So I was recently in the local Harley dealership ready to buy a bike that day. I was pre approved for financing with a $2500 down payment. Easy.

I walk in and talk to the salesman and was originally going to buy a 48. I was all about the '72 as soon as I saw it. The bike MSRPs for $10499. They had tons of them, there was one in there that had pre installed Cobra pipes, baffleless. They wanted $11999. We worked numbers and financing and he asked the most I could afford a month was. About $250. Not a big deal, right?

Yes, it is. The lowest they could do was $277 a month, and they would 'only finance me' if i bought their 3 year warranty. They wanted $277 a month for 72 months. Some ridiculous interest rate was in place, about 20%. Quick math tells me thats almost 20 ****ing grand. I laughed and walked out.

What is a good OTD price. I offered him $11000 OTD tax and title and plates, since i had my credit union offering to get me a loan.

What do you guys think?

 

I paid $11,500 OTD for my 2012 72 with the Red Metal Flake paint option. Of course tax rates vary by state and locality, but $11K seems like a doable OTD price for a base 72 especially if the dealer has lots of them in stock. I paid cash and didn't have a trade in so there were no other factors in the price I got.

The dealer you went too was definitely trying to rip you off. As soon as they start asking what monthly payment you can afford, that's a red flag and you should go to another dealer.

 

Thats not bad pricing at all. I was assuming at $250 a month for 48 months is about 12k. That's a fair price I would have paid. not going to pay 20k when i could honestly get 2 of them at that price.

 

With all of the 2013 models coming out, you'll definitely get a better deal on a 2012 model. When I got my bike, the MSRP was $9999. They waved the set up fee, freight, and covered $800 dollars worth of accessories. With tax it was $10560 OTD.

Not sure what sales tax in OH is, but 11K sounds like a good offer to me. I would be fine paying MSRP as long as I got 500-1000 dollars in accessories on them. It's possible, just find another dealer.

I couldn't tell you what my monthly payment was for the bike. I handed the dealer a check for the full amount, done deal.

Good luck either way. Check out the pricing difference between a 2012 and 2013 model.

 

Route 66 HD in Tulsa had 2 72 2012 for cheap, one flat black for 8,995 & one with paint for 9,295. They had about 3 72 2013 also w/no price on them.

 

Holy crap!! That seems really cheap even for a 2012.

 

20% interest on an "auto" loan is only 1% away from the national allowable max of 21%. Finance officers are only allowed to mark up their rate 2% from the buy rate they get from the bank. That being said I am curious why they got a buy rate of 18% with $2500 down. $2500 down would be around 80% loan to value which would generally give you prime rates around 6%.

Is your credit good? The price of the bike sounds fine...it is the financing I am concerned with. If they can only get you an 18% buy rate with 20% down I am not sure your credit is that great. I could be wrong.....don't want to make assumptions...but that is what I get from that story.

 

When I bought my bike Harley didn't even run credit. They told me my interest rate would be 14% $200 a month for 60 months on a the remaining 6k i was financing. That was after we agreed on price. Get them to agree to price first in writing I think 11k is fair if it's got some add ons. No set up, freight bs. Tax (6.5% in OH), title, and tag. Make sure they throw in a dealership gift card too. Tons of dealerships in OH if they don't wanna deal. Once you get an OTD number you like in writing slap a couple hundred cash on the table for a deposit to hold drive to your credit union and get your certificate of credit. Credit union gave us 7% on a used bike and payment are under $120 a month.

 

My credit is fine. Its not perfect but I was under the assumption a 690 was pretty okay for me being 23 years old.

The dealer also told me "for a first time harley buyer we mandate a 20% interest rate." That's when i laughed and walked out.

 

690 is a good score. 720 and above generally gets you the best financing. It also depends on how many lines of credit you have had and what kinds of credit. They are full of crap though. I was a first time harley buyer...I didn't have to put anything down and got 6.9%. I decided to put down $3000 and got it down to 6.49% for financing less than 80% of value.

Find a new dealer and don't take crap from them.