legend but keeping them in the fold will take a little extra effort from now on. I hated to see all the GM and Chrysler dealerships that failed but the auto companies found out they were selling to many models and needed to scale back. During the boom years they established to many dealerships to support in lean times.

Hd is going through the same economy forced adjustments. HD needs to work on quality and products to sell to someone other than baby boomers. The dealerships need to work on customer satisfaction and retention plus be givin the liberty to sell more aftermarket products as long as they relate to HD products. Be able to sell the used bikes and trade in's no matter what the brand name, without establishing a seperate facility down the street. Allow the service manager to make more warranty calls without having to jump through so many hoops for the MOCO.

The major metric brands have diversified as Harley did during the depression when they were a family run company. They will sell you a mortorcycle, an ATV, Generators, Trash Pumps and several other items with the same brand as their motorcycle. HD at one time was more aggressive going after Federal,State and Municipal contracts. Actually building a few products, "the old service car for one" that was more utility in nature. Losing city after city now to BMW and metric products, especially police work bikes. BMW at the forefront in establishing a maintenance support system for the major municipal Police Bike buyers. The bikes are not that much cheaper but they intend to keep more of their machines operational and less down time per unit. Means a lot when you are responsible for maintaining a fleet of motorcycles.

Harley may have to get more innovative than just running off to India to build a plant to cut their cost. I suppose they plan on selling those bikes in the South East Asia market also. The EPA standards are not as stringent in the countries they plan on selling to, they can actually build a Harley a Chinaman would buy. It looks at times as if they have given up on the U.S. market and going where the money and the market is.

 

I may be wrong but I believe that the vast majority of Harley shops that went out of business have been taken over my new management. So the Harley stores are still there, just different players managing it. Hopefully, this new breed of owners will be more flexible and willing to adjust to current market conditions.

Jim

 

It may be because it's winter and off season but went in to pick up a part today and a sign on the counter said 15% off all parts and accessories!

They are really starting to work with people in the service dept., is it because of the winter slump or a sign of things to come? A few small steps in the right direction for the time being at any rate.

Capitalism and the free market or the lack of it hurt HD during this last economic down turn. Why would you want to innovate or change your business model when the government gives you 2.3 billion dollars for being inept?

It seems socialism is just a bad thing when talking about the entitlement programs, corporate welfare is OK !

 

Dealer called yesterday morning and told us our Tri was ready to be picked up. Went down yesterday afternoon and the custom painter did a bang up job on the rear end repaint. The tech that reinstalled the parts even realigned the left muffler that was off to the left from the factory. He also must have been very careful during the reinstallation as there were no chips or scratches in the new paint. Service Manager provided us with an invoice with everything at N/C under warranty and they even installed a new trunk seal.

Got into our garage (the floor is not level), and noticed one fender was lower than the other. We did not notice that before the rear end was disassembled for the paint work. The box is square to the frame. Anyone know if I can readjust that fender myself without having to take the bike back? So far other than the PITA downtime, I was treated with alot of courtesy by this dealer who was not my selling dealer.

Maybe there is some hope yet as all this work was approved by HD Customer Service and I'm sure the repaint was not cheap.

 

I believe it's just 7 nuts under there that you loosen.

zoood