This is at every dealership. They hire people that don't ride and don't know anything about what they are selling. We know more about the bikes we are buying than the people selling them and working on them.


I've had them advertise local demo rides at Wildcat Harley as well then when you show up, there aren't any bikes sitting outside for demo rides. Just business as usual. You want to buy something they will have one of their monkeys escort you on a short ride. The last test ride I went on the guy that went with me couldn't even ride. He almost dumped his bike numerous times. I swear these idiots running these places will hire anyone. It's our fault though for feeding these morons with our hard earned cash. I spent 60k in five months, never again.


Next bike I buy will be off of a private seller and I will wrench on it myself. I will never let a dealership touch anything I own again.

 

What you say is the reason I bought my EG and Sportster from individuals. My EG is a 2000 carburetor model that had 16,000 miles when I bought it. I will and do the maintenance myself but for grins I asked the "service adviser" what they charge to replace the tensioner blocks for the cam chain. His response is Harley no longer makes those and you have to upgrade to the SE hydraulic unit, $500 labor plus parts. I told him the spring tensioner blocks were available and his reply was they only do the upgrade.

 

I'll be positive here, but my dealer almost twists my arm to test ride a bike. Any bike no matter how far back in the pack it is parked. I tell them that I am not buying so don't out of your way. The answer is always, "no bother, glad to do it". When I bought my Slim, they also drug out a Dyna and a Fat Boy for me to ride.
kk

 

If it makes some of you guys feel better (doesn't make me feel much better) Its not just Harley Dealerships with this issue. My brother is a Ducati guy and was looking at trading in his Streetfighter 848 and getting a Multistrada 1200. He was looking for a specific range of year (2010-2014) and he was dead set on the 1200. The salesman he talked to tried to talk him in to a brand new 950 because they didn't have what he wanted and "you don't have 1200 money, you've got 950 money" It didn't take long to realize this guy didn't know what he was talking about. He tried looking up the trade in value of the streetfighter and had to ask several times if it was a street bike because he couldn't find it. Eventually he admitted that he didn't actually own a bike, and never had.

 

I really wish the dealerships would make it a policy to only hire people that ride. There is nothing worse than looking at a $30,000 bike while the person trying to sell it to you can't even hold a conversation. If I'm spending that kind of cash I'd like to have a person that shares a common kinship with me. It's pretty obvious after a few seconds if I'm dealing with an ignorant sales person or a rider. Most of them will either say they use to ride or are going to buy one when they get the money.


I mean if you ride a Harley I don't have to explain it to you. Nothing worse than having to deal with a dealership that has employees that have no clue about why you love your bike.


The service manager for WildCat Harley in London, KY came from the wash bay if that tells you the kind of quality you can expect from them in their service department. After learning this it all made sense as to why I had so many problems with their service department. He left WalMart to come wash bikes at Wildcat and they made him their service manager lol.

 

Just bought my first Harley, a 2011 Heritage Softail with 5400 miles. When looking at it, my first question was if the tires were the originals, as I don't want 7 year old tires. The front was good, the rear was just okay. Not much left in it. The salesman checked with the service manager and he said they did the "Harley" complete inspection. The tires have to be 3 years old or newer or they are not allowed to sell it. So, they are good to go, as the entire bike underwent a 3.5 hour laborious inspection. To his surprise I bent down and checked the codes on the tires and told him they were made in 2010. He went back to the service manager and said that they were "good to go" as he forgot that Harley decided they could in fact sell older tires as long as the tread was good. Strike 1

Then I was told that the bike was purchased new from them, and the guy traded it in on another bike. They have all the service records. The service manager said they did the 1,000 mile service and just did the 5,000 mile service where they go over everything. Okay, first thing I notice is way to much free play in the throttle. Whooops, they forgot that one. Strike 2

It has Vance and Hines exhaust on it. The salesman says the owner had that done and had a tune done at the same time. Great!

I go back to Service and ask to see the service records (I like to keep the same oil, etc. in it). They assured me all was "good to go". I insisted on seeing the service records. Well, the original owner bought it, and that is all they have. No record of any other service being done....not even the 1,000 mile service. They didn't install the exhaust nor did they do a tune. All they did, literally, was change the engine oil (the 5,000 mile service). No other service at all. Strike 3

I used all the above to get a great deal and still ended up buying the bike, after they installed new tires. I am doing all the fluid changes myself.

I feel like I got a solid bike, just wish they would have been honest up front.

 

So my 2 cents.....here is So Cal, Orange County to be exact, there are around 10 dealerships within 100 mile radius I believe. Some good, most bad, but all are pushy. I'm in market for a street glide and am targeting an '18 SG Special in denim white. Every dealership around here has at least 1 of these, some 2-3 depending on size. Now the bone of contention I have is that every damn shop has a different policy it seems on pricing and claim it's "corporate policy requirements" or some ****. Now I know I can get a great deal through my credit union with 1 phone call so having the coin to buy isn't the issue. The issue is no dealership will give me a straight out the door price and I obviously need to know how much to get my loan for. They claim they want to "earn my business" and guarantee a better rate through their financing yet when I tell them I'm good and have money set, I just want the final OTD price so I can buy the bike today but they wont do it. It blows my damn mind!! It's like they want me to try out to see if I can be their customer rather than them trying out to earn my money. Assbackwards to say the least. Overall I think the problem is the high pressure sales tactics they use and shady behavior by the dealerships to squeeze every penny out of every single sale to have a 1 time customer instead of getting a fair deal to generate a lifelong customer. Pisses me off, yet we all still buy the product, go figure.

 

I would buy a used one still under warranty. You will save money and frustration but be prepared to travel and pick it up. There are many I see on c/l and cycle trader where someone has let their emotions get ahead of their pocketbook and once reality sets in after a couple hundred miles and a payment or two....they want out! There are many deals nationwide, may not be the exact color you want, but the deals are out there. Rent a car one way or fly like I did and enjoy the ride back home. If the individual purchased an extended warranty so much the better.

 

Dealerships make most of their money plus a kick back from the MoCo through financing. They're less likely to deal if they know you're going with a credit union or outside financier, to help make up for the lost revenue.