Will manufacturer warranty apply if I import a new bike?

[khabel]

If I import a brand new bike will the local dealership still support the warranty that comes with a brand new bike?

[Paul in NZ]

I wouldnt think so.....

[Jantar]

No, but the dealer you bought the bike from should. Better check up first, or try for a discount with no warranty.

Better still, buy the bike in New Zealand and don't have any warranty issues. (Unless its a bike supplied by Triumph New Zealand).

[240]

I wouldn't think there would be (or should be ) any warranty through the local dealer.
Just buy local mate and keep our bike shops open.

[Crasherfromwayback]

If I import a brand new bike will the local dealership still support the warranty that comes with a brand new bike?

Nope. And with all due respect...why would you think they would?

[Flip]

I don't believe so also.

[Woodman]

I know a guy who imported a new 690 from UK to NZ, then took it to USA for a ride where it developed issues and was fully supported under warranty by the KTM dealers over there.

[mossy1200]

Santa delivers toys all over the world. 50% break in the first few days and he gets away with it because there is no warranty, refund or repair.

[Road kill]

This is NZ,none of the dealers here would put out if their arses were on fire.

[Smifffy]

If I import a brand new bike will the local dealership still support the warranty that comes with a brand new bike?

Only way to know for sure is to ask the local dealer. Maybe you'd like front them when (if) you need to make a claim with "Oh the guys on KB said you have to honour it"...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Somehow I don't like your chances...

[Crasherfromwayback]

This is NZ,none of the dealers here would put out if their arses were on fire.

In all seriousness mate...why the fuck would any dealer want to do a warranty repair they'd not get reimbursed for for a gezzer that's imported it himself? Fuck that. If I get a TV off TM and it fucks out...would you please pay to have it fixed for me? Same thing.

[Woodman]

In all seriousness mate...why the fuck would any dealer want to do a warranty repair they'd not get reimbursed for for a gezzer that's imported it himself? Fuck that. If I get a TV off TM and it fucks out...would you please pay to have it fixed for me? Same thing.


I get what you are saying, but the issue seems to be with the dealership and the manufacturer and they are making it the customers problem by not having procedures to deal with this re re-imbusement etc.

Its no different than if you buy something from one branch in auckland and then take it to a branch in christchurch. Slightly more hassle, but not the customers problem.

[Crasherfromwayback]

I get what you are saying, but the issue seems to be with the dealership and the manufacturer and they are making it the customers problem by not having procedures to deal with this re re-imbusement etc.

Its no different than if you buy something from one branch in auckland and then take it to a branch in christchurch. Slightly more hassle, but not the customers problem.

I hear ya mate. But here's how it works. If you buy a new Suzuki or Harley of me....you can have warranty work done anywhere in NZ by an authorized Suzuki or Harley dealer. They'll get paid for the job from Suzuki NZ or Harley-Davidson Australia...as they're fully supported by the distributors. For a bike they had nothing to do with...they simply will not pay. Now for a bike we sell ourselves that's out of factory warranty...we still offer a decent warranty...and take it on the chin ourselves if it shits it's self. But for a bike we've never sold or made a dollar from...we ain't gonna want to do any repairs at our expense and currently...there's no system in place to allow us to get paid by Suzuki Japan or HD USA. They have to be seen to be supporting the local distributors, which is also fair enough.

[st00ji]

i work at a car dealership. the company that imports our brands generally honors the warranty on private imports.

[Smifffy]

Maybe the global network of manufacturer's distributors could have a few more scruples?

I recently got this reply from an order I placed overseas, not the first time either. Usually I can find an alternative supplier though.


Unfortunately, at this time we cannot ship any products of this brand(s) to your country due to restrictions imposed by our manufacturer. The manufacturer has specified that United States dealers should not sell internationally to protect business rights of international dealers.

Although we cannot fulfill your order for this item(s) at this time, we do recommend that you search for the home page of the manufacturer you need. Please contact them directly for a list of international dealers that you can purchase from.

[Madness]

Not sure if this is correct or not but you might need a letter of conformance from the local importer to get through the VIN process from what I've read.

[Robert Taylor]

If I import a brand new bike will the local dealership still support the warranty that comes with a brand new bike?

Given that reimbursement rates are abysmal on warranty ( incurring a loss proportional to the size of the job ) and that you wouldn't have imbued your local dealer with a profit from a sale to help offset such losses I cannot imagine that they would be favourably disposed.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Maybe the global network of manufacturer's distributors could have a few more scruples?

.

They'd be only too happy to do the warranty work if they were gonna get paid mate.

[mossy1200]

If I import a brand new bike will the local dealership still support the warranty that comes with a brand new bike?

What are planning on buying and how much coin will you save?
If you saving lots then you have money to fix it if it fails.
If your not saving enough why would you bother importing it?

[AllanB]

Would the parts be covered by the maker if the owner agreed to pay the shop the labour?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Would the parts be covered by the maker if the owner agreed to pay the shop the labour?

Nope. But I can't speak for all brands. Just the ones I sell, and have sold in the past. Most of them.

[Laava]

I bought a tinny in Auckland last week but upon returning home found it was mostly cabbage. When I went to my local tinny shop to get the problem sorted, they set a bull mastiff on me.

[Erelyes]

What are planning on buying and how much coin will you save?
If you saving lots then you have money to fix it if it fails.
If your not saving enough why would you bother importing it?

+1, if you're gonna import take the risk yaself. You have a warranty... it's in the States.

That said - if you buy, say, a 2014 XYZ and then 3 months later it transpires that the front brake caliper falls off on this model spontaneously then you'd probably have a pretty good case for it being fixed - but you'd contact XYZ NZ head office first, and hope they sort out getting it done at your local dealer. This would be more to keep PR etc though and is no given. A recall for adjusting valves or some shit would be another matter ofc

[imdying]

Mate, you could buy it new in NZ and still have to put up with bad warranty service. Pocket the savings and just have them service it... you still pay for that here anyway.

[Robert Taylor]

There is currently a worldwide warranty recall on a specific for one model Ohlins steering damper. This is a safety related recall and we have swiftly completed the recall for the ones that we sold here in NZ, as the official Ohlins distributor.
What concerns me though is are there any here that have been sold by parasitical US resellers and how accurate and easy to reconcile are their paper trails? An issue that I have bought up with the factory. Its certainly a strong argument for controlling who sells into each market. Rather than this open slather dutch auction mentality that now prevails.
Of course if any units that have been sold in this way come to our attention we will facilitate the warranty claims.

[pritch]

Used to be a scheme where you picked up your new BMW from the factory, rode it around Europe for as long as you liked, or could afford, then had it shipped home. Seem to recall Ducati offered a similar scheme. In that case the manufacturer would presumably have informed the local importer of the details so the bike would be covered. Other than that, good luck.

When the Jap import cars started arriving the local dealers were loud and proud about how they wouldn't service them. Then when somebody with an IQ above room temperature looked at the situation they realised this would only be costing them business. Now they are not only pleased to service them, some actually import their own.

[Gremlin]

Used to be a scheme where you picked up your new BMW from the factory, rode it around Europe for as long as you liked, or could afford, then had it shipped home.
BMW specifically have actually stopped NZ'ers from buying bikes out of the UK for example, as my boss went through this early this year, intending to do pretty much that. BMW NZ didn't like being undercut, and even though one of the sales guys here tried to assist, the policy was... effective

[jasonu]

There is currently a worldwide warranty recall on a specific for one model Ohlins steering damper. This is a safety related recall and we have swiftly completed the recall for the ones that we sold here in NZ, as the official Ohlins distributor..

Both of them already. Well done that man.:woohoo:

[Robert Taylor]

Used to be a scheme where you picked up your new BMW from the factory, rode it around Europe for as long as you liked, or could afford, then had it shipped home. Seem to recall Ducati offered a similar scheme. In that case the manufacturer would presumably have informed the local importer of the details so the bike would be covered. Other than that, good luck.

When the Jap import cars started arriving the local dealers were loud and proud about how they wouldn't service them. Then when somebody with an IQ above room temperature looked at the situation they realised this would only be costing them business. Now they are not only pleased to service them, some actually import their own.

The biggest loss in IQ was starting this Japanese import nonsense in the first place!

[danchop]

BMW specifically have actually stopped NZ'ers from buying bikes out of the UK for example, as my boss went through this early this year, intending to do pretty much that. BMW NZ didn't like being undercut, and even though one of the sales guys here tried to assist, the policy was... effective
dont know if bmw still do it,but even within nz,if someone from say wellington gets a cheaper deal from a dealer in say auckland,the wellington dealer gets a cut of the profit even though he didnt sell it.this was done to discourage out of town dealers hacking the price just to get a sale

[BMWST?]

BMW specifically have actually stopped NZ'ers from buying bikes out of the UK for example, as my boss went through this early this year, intending to do pretty much that. BMW NZ didn't like being undercut, and even though one of the sales guys here tried to assist, the policy was... effective

I think you can still do it though the bikes have to be bought here,but collected from the factory?

[Robert Taylor]

dont know if bmw still do it,but even within nz,if someone from say wellington gets a cheaper deal from a dealer in say auckland,the wellington dealer gets a cut of the profit even though he didnt sell it.this was done to discourage out of town dealers hacking the price just to get a sale

Yep, dutch auctions. Often manipulated by the customer with economy of truth. ''Whatshisname the dealer said he would cut $500 more off your price''. Or he will give me more for my trade. It helps to have an ethical relationship with fellow dealers to find out what the truth actually is because while dealers always get maligned there are some pretty dodgy customers out there who play mind games.

[Edbear]

Yep, dutch auctions. Often manipulated by the customer with economy of truth. ''Whatshisname the dealer said he would cut $500 more off your price''. Or he will give me more for my trade. It helps to have an ethical relationship with fellow dealers to find out what the truth actually is because while dealers always get maligned there are some pretty dodgy customers out there who play mind games.

G'arn... customers wouldn't think of playing one dealer off against another, would they..? :whistle:

[russd7]

best place to get the correct answer would be go to the comsumers institute or whatever they call themselves these days, i know a few year ago there was a thing that under NZ law local importers had to honour warranties on parrallel imports tho that may have been changed,
personally dont agree with local importers having to honour stuff that has been imported privately. as has already been said, lets support local and keep our shops open :2thumbsup

[arcane12]

The biggest loss in IQ was starting this Japanese import nonsense in the first place!

(Man I am going to kick myself for chiming in)

The used vehicle market argument aside, if a customer can buy a vehicle from a dealer overseas, pay to have it shipped to NZ, a far cry from most manufacturers, and get it on the road for a significant percentage less than buying it here, what is wrong with this picture?

Yes, that American dealer can get a better deal with bigger volumes, and perhaps there are taxes and such that alter the price. And I know the consumer guarantees act provides some potential overheads that need to be covered somehow. But why isn't this comunicated better to the customer, so they know what they are getting by purchasing from a dealer in NZ? And how many times do we see retailers try to wriggle out of obligations provided by the act?

My view on this is from the IT world where eletronics often get sold with a '1 year warranty' for something that I know has a life expectancy of ~5 years. But at 370 days a number of retailers will try to send you packing, and either deny your rights, or just make it not worth your time. Joy.

On the software front it is even worse. A digital product, which often has less support if you are outside of the U.S. still get charged at up to 50% more. There is no shipping. There is not 1 bit difference between my copy and the copy of someone with an American address, yet I pay 50% more. How does that work. We both pay direct to the same store. Yet we pay the NZ tax.

All I can say is Bah! Humbug! Pass me another locally brewed beer. :drinkup:

[HenryDorsetCase]

In all seriousness mate...why the fuck would any dealer want to do a warranty repair they'd not get reimbursed for for a gezzer that's imported it himself? Fuck that. If I get a TV off TM and it fucks out...would you please pay to have it fixed for me? Same thing.

KTM might be a special case whereby the warranty applies worldwide? And I can think of at least one instance whre a local distributor (eventually) honoured a recall for a fault even on secondhand Jap import vehicles: remember the brake recall a few years ago with Mitsubishi brakes?

My (somewhat incoherent) thought on this is that anyone who holds themself out as an "authorised dealer" whould look after that manufacturers product: but of course on a full recourse basis to the manufacturer.

Thats what should happen. What actually happens is a mystery and, from a customer's perspective, your problems with your badly worded or one sided or stupidly arcane contracts in the crazy pyramid scheme world of having distributors - manufacturers and dealers, all with different responsibilities and obligations to each other (and seemingly none to the customers.....) is not, or shouldn't be, my concern.

An interesting current example of the flattening of that hierarchy is with Tesla in the US. The US has a law that says a manufacturer cannot set up dealerships and sell direct to the public: (on the books from way back in the day when the big 3 ruled the roost): Tesla have been successful in having that overturned.

In 2013 we don't need multiple layers of management - an entirely flat business model could and should be the norm. Remember all the rants by punters on here about shit warranty service? thats a symptom of a thoroughly broken business model.

[HenryDorsetCase]

(Man I am going to kick myself for chiming in)

The used vehicle market argument aside, if a customer can buy a vehicle from a dealer overseas, pay to have it shipped to NZ, a far cry from most manufacturers, and get it on the road for a significant percentage less than buying it here, what is wrong with this picture?

Yes, that American dealer can get a better deal with bigger volumes, and perhaps there are taxes and such that alter the price. And I know the consumer guarantees act provides some potential overheads that need to be covered somehow. But why isn't this comunicated better to the customer, so they know what they are getting by purchasing from a dealer in NZ? And how many times do we see retailers try to wriggle out of obligations provided by the act?

My view on this is from the IT world where eletronics often get sold with a '1 year warranty' for something that I know has a life expectancy of ~5 years. But at 370 days a number of retailers will try to send you packing, and either deny your rights, or just make it not worth your time. Joy.

On the software front it is even worse. A digital product, which often has less support if you are outside of the U.S. still get charged at up to 50% more. There is no shipping. There is not 1 bit difference between my copy and the copy of someone with an American address, yet I pay 50% more. How does that work. We both pay direct to the same store. Yet we pay the NZ tax.

All I can say is Bah! Humbug! Pass me another locally brewed beer. :drinkup:

a friend of mine did exactly that a few years back with a Land Rover Defender 90. Still owns it in fact. It came from ZA via Straya. I nearly bought one myself but didnt have the coin at the time.

[Crasherfromwayback]

My (somewhat incoherent) thought on this is that anyone who holds themself out as an "authorised dealer" whould look after that manufacturers product: but of course on a full recourse basis to the manufacturer.

Thats what should happen. .

I agree 100%. I'd love it to be that way.

[HenryDorsetCase]

yep. but the world we live in is far from ideal innit.

I mean, I'd like to have just gotten back from an overland trip from Vladivostok to Chermany on a 1948 BSA (like the dude I met earlier this week) and yet, here I am.....

[PeeJay]

Why wouldnt they ?

The profit a bike shop makes from the sale of a bike isnt/shouldnt be used to fund warranty repairs
If the brand has a worldwide warranty policy then it really shouldnt be an issue.
When a shop does a warranty repair, a recall, or whatever, it is done on behalf of the manufacturer.
The issue of who is paying is between the workshop and the manufacturer, usually via the local importer.
The profit the factory has made is used to fund warranty repairs, recalls etc.
The only time a shops profit gets used up in "warranty" work is if their customer uses the CGA
I know warranty work isnt a money spinner and can initially be a loser but you may have just gained another customer.

Manufacturers dont want their customers going for a ride to another city, another state, another country, have a problem and get told they have to take it back to where they bought from.

A few years ago a friend of mine had his vrod crankcases replaced under warranty. Bought the bike s/h ex USA, 3 months later blew a headgasket, turns out there were some faulty crankcases in a few bikes and his was one of them.
Whole job covered covered by warranty recall.

Many moons ago when Harleys started to take off a certain dealer in CHCH used to do demon deals NZ wide. fly ride, free oil etc etc etc.
Our old pal Beckhaus was really pissed at having to do warranty work for these bikes, but got the hard word from Morgan and Wacker to do it
LW had to pull his head in a bit as well
But the world didnt stop spinning, LW used to do warranty work down south for bikes that had been bought up north, no problems.

[Robert Taylor]

Why wouldnt they ?

The profit a bike shop makes from the sale of a bike isnt/shouldnt be used to fund warranty repairs
If the brand has a worldwide warranty policy then it really shouldnt be an issue.
When a shop does a warranty repair, a recall, or whatever, it is done on behalf of the manufacturer.
The issue of who is paying is between the workshop and the manufacturer, usually via the local importer.
The profit the factory has made is used to fund warranty repairs, recalls etc.
The only time a shops profit gets used up in "warranty" work is if their customer uses the CGA
I know warranty work isnt a money spinner and can initially be a loser but you may have just gained another customer.

Manufacturers dont want their customers going for a ride to another city, another state, another country, have a problem and get told they have to take it back to where they bought from.

A few years ago a friend of mine had his vrod crankcases replaced under warranty. Bought the bike s/h ex USA, 3 months later blew a headgasket, turns out there were some faulty crankcases in a few bikes and his was one of them.
Whole job covered covered by warranty recall.

Many moons ago when Harleys started to take off a certain dealer in CHCH used to do demon deals NZ wide. fly ride, free oil etc etc etc.
Our old pal Beckhaus was really pissed at having to do warranty work for these bikes, but got the hard word from Morgan and Wacker to do it
LW had to pull his head in a bit as well
But the world didnt stop spinning, LW used to do warranty work down south for bikes that had been bought up north, no problems.

Some fair points and some theory. But the reality is that especially on the bigger jobs the loss that the dealer will make can be substantial. So in practice it does come out of their profit which all too often is miniscule. How do I know that? I used to be a dealer.