That is not true at all. The dealer actually makes more money if you finance because they get a percentage of your finance charge and they get paid by the finance co. fast, so why would they rather have your cash minus the extra percentage when they will have more cash in hand in a few days?

 

Some Dealers are pretty old skool when it comes to negotiations. Back about 3 years ago, a dealer in my area had a Heritage Softail I liked. Blue book was 12k on the bike and they were asking 13.2k. I tried to get them to at least split the difference with me at 12.5k. The owner's wife looked at me with a look of disgust and told me "if you need to negotiate, you can't afford a Harley." That dealer is about 5 miles from my house. Another dealer about 12 miles away sold me a 2003 Superglide at a reasonable price,just recently, they had a 2006 E.G. Classic asking 14k, we worked it down to 12.7k. I bought it. To this day if my bike were to break down in front of that first dealer and a $10 part is all I needed to get it running, I would hitch hike to dealer #2, buy the part, and hitch hike back to my bike and get it running. It is short sighted for a dealer to not at least appear to negotiate a little, because when they sell the bike, they will make a s ton of money on you with service, parts, accessories etc.

 

This varies so greatly. Ya just have to do aks and dicker. I know my dealer is loyal to HDs msrp but will knock of the prep and shipping fee. Each dealer is so different and depends on time of year, how many bikes they have etc. So just go and act like they will deal.

 

Went in to the dealer just to look, I saw some ultra Classics for $35K, I about pee'd myself.
my 02 was half that price.
I don't know about all you folks, I don't have trouble paying bills, but man! what a sticker shock!

 

In addition to the great info from other posters, you may have a better chance when the 2012 hit the floor the end of July. They will be pushing to get the 2011's off the floor.

I did this last year and it worked out well. Good Luck!

 

2 weeks ago I was riding around on my perfectly good 2009 ultra with 24,000 miles on it. I happened to stop at a dealership having demo rides. I took a ride on a 2011 ultra limited and somehow got the bug to see what they would do on a trade. That dealer wanted my bike and $7000 out the door. I got curious and spent the next week checking the 4 other dealers in our area. The next dealer wanted $8100.00. The third dealer wanted $5500.00 . I was getting tempted,but there was nothing wrong with my 2009 . I finally went to the dealer who sold me 2 previous bikes and they made me a deal that was almost to good to be true. My bike (bone stock all mods removed) and $4000.00 out the door plus they agreed to throw in the 5 year extended warranty. Well I now own a 2011 ultra limited. I feel like I got a great deal and must have bought at just the right time.

 

Just brought a new softail. I negotiated a out the door price. MSRP + Frieght + setup +Tax,tag,title and dealer fee. 1st dealer was at $17,400, 2nd dealer was at $17,000, 3rd dealer was at $16,000. It pays to shop around. Good look.

 

One more thing HD credit gave me 3.99% on financing. I think that deal might still be going on. But make sure you ask the dealer, because some dealers don't advertise it and if you don't ask you will not receive.

 

yep still going on - through June

3.99% for 48 mos on all new Harleys

 

I agree 110% they almost ALWAYS make more on the credit deal and it gives them more leeway to keep there extra hidden costs in there in most cases, credit buyers are more impulsive.