The benchmark of a "Good Deal" is ... Value Received For Money Spent ... as some have stated ... there will always be someone who "has a brother inlaw who lives next door to a guy who retired from Harley Davidson and has the inside line to a salesman who lives in Tijuana" .... If you're wanting a new scooter and feel that it's worth the asking price .... jump on it Brother .... When I bought my last one they threw in the Security System and Spoked Wheels along with a 25% discount on the next $1000.00 worth of goodies ... I was happy. Good Luck with your new purchase.

 

try for ten percent off list and a fair price on trade in
i got 10 points off a limited in october

 

2011 FLTRX Sedona Orange, 96", cruise, no ABS or security. Dealer installed stage 1 (rinehart slipons, SERT, AC) dyno tuned $20,000 out the door. This was in July. Probably helped the '12 models were already coming in too.

 

A dealer here in ohio offered me a 2012 with abs, alarm, cruse for $19200, I do not remember if it was OTD or plus tax/title (6.5%). no set up or delivery fee. I didn't do it I bought a nice used 2010, saved about $4500, very happy. Good luck.

 

Part of knowing if you got a good deal or not is knowing what the dealer paid for the bike. Multiply the MSRP by .80 and you will get very, very close to what the dealers true cost is. Catch the dealer at the end of his selling month or period and if he needs a sale or two to get him above the hump, you can make a better trade if your a savvy enough bargainer. There are a lot of factors which your dealer uses to decide what deals he will take and what deals he will pass on. Dealers today are not forced to carry high inventories so is has reverted to being almost a sellers market. The factory is shipping fewer and fewer bikes the last 3-4 years so there is virtually no glut of inventory. Anybody actually remember how it was a number of years ago and you had to get on the dealers "list" if you wanted a new Harley? Getting on the list amounted to paying a huge premium over MSRP and probably putting your money up front too. That was before the factory was making all the dealers build these new boutique stores which are monuments to somebodies ego. Two stories and balconies, really! These new stores remind me of a classy, high dollar ***** house in the old west. The same thing can happen to you in either place.

 

Thanks for all the input.

I did make the deal yesterday. I don't think the dealer in my area discounts all that much normally - but i feel comfortable with the transaction. Ended up around 10% off MSRP plus a decent trade in value on my bike. I'm sure it wasn't the absolutely sharpest deal I could have pushed for - but I think I was pretty close. And I like supporting the local people - you want them there when you need them.

I am psyched to have the new bike - now just need to get it broken in

 

Here is what we all can learn when negotiating. Once you have established what you are willing to pay, it is this simple: Make your offer[Payment or Trade difference, or OTD price] Make your offer and follow your offer with the statement" I will buy it today" Like this "if you will sell it to me for XXXXX out the door, I will buy it today. NOW THE KEY! Keep your mouth shut and wait. The ball is in the dealers court. He will respond. If it's not in your favor, walk out. They will call you if they will do the deal.

 

Checkers - I completely agree.

That's what ended up happening. I did a bunch of research on my trade and on what I felt the margin was on new bikes. I also figured what I had wanted (thought) I would be willing to pay. I called him and said exactly that.... "here is what I am willing to pay - I understand if you can't do it". In the end, they did.

But I tried to be fair and leave some money in it for the dealer.

:-)

 

17,000 you paid for your street glide (19,499 -10%) is a hell of a deal, I would have bought in Cali for that price!

Mine is a 12 vivid black, no abs, with cruise for 19,000 out the door, 4,500 down, no trades.

 

No - I didn't say that was out of the door price. My bike has ABS, cruise control, CA emissions etc. The LIST price out the door (includes dealer prep & freight, and CA sales tax & registration etc) was $24,800.

I had a trade, so it's very hard to know exactly what kind of deal I got (depends on how you value the trade). But I think I was treated fairly in the end. I don't want to go into exact specifics because that isn't fair to the dealer - and in the end, either I will feel badly - or someone else will feel badly - whoever didn't get the best deal.

I did check what my old bike was going for on ebay and craiglist, to get an idea of the real "retail" value in this area. Based on that retail value... I believe I got a trade-in which was probably $1,000 or $1,200 less than retail value, and I also got a discount of around $2K on the new bike. I am ok with that. The dealer has overhead and has to make some money. I would guess I got a discount of roughly half their profit on the new bike, and a fair wholesale trade price.

While I don't want to be ripped off, I also try to be fair to them as well. I've owned several businesses in the past and it is really hard to cover overhead. I value having a local dealer and I want to them to be here in the future. So I try to be fair and make sure I got a decent deal, but they also made something as well.

Of course they'll make their real money on the accessories & upgrades that I buy. Damn, starting over again on that front.