Has anybody else seen this article about Boardtracker?
Boardtracker shutters doors

 

It’s got like a wrong website page or something but it’s been that way for a month that I know of.

 

Link was to the local newspaper in Janesville WI from today. Apparently the last day they were open was Saturday. A bunch of people were trying to get their rides today only to find a sign in the door saying they are closed.

 

Sounds like a bad deal for customers with bikes in for service, those in winter storage there and even some who just purchased bikes from Boardtracker and waiting to pick them up.

 

That was a great site to order parts,,,,,,,

 

If that article was factual, and HD corp was really not paid for all those motorcycles sitting in that showroom, I would imagine Harley-Davidson would send someone down there ASAP to act as security at the Dealership. They have a lot of money sitting inside there and owners of those bikes in the service dept will want them back RIGHT NOW! It's Spring and it's riding time. They aren't going to want to wait for this case to be settled in court. I can see some possible breaking and entering going on there.

 

I took some time to read the article. In the finance world, we call it "Out Of Trust". It appears that the dealership floorplans with Harley Credit. Under most floor plan agreements, when the dealership sells a bike (usually a new one), they have x number of days to remit the floor plan payment to the lender. When this is not done, the dealership is considered Out of Trust. 1.9Million is quite a bit for any type of dealership - so, this must have been going on for some time.

Some used bikes may also be on floor plan - so, this could apply too. The final issue is - let's say you had a lien on your bike and you traded that bike to the dealership. Your new bike was $25,000 and you owed $5,000 on the old one. The trade in value was $10,000 - so, you were able to finance $20,000 (the difference). Now, you are all set - except, the dealership has to remit the $5000 to your lender.

If Harley Credit was your lender, chances are, they used the right of offset to payoff your loan. If your used bike was place on used vehicle floor plan, they may have also paid off your loan. If you lender was not Harley Credit, then, there is a real possibility that the loan was not paid off. If such is the case with your sale, I would take a moment to verify this.

 

The Facebook page for that newspaper had comments that says a rep from that dealer is in the process of contacting all of the owners. It sounds like a classic case of mismanagement. They apparently averaged selling 40 bikes a month. Not bad for a cold climate location...

 

This same thing happened a few years back to Carson City Harley in Nevada. Payments made at the dealership on bikes financed through HD did not get sent to HD. The stealership kept the money and ultimately shut down. They reopened shortly thereafter with new ownership as Battle Born Harley Davidson. I don't recall how long it took but IIRC it was less that 6-9 months.

 

GOV5 - am certain that Harley Credit has someone there on site, protecting their inventory. The inventory that is in the showroom is not the real concern - all they do is reassign that to another dealership. The concern is the inventory that was sold - and floor plan credit not issued.

From my experience, Harley will not try to run the dealership - they don't want the responsibility of the customer's bikes in the dealership's position. So, if some of you guys have bikes there - you need to follow for some answers.

For the bikes sold and not paid for - of the trade ins not paid, the floor plan source (in this case Harley Credit) keep a running list of all they find. Such would be offset from any revenue they receive from the dealership sale (they don't actually sell, the dealer does - however Harley should had a UCC filing that protects their interest.)

I have been through this sort of thing tons of time in my professional experience.