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Old 05-16-2021, 11:14am   #40
bill_daniels
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO View Post
Rather than starting another thread, I'm going to piggyback on this one.

@Giraffe and other "Harley Guys" I have a question. As is known, I own a powersports dealership. We're still among the smaller shops. It isn't a shady joint. Decent showroom, good equipment, nice bikes (no barrel rolled garbage). We have a very good local reputation that keeps growing. I can sell sportbikes without trying. Metric cruisers sell as fast as I get them. I sell more Sportsters than you can imagine. But other H-D bikes ... not so much.

Under $10k H-D bikes are good. Dynas go quickly, specifically Street Bob and Wide Glide. 06-07-08 full size bikes (Ultra, Electra Glide Classic, Heritage, etc) go fairly quickly. But... newer Harleys I simply cannot freaking sell. Price simply doesn't matter. As an example, I have 2 right now. I have a 2014 Ultra Limited and a 2017 Road King. Both are immaculate, clean bikes. The Road King is loaded with goodies including the "hard candy" paint with a whopping 6,800 miles on it. Both are priced literally thousands of dollars cheaper than damn near identical used bikes at the H-D dealer a mile away and yet they sit here while H-D rolls them out the door.

My question is this: I offer in most cases way better financing, lower down payments, and lower priced bikes. Why do higher dollar H-D buyers walk into a H-D dealer and pay what they have to know is a premium price? What (if anything) would make you walk into my smaller shop and buy one from me instead?
Do you roll a sampling of your inventory outside every day, so passing motorists can see the iron? Maybe do that with the late model heavy HD cruisers. Alternately, you could talk to the HD manager about a reciprocal agreement, you wholesale out the late model dressers that don't sell for you, they wholesale out the sport bikes and metric cruisers that probably sit on their showroom, to you.


Just a thought. If I paid more than I normally would for a bike, but knew I could still turn a decent profit, I'd do that, especially if I knew I'd have a steady source of those bikes coming to me.
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