Only if you are counting the casualties.
They shutdown about 4 years ago.
There is a design house there now.
https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-36.8...soSnsIt48g!2e0 is the old frontage.
https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-36.8...PwueVpeDqw!2e0 is the parts entrance.
You know something. I am not even going to bother reading the rest of this thread. What a bunch of negative, bitter wankers you lot are!
You can be successful at anything if you want to and are prepared to work fucking HARD!
My ex and I started a motorbike shop in 1980. I was still 19 (just) and he was 22 or 23. We had a vision. We had nothing but a few thousand dollars in savings (for our first home) a ute (A60 Austin) and some hand tools. The bank did not support us, a lawyer advised us not to do it, and our wonderful accountant saw us as a couple prepared to give it a go.
It was HARD! REALLY, REALLY HARD! I worked a fulltime job Monday to Friday, then I made sandwiches/waitressed at a café (in todays terms) Sat/Sun. That meant starting at 5am to make sandwiches etc and working to maybe mid day. Then I came back to the Roadhouse and waitressed till close. To this day I am proud of my short order cooking skills. The tourist buses used to stop at our Roadhouse (café).
Please never, ever complain about long hours to me. Everything that we earned went back into our bike shop. It was amazing times!
It was back in the day where you could run your debtors 90 days (expected) and your floor plan finance bailed you out one or two times....
You can achieve ANYTHING if you want it badly enough. Just be prepared to work harder than you thought you were able to. Have a real conviction you CAN DO IT!
Have a plan, make it a good one. Make sure you are confident you can do it. Failure is NOT an option! Get professional support that also backs you.
Never, ever listen to the naysayers. NEVER! It is your dream afterall.
Be prepared (good business plan required) to fail. Have a back up plan.
Believe in yourself.
PS: My ex and I did an amazing job building the bike shop, we made good money in the end. We sold it for a profit, when it suited us to sell it.
Hey DODO``, give it friggen heaps if that is what you want to do. Do your homework, write a bomb proof plan and stick to it. Ignore the negative wankers that cant make any money from their own businesses!
GIVE IT HEAPS!
Nice pep talk Anne.
Trouble is though, the 80's were in a different motorcycling age.
A motorbike shop in Auckland will always struggle with customer loyalty as it's a thing that's gone by the wayside , dealers are willing to sell stock just above cost to keep turnover up.
So the only thing that generates real profit is a good workshop.
The reality is the markup/profit on any new bike is only %12/15 add in delivery, pre delivery costs[assembly] and most are on 90 day floor plan [free credit for said 90 days] with interest at the end off the 90 days eating into the profit . And no one will pay the recommended retail price .
Lots of good advice but you missing the obvious.
Open across the road from a large Mall and have a massive man zone of entertainment.
Have a smaller area or corner for chicks and Honda riders also if your wanting to be PC.
I have evolved as a KB member.Now nothing I say should be taken seriously.
I am a negative bitter wanker. Its my job. My job is to look at the worst thing that can happen, tell you about it and make a plan to try and save your arse from the fire. Its what we do.
Great, you did well, bravo. Thirty plus years ago. Was your ex a mechanic? otherwise involved in the industry? Or at least had the first inkling or clue of what being in the damn industry was about?
It seems abundantly clear that OP (if not engaged in a troll of EPIC proportions) does not have the ability to "write a bomb proof plan" because he just doesnt have the baselines.
I suggested a years sabbatical to go find out then decide.
Dunno: OTT much?
I thought elections were decided by angry posts on social media. - F5 Dave
I have been in the motorcycle industry to many years (25 plus at last count) and have been involved in retail, wholesale and management. My advice to you is to learn lots about quads and go rural if you want to become a motorcycle dealer.
You will need a good workshop with the ability to do small engineering jobs as it still amazes me the damage a farmer can do and you will spend a lot of time welding bits of quad back together. Quads are tools on most farms and sell no matter what the economy is doing, and if the farmers are having a bad year there fixing the old one till the cash flow comes right. That's when the workshop keeps the doors open.
Probably not the type of dealership you where thinking of opening but it has a lot more chance of still being open in a few years. My only disclaimer is you need to think carefully about what brand is above the door.
As has been said before you need a plan B as it can still go tits up. My advice if you want to start small buy a property in an area where there a lots of batches and/or lifestyle blocks and start by working on the local beach hacks/lifestyle owners bikes, you should be able to do this out of small shed. This will be a very steep leaning curve as most of these bikes have survived for years with little or no maintenance but will teach you all you need to know about quads.
If you do go big and open a full dealership be careful with floor plan funding as some importers will force you to use there preferred company as they get a cut of the interest you will be paying, this can mean that any bike you can't move off the floor in 6 months (this will happen with road bikes) has no margin left in it as the interest you have been paying on money owing on the bike on the floor has eaten up all profit.
Parts and accessories haven't seen the full impact of the internet yet, my feeling is there is going to less and less profit in them as more and more overseas online business come online and target NZ. I am also just waiting for one of the main wholesalers/manufactures to go direct online to the public and cut out the dealers, I believe it is just a matter of time as they try to compete with overseas online sellers.
One word of warning about working full time in what was your hobby is that any passion you have for motorbikes will be beaten out of you until one day the passion will be gone. one of the reasons I don't have a bike at present.
Come to Christchurch mate and design some decent looking interesting home instead of the group home cookie-cutter bores that are going up in all the new builds. Sign. We learn nothing. Fucking nothing.
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