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How to Buy a New Motorcycle - From our Anonymous Dealer, Part 1
“Unless you’re working inside a dealership, there's a bunch of things you may not like,” said our secret dealer. “It’s a dirty ass game everybody plays.” We sat down with an experienced motorcycle dealer to get an inside look at a new motorcycle dealership. After reading our three part series on this subject, you'll be an insider and never get hosed again.
READ MORE: 12 Tips For Buying a Used Motorcycle | RideApart
It all began around the bar (as any good story does). Our friend, who will remain anonymous, began divulging interesting information about his (or her) job, along with the games dealers and customers play. I bought the next few rounds, grabbed a pad and started writing.
READ MORE: 5 Under 5: The Best Sub-$5000 Motorcycles For $5,000 | RideApart
New Motorcycle Sales
There are many factors that go into a final amount of a new motorcycle sale. Whether it comes from the manufacturer or the dealer, there are techniques for you, the consumer, to get the best deal. This involves finding weaknesses and areas in the market that can result in big savings for you, but you must know where to look.
Through the years, our insider has seen the good and bad at both single and multi-brand dealerships. He gave us some tips for first time buyers, and also pointed out weaknesses in the game. We’ll break down some of what he said in this first installment, explaining how dealers work, how they compete with each other, and conclude with a simple list of tips for getting the absolute best deal on a new motorcycle.
How to Buy a New Motorcycle
Possibly the most important part of the game: fees! Every motorcycle has fees, taxes, and tags you must anticipate before your purchase. This is where the dealer wants to play, but it's also where you can make some gains.
Along with fees are incentives/rebates from the manufacturers. For 2015 models, however, you won’t have much room.
“Most 2015’s won’t have rebates,” said our insider. For hot ticket models, like the all-new 2015 Yamaha R1, you won’t see any incentives, as they’re selling a little higher then the projected rate. The rumor is, they’re essentially sold out at the time of this interview.
The R1 sells out-the-door for $18,200, with a $16,490 MSRP. Here’s a breakdown of how you get to that price:
2015 Yamaha YZF-R1
$16,490 MSRP
$500 - Shipping/Receiving
$300 - Setup
$299 - Doc Fee
$101 - Tags/Title
$494.70 - Sales Tax (3%)
$18,184.70 Out-the-Door price
A dealership will make roughly $3,000 profit at these figures. Hypothetically though, they could dip as low as $14,000 (which they wouldn’t dream of with a bike like this), that's essentially the lowest they could afford.
“There’s no downcharge on this model,” said our insider.
Another example is a 2015 Yamaha FZ-07, which has an MSRP of $6,990 and sells for $8,400 out-the-door. “Another bike we try to hold firm on,” said our insider because the bike sales are still strong.
2015 Yamaha FZ-07
$6,990 MSRP
$500 - Freight
$300 - Setup
$299 - Doc Fee
$101 - Tags/Title
$218.67 - Sales Tax (3%)
$8,408.67 Out-the-Door
