Do Harley Davidson Dealers regret being stuck up and rude to customers in the...

B

Bart S

New member
...past, knowing their sales R down? Does the owners of HD Dealers regret that when they turned away customers when the economy was good knowing now they wish they had them back?
Did anybody see the 2nd qtr sales figures for HD? Down 42%
I can't understand how any business can survive when they pick and choose customers they refuse to sell too?
Can someone explain that type of business model to me?
Is their parts, accessory, and clothing business more important to them than selling motorcycles?
But in that case, they have to sell the motorcycle to get the parts, accessory and service business and most of the clothing business, I mean nobody is going to buy a HD tee shirt, or riding jacket with a HD logo on it if they don't own a HD,,, right?
When you walk into McDonnalds and order a Big Mac, does the person working for McDonnalds ignore you and walk away?
NO, they don't care who you are, they are in the businesss of selling bugrers, your money is as good as any customer.
brian,, noo Japanese scooters and dual sport bikes are up 19% in sales, their cruisers and dirt bikes are down 20%, where HD sales are down twice that much.
terje,, I can't help it that im NOT old, over 50, bald, fat, I don't fit that over the hill profile like you, or I dress neat and clean, comb my hair.
you see you old guys are getting too old to ride big heavy HD's and that market is going away.
there's a new, younger generation in charge now, and being self centered and stuck up doesn't work anymore
 
Now after living in WI and losing my butt on HD and GM stock I have attempted to learn why the stocks tanked. Both companies lost sales but for different reasons. GM more so due to shrinking demand for vehicles with lower mpg. HD lost so much because of the financing division. Turns out the credit freeze killed them due to the fact that before the freeze they were barrowing money on over a quarter of their bike sales to people with poor credit and in the sub-prime segment. A few months back over 15% a rising every month were at least 2 months behind with over 6% in danger of being repossessed. Now that they cannot sell to deadbeats with poor to horrible credit they have lost 25-50% of their market depending on who's estimate you believe.

As for dealers being rude, I think you should try a different one. I never really have wanted to buy a HD, they just do not seem to make what I want but I still like to go to thier open houses with my riding buddies and try out the new Buells. Everytime they have been more than nice and even let me ride a few after I tell them the only way they will get a sale is if they bike could keep up with my CBR. They know it will not but hope maybe I'll like it anyway and deside to get a new bike. Heck we have even chuckled after the riding the new rotax one and I noted its short comings while the salesguy noted a few more along with the actual HP being 12 less than stated in the flyers. Good guys all around that can take the ripping and dish some out to boot.
 
Bart highly unlikely that a Harley would handle the abuse that your going to put the bike through ,trust me I know, former jap owner, now I have a garage full of sportster parts and the bike is still down.........my back up bike 1999 ZRX 1100......it's still running strong.............
 
Even when I rode into an HD dealer on an Honda the guys were friendly to me. I think it was because I was riding instead of talking aobut it. For whatever reason, they treated me well. That was just one shop. When I went on a long ride with my club and we stopped at a second dealer I got the same reception. Perhaps if you RODE to the dealership you would get some love from them. They have no issues with folks that are out riding, and not very much time for those that just talk about it (if they sold shoes that would change).
 
When you walk into a McDonald's, you better have money to spend, also. Now let me guess: you walked into a dealership, they didn't fawn over you as much as you felt you deserved, and you either did not want to buy a motorcycle anyhow but debated with the guy over which brand was better or, if you actually wanted to buy one, did not even have enough for the down payment thus wasting the salesmans time but think they should have gave you one due to the economy anyways. No HD dealer would EVER turn anyone away with money to spend; it's definitely one thing HD is arguably "the Best" at either through merchandising [ever play HONDA Monopoly?] or through shiny chrome parts. People will wear their clothing because it's "chic". And that's why this is a ridiculous "question"...
 
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