Expensive Dealer
 

HERE IS ONE WE ALL KNOW!

So im chillin at my local Honda place, doin my thing. Ordered some parts for my bike, LIKE ALWAYS! I get my bill and for clutch replacement and a simple air filter i had a 600$ tab. WTF! yeah found out that the guy behind the computer didnt understand that i said VTR1000 and ordered replacement parts for a superhawk and an R6. Well now i got a sh*tload of clutch parts and still never recieved my air filter. I love that little part of the reciept that says NO RETURNS...

BE SURE TO READ WHAT THEY ORDER BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING....

if they order stuff not for your bike they can't force you to buy. that's their mistake

Agreed
 

I completely agree...the sad thing is that when you get used to always using a dealer...and always use the same guy. I had trusted the company not to screw me over. I ordered all things over the phone...and i didnt even notice the folley until i arive at home. To say the least, my girlfriend was pissed and i later sold the extra parts on EBAY. Just makes me mad... i dont know.

Was gonna start a new thread for this one but it definately falls under the EXPENSIVE DEALER heading:

So this morning I go to the dealer where I bought by bike new ('05 in May of '05), full sticker price no less! Had my new Pirelli Diablo's in hand that I got from that "buy the rear, get the front free" deal online a while back. I tell the girl at the service desk that I want to leave my bike to have the tires mounted and balanced. She asks if I bought the tires there, I said no but I bought my bike from you guys. She says it'll be $216. I said "No, these tires...the ones I'm holding, I don't want a price to buy tires from you". She says THAT'S THE PRICE TO MOUNT AND BALANCE 2 TIRES YOU DIDN'T BUY FROM US. Give me a break! That's more than I paid for the TIRES!!!

I would have freakin' laughed if I hadn't gone to the trouble of having my wife drive the tires over there while I rode the bike. I just said nevermind and left. That price after I've bought a helmet, 2 pairs of gloves, boots, battery charger, chain lube, ear plugs, etc. from these guys over the last 1-1/2 years! F That!
NEVER going back there....and wrote a nice letter saying why too.
Wooo! Needed that rant!

The cheapest that I could get the tire mounted in sheboygan co, WI was $50. That's the reason that I built my own balancer and use the coats 5030a that I have at work. Lucky me, I teach automotives to high schoolers?!

Dealers are not the cheapest of places....however they usually have the best intel and product knowledge.

I agree. You need to check other dealers. Then try private shops. Labor prices just suck!

Update:
Got a response to my letter. Service manager asked what it would take to make me come back. I said do it for $105 like the other dealer (a little further away for me). He said done, so the tires are on. Still too much to change tires I think, but not as bad as $216! Said they had a big meeting after I left about negotiating the labor charges to be more competitive.....whatever....just don't overcharge. Said the labor to mount & balance 2 tires was 2.7 hours at $72/per. Does it really take a dealership employee that long to do the job? Seems like a long time.

Maybe if they are playing poker in between breaks every 10 mins worth of work!! My dealer put them on for free (purchased tires from them) if I bring them in it is $22 per tire off the bike, or $34 per tire on the bike...Only took them about an hour to do the work....

Did they kiss you before they screwed you? just curious...:p

Crap....they STILL got me....and no kiss either!

duck...I have a buddy at a shop who mounts and balances my tires for 20 bux...you just need to make some friends...105 is way to steep in my book...

I've got a shop a couple miles from work that mounts and balances for $10, tire off bike. That is the cheapest I've ever seen. I think anything over $25 is robbery.

Yeah, sounds like I definately need a friend in the service dept. Have one in parts/accessories, but not service. I'll check private shops next time for stuff like tire changes, lesson learned.

By the way, a first impression of the Diablo Corsa III:
Only rode it home from the dealership so far, about 10 miles, but my immediate impression was that I felt like I was riding on a set of beach balls. They turn WAY slower than the stock Dunlop 204's. Guess I'll get used to it.

pilot powers actually scared me when I swapped out my oem dunlops to put them on...in my opinion they turn pretty well...I will stick with powers as long as they make em...

Yea I guess its a universal thing that stealers suck!! I went up to the local one here cuz I was needing a new rear tire and wanted to check out some prices. $170 for a Pilot Power and $45 to mount, thats WITH the buy the tire here discount. Told them to hold that thought and Ill be back "Just hafta run to the ATM." That ATM being down the street and a local repair shop I frequent, Tire $165 plus free mount/balance. Done and Done. Now I only go to the stealership to order a specific part (if I cant get it online elsewhere) or to see their 1999 katana 600 being sold for the past 2 years at $5000!! HAHA those guys crack me up.

SHIT AND SHIT,
They are so full of shit that it takes that long to mount a tire. I mounted/balanced the front on an r6 in 5 min with the tire off the bike. The rear took a little more persuasion. And that was the first time I did a motorcycle tire. On the bike might take a total of 1 hr for both.
Bill

The actual people at the dealership are always cool (maybe cuz they're well paid!)

And this is the reason NoMar has been so successful! Funny nobody mentioned scratched-to-hell rims when you get 'em back from the dealer.

I worked at a shop in town as a Service Tech and Parts Mgr at different times.
As a sevice tech, we can bust out a tire change in 15 minutes if the rim is on the bike. Exception, Honda Goldwing. More like 45 minutes. The average tech can do a tire change in about 5 minutes if the rim is off the bike. That includes balancing it too.
As a Parts Mgr, we used to sell tires at a 10-20% mark up as a "Loss leader". The dealer makes more of a profit on installing the tire. They too did not like the fact that consumers would bring in their own tires to be mounted so they charged a different labor rate to those who did not purchase their tires from them. It must be the same all over the country. If dealers would sell in volume, they would get the repeat business they are trying to make up for by charging more for labor. Once a customer gets pissed off at a dealer they usually seek parts purchases elsewhere (read: internet).

So I go into my local Honda stealership to get a speedo drive nut for my VFR. Two girls are working the parts counter. I speak to the younger one who has a deer in headlights stare going on. The slightly older one (and I presume slightly more experienced), whispers to her, "It's a motorcycle", so she could go to the correct parts fiche holder. :roll: :wtf2:

I mentioned this in another thread but certainly belongs in a rant thread too. I went to my local stealership this week to just kick tires. I noticed on the tire rack a rear 180 dunlop 207 (not a 208) for $297!!!

I don't want every one to hate me after this but I am now a "parts guy". Now into my fourth week and man I'm sorry about your guys' dealers but it makes me feel much better about my job. right now on our shelves we have power rears (a ton of them) for 140 fronts are 114 ,and a couple of m1's for 135(rears)(and to my knowledge they are not discontinued ) we don't do the free front thing cause our markup is almost nothing. but off bike mounting is 25 and on is 35 .

in the beginning of this thread there was talk about wrong parts orders over the phone, Ive ran into this (cause im new) and its ridiculous if they didnt refund that !! the fact that the parts had to be sold on ebay kills me they should have taken care of that because it was blatantly their fault and that being said you guys might as well order parts from me and I can ship for an extra 7.00$ .:p

You da man!....I'll keep that in mind being that I'm relatively close.

I don't hold anything against the individuals working there....they just have over-charging policy makers upstairs apparently. Actually I've always thought it would be cool to work at a bike dealership and shoot the shit with fellow motorcycle freaks.....uh....kind of like this.....

Hey, I've been on both sides of the fence. First as a parts guy (for a diesel shop while in high school) and second in sales at a Honda shop back in the 80's (worked the front side of the parts counter too).

Here's one for you: a guy called parts and wanted some items for his Honda Stanley. Chew on that for a bit and see if you or your shop can come up with the correct answer. :)

Your shop sounds like a good one.

Well, the only thing I can think of is that Stanley has made the lighting for Honda forever and a day. That said, maybe the guy was looking for a tail light lens or something.

As often as i hand spooned Dirt and Street tires for me and the kids i finally received a nice Christmas Present this year.

I got a Harbour Freight Motorcycle Tire Changed $99 and mounted to my Garage Floor. It is not anywhere as nice as the $800 NO-MAR changer, but it works great.

I dipped the metal wheel holders in that Rubber coating stuff they sell for tool handles and bought a better NO-MAR Tire tool $110 with the lube and can dismount and mount a Street tire in less than 5 minutes.

It is easy as can be and no scratched wheel. I have always hand balanced my wheels usiung a steel rod and a set of jack stands. The only thing else you need is some different color stick on weights.

Sure i would like to have the No-Mar changer, but my little $210 changer does just as well and has already paid for its self in lost time taking stuff to the dealer and paying them to mount tires.

My motto is buy what you can and need at the dealer as long as they are competitive and do all your service work yourself or find someone that can teach you to do it yourself.

DING, DING, DING! We have a winner. Yup, saw it the light lens cover.

I have instructed the realtor hounds not to even consider a property that has less than a thousand sf shop on it. When we get there I will have two pieces of equipment that I just don't have room for now - a lift and a tire changer! I'm so packed into the current 600 sf that if more than three people are in the building you don't have room to move around. It's been a great little shop but what I will remember about it most is "little".

When you take the bike to the dealer they are very focused on the task at hand. I look at it a little more "big picture". I not only attend to what the bike needs but look the entire area and adjoining areas over well for other problems. You don't need a thirty-year collection of tools to fix a Superhawk. With the knowledge and expertise available here at the forum and a few simple tools you can do most all the maintenance and common mods yourself. You and your bike will be better off for it!

Our shop's apprentice boy does that in under 60 minutes, including removal and refitting of wheels. It was on my own VTR last weekend, so I am confident.

Maybe this is why NZ mechanics are so much in demand in the racing fraternity worldwide....