Bike shop profit margins?

[98tls]

When I go to purchase anything that has a high (or reasonable) value I rock up in my dirty ole track pants. I find sales people leave me alone so I can have a good look around without being hounded.

Love to see their faces when I ask for a discount for cash

Though in a franchised car dealership method of payment was irrelevant,no trade a bonus though.Lets face it those with there own finance company would far prefer you to finance rather than cash,whilst doing the paperwork they can unload a grossly overpriced warrenty on ya.

[98tls]

It has its up sides for sure!
Last thing I was dong tonight was licking the fairing of a brand new Desmosedici...serious

Dont know you from a bar of soap D but at times you seem a complete and utter bastard.

[DMNTD:Me]

Dont know you from a bar of soap D but at times you seem a complete and utter bastard.

What a very astute bloke you be sir

[MadDuck]

Dont know you from a bar of soap D but at times you seem a complete and utter bastard.

I can vouch for that

[carver]

The major difference is is that I'm only kidding

i think i read the word serious?

[madbikeboy]

Hey Vifferman. I do.

I got some shocking service from a clothes store, where I used to spend a reasonable amount of dough on shirts and suits. I got shit service, so I called the CEO of the business and explained why I will never spend another cent there. Did the same with Continental Cars.

I work hard for my money. I think the people serving me in a shop have an obligation to show professionalism and provide solid advice. If they don't, then I won't go back. Hence the reason why I haven't bought a bike from a couple of notible Suzuki dealers in town... Holeshot are generally pretty good, and sooner or later, I'll buy a newer scoot from them...

If you get bad service, ring the owner.

[nallac]

and people think the mormon few are gay!

yip.........

[alanzs]

Went to Henderson Yamaha a few weeks back. I ended up buying a new bike from them. Here's why (and not necessarily in order of importance):

They gave me more than I thought I would get on my trade in,
I paid less than what they originally said I'd have to pay for the new bike,
They answered every question I had,
They have contacted me after the sale to find out if everything is ok and am I enjoying the new ride.
They treated me like I was important and with dignity and respect.
It was a friendly place to be.
It was a winning situation for me and I am assuming for them as well.
They were the least hassle I have ever had on buying a bike before.
I have been in sales for many years so I know what to look for and what to avoid.

I think they call this "customer service."
I wish Paul and all of them the best.

PS - Sales managers, have your sales people read this post.

[nallac]

shit, you can see in to the future,
whats this weeks lotto numbers???

Went to Henderson Yamaha a few weeks back. I ended up buying a new bike from them. Here's why


They have contacted me after the sale to find out if everything is ok and am I enjoying the new ride.

.

[Ixion]

Hey Vifferman. I do.

..Did the same with Continental Cars.

...

Continental Cars was bad? I have to spend some serious coin on the Alfatoy soon and I've been wondering where's a good place .

[alanzs]

shit, you can see in to the future,
whats this weeks lotto numbers???

I will give you these numbers as a start: 666.....

For the rest of the numbers, call me on my psychic hotline; 0800-trustme.

[sidecar bob]

Continental Cars was bad? I have to spend some serious coin on the Alfatoy soon and I've been wondering where's a good place .

Try Gavin at Euro Italian.

[MarkH]

I work hard for my money. I think the people serving me in a shop have an obligation to show professionalism and provide solid advice. If they don't, then I won't go back.

I don't work particularly hard for my money, but I still want a good deal and to buy from decent competent people that can do a good job of convincing me to part with my money.

What a lot of salespeople fail to understand is that while a sale makes them a few bucks, gaining a sale pales in comparison to gaining a customer - every customer you gain will provide you with many sales!

[FROSTY:Me]

How a salesperson acts when all is going good isn't such a reflection on the dealership as how the salesman reacts when things are going BAD.
There is one dealership in ackland I will never buy anything from
Simply because they sold me a bike many years back with a stuffed chain.
The chain came off within 24 hours /100km of purchace.
How they dealt with (failed to deal with) this situation decided that of the 70 odd bikes Ive owned over the last 20 years NONE of em have come from that dealership.
A simple bit of customer service would have made all the difference

[Winston001]

Profit/Markup on bikes

A fair question, and no-one so far seems prepared to answer. IMO it should be around $500 to cover the fixed costs of ownership transfer, advertising, floor space etc, and a variable component of 10 - 20%. Thus a bike that will retail for $9999 would get $8000 offered as a trade in.

This should allow for some haggling on items like new tyres or similar as part of a sales deal. But the shop that relies on bike sales for income will quickly go bust. The real profit is in keeping that customer coming back for services, accessories, or just for a chat while they browse. The shop that has its workshop busy will succeed ahead of one that makes a one time profit off a bike sale, and never sees that customer again.

Why do you think the mark-up on new bikes is so small? Its because the dealer knows that in most cases that customer is locked into using his workshop for the next two years.

I agree. Unless a tradein is in really good condition, there will always be time and effort spent getting it to sale room condition. $500 has to be the minimum return.

On top of that, 20 - 35% markup on the tradein price. Its a matter of $$. So a $1000 trade = $200 + $500 = $1700 on the floor, say $1895 to build in a bit of haggle.

$10,000 trade = $2000 + $500 = $12500, say $12,990. That might not be enough in fact if the bike sits there for 3 months, so dealers take a punt on short turnover.

One Ducati I looked at was $12,000, pristine condition, 550km - and didn't sell for 9 months. Felt sorry for the shop cos they are good guys and I think the problem was buyers were put off by the extremely low km. So its a risk reselling bikes.