How about a thread made up of ideas to save $$ when buying a new bike?
I know they all tell you "absolutely nothing under MSRP" but that's not always true in the end.
I'll start with one I've had success with. After finding what I want, I'd say "I like the bike & I'd buy it but it's not the color I want. I don't want to spend $345 for a color I don't want".
Another is to shop the sales tax rates in your area. A 1% difference is $$$.

 

All good points. First thing I'd deal with is so called "setup" and/or "doc" fees. Not all dealers charge these fees and none of them HAVE to charge them. Setup can be anything from $150 to $500 and doc fees can be anything from a realistic $39 to a ridiculous $150 or more. Add the two together and they add up to nothing but extra profit for the dealer. I absolutely refuse to pay a doc fee. That charge is supposed to cover the cost of their paperwork. But, they have people on payroll getting paid to do that and I'm not responsible for making their payroll - that's why they sell bikes and other crap.

If they charge a setup fee, make sure they give you something back. Often dealers build this in and make it seem like they are offering you an incentive like "buy any bike in stock and get $500 credit for any in store purchase for the first 30 to 90 days of ownership". Take the extra $500 you pay them, subtract the retail markup of the goods you can buy with that credit, and they are still making money off the deal and moving some merchandise at the same time. Even if you pay $500 and get $1000 credit back, they are still basically breaking even and moving some merchandise at the same time. I looked fora dealer that charged nothing above what was on the MSRP including the price of the bike, the freight, and tax, title, and tags. Of course, I got nothing back either but that's the way I wanted it.

If the bike is close to the end of the year, you should be able to work a deal for a discount off MSRP. I'd rather get $1000 off the price than to get $2000 in store credit but either way is not a bad deal. You can do some nice mods to a brand new bike with 2 grand.

I think there is going to have to be a shift in the way they price and sell bikes if sales stay like they are now or get worse. They've gone from getting well more than MSRP and putting people on a wait list to selling at MSRP. And they are going to have to look at traditional vehicle sales practices of selling below MSRP or just above invoice and/or offer factory incentivesto stay alive.

 

Local dealer here is taking $2007 off MSRP on all carry over '07's and throwing in cash credit at the dealership on certain scoots.

 

Sounds like at least one dealer is getting it through their head. I think that's the highest advertised discount I've yet to see on still current year models. Is that on any 07 left? It's not one of those gimmicks where they only have 1 07 left in the whole store and they are just trying to get people in there is it?

 

I realize the thread title is NEW bikes but if live near abigger metropolitian area "LIKE NEW" can save you some bucks on a bike.
There always seems to be several ad's for bike's that are the same year model as present date and a sh*tload under 2 years old. You get a bike that somebody has probably put some goodies on and paid for that pesky break in service. Winter time/Tax time seem to be good times to save some $$$$...Good hunting and a Good Thread grandpamoses....

 

I just bought an 08' Wide Glide.I went to the first stealer and he told him what I wanted. I told him the difference I was looking for and that I was somewhat negotiable. I also told him that I was in negotiations with another stealer and told him the details. I had a trade, a 1997 Dyna Conv. This is where it got sticky, I wanted a certain amount for my trade, and I wanted to pay a certain amount for a new Wide Glide. When you have a trade, the stealer has more "outs" to screw you out of $$. Well, they came out with some insane number telling me it was a good deal. I started laughing it was so ridiculous. We tried one more time and same story. I left, rode to Stealer #2, resumed negotiations and walked out with a new Wide Glide. I saved over $2,500.00 being patient and "shopping" different stealers. I can give details if anyone wants to know them...

 

Sounds like stealer #2 gave you the better deal, or how about you got a steal of a deal from a stealer. I perfer to deal with the folks who workat stealer, now they no how to deal.

 

or should I say steal a deal.