Some advice for motorcycle dealers from someone that bought 2 new Motorcycles in 3 years.

So, I recently bought a new bike for my wife from a dealer in Manitoba, Canada. I will not say which dealer, but it doesn’t really matter because my experience was the same 3 years prior with the purchase of my own bike at a completely different dealer. Lets start there…

In early 2016 I decided to buy a new motorcycle for myself. I have owned bikes my whole life since I was 10 years old, so know what I want in a motorcycle. I went online and found exactly what I wanted. A Yamaha Stryker 1300.  Since I live in a relatively remote area without any local Yamaha dealer, I searched online for the closest dealer that looked like they might sell a few bikes.  I found a dealer in Winnipeg, Manitoba that fit the bill. In early February drove there one weekend, and met with the sales person and made a down payment, and the bike was ordered (they didn’t have it on the floor).  They didn’t ask if I wanted any accessories or anything, but I figured we would do that when I picked the bike up in a few weeks.  A few weeks came and went with no word on the bike. I called, and they just simply said, we will call you when its in. A few more weeks went by and now it was middle of April with no bike. I patiently waited and called again at the end of April and said, i would really like the bike, we have a short riding season, and it’s already almost May. Finally at the beginning of May they called and said my bike was in.

I drove to Winnipeg excited to pick the bike up, and maybe deal on some accessories. When I got there the sales guy seemed very busy rushing around, although there wasn’t really anyone there. I waited patiently, and finally he came over and shook my hand and we made the deal. He seamed very much in a rush. I paid him. He then told me he would help me load it up. He never asked me if I wanted a windshield, or saddle bags, not even if I wanted any extra oil. So I felt like I was an inconvenience so I just loaded the bike up and left. I then went online and bought a Windshield, cover, oil and filters, and some soft removable saddle bags, as well as a passenger backrest and Vance & Hines pipes. The dealer missed out on all of these after sale items.  Since I bought the bike in 2016, they haven’t called me or kept in contact to see if I needed anything. My understanding is that the margin on motorcycles is very low, so I would assume that accessories would be important to a dealer, but apparently not. When I got the bike home, I was looking it over and noticed the Manufacture date on the bike was March 2016. once month after I ordered it, so obliviously the bike was build to order, which makes perfect sense as to why it took so long. Had they just told me that I would have been much more patient.

So when I needed to purchase a bike for my wife 3 years later, I obviously figured I’d try a new dealer. I bought a 2019 Kawasaki Vulcan 650 S. This bike is very nice, and the sales person at this dealership was very nice, and although I got a windshield thrown in with the deal, the experience was practically the same. Didn’t ask if I wanted any other accessories, or oil or anything extra. Helped me load up the bike, shook my hand and that was it.

My advice to dealers is to at least ask if you can help with anything else. It doesn’t have to be high pressure, just find out if there is any accessories they could help out with. Would make them more money and make for a happier customer.