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Dealers not servicing older bikes?

I’m not sure why a dealer would be losing money working on older bikes if they’re charging the same shop rate as for the newer ones and parts are available. The dealers I’ve worked for and spoke to said that the service was where the money was, not the new bike sales. I wonder if this is a move by corporate to force new bikes onto loyal BMW riders who are happy with what they have. Certainly lowers the marque.
 
Old bikes

Compared to "old" other makes of bikes, BMW owners hang onto them in far greater number. For crying out loud, when was the last time you saw a vintage Honda meet? OKAY, maybe there is such a thing but people like me love my BMW bikes and quite honestly, I don't think I would have developed the same affection for the Suzuki I learned to ride on. First of all while it was a nice little bike, it was not built as well as the BMW, and the styling and such didn't excite me.

I find it hard to believe a lot of BMW dealers waffle or down right refuse to work on the older bikes. As Paul said, they are not a hard bike to work on, don't require expensive computer tools and knowledge, if I can work on them and keep them running at least one mechanic in a BMW dealership should be able to so as well.

I mean $150-200 per hour shop time is the same for working on a /2 as a 1250RT. I hate to say it but maybe the difference is it takes a half hour to do an oil change on a /7 and I don't know how long to do a 1250RT, but the RT will be in the shop longer thus costing more labor. Also, the new bikes are more or less chained to the dealer and the owners at their mercy whereas /7 owners can kind of go where they want, more or less. Captive owners, will pay the big bucks, free ones won't.

There are lots of reasons and I could go on and on. I just feel if it is a BMW, then ANY BMW dealer should work on it no matter the age. If parts are available, a mechanic should be available.

I get that it costs a dealer money to stock parts but the reality is, they don't even stock all the parts for bikes less than 10 years old now, ordering from distribution is not all that difficult now with their modern dealership software.

I really am ashamed of BMW and what it has become, my bikes and I am just old and don't matter to them. It is nice of them to throw us old bike owners a scrap by not NLAing all the parts for my bike. I have my two bikes and as long as they run, I am not going to be buying a new BMW. Sorry to say my original pre boutique dealer was the best. Buying and having my bike serviced by him was a pleasant experience and I knew I was important. It is just not the same at the modern shops. St.
 
I find it hard to believe a lot of BMW dealers waffle or down right refuse to work on the older bikes. As Paul said, they are not a hard bike to work on, don't require expensive computer tools and knowledge, if I can work on them and keep them running at least one mechanic in a BMW dealership should be able to so as well.

Could be a problem with no OBD port and no OG's to lend guidance as to where to start?
OM
 
I too have heard that dealerships make most of their money off of service. So on the surface, it would seem like servicing older bikes would be beneficial. The local dealership that had been around when the older bikes were new, continue to offer service on them. The newer dealerships do not. Also, some of the older shops have stopped working on older bikes once their tech(s) trained on those bikes moved on. While much of the service could be done with typical mechanic's tools, some would require special tools. A newer dealership may choose not to purchase them. I've heard that newly trained techs are not trained on the older bikes (e.g. newer techs are not trained to tune an engine with carburetors). While much of this could be relatively easy to learn, I wonder if liability and cost of learning factor in why they choose to no longer work on older bikes. Time is money as they always say. While a tech could figure things out, it would most likely take longer at first. And, charging the customer extra while the tech learns would not be received well. So, from a cost stand point and shop efficiency, some probably choose not to work on older bikes. The owner(s) of a specific dealership may not want to take the risk of working on someone's bike and having something go wrong. That could be from the tech making a mistake and damaging a part that the dealership now has to replace to a bike leaving the shop with something not quite right.

Of course, the above is just a guess.
 
One reason/justification/excuse for dealers not wanting to work on 35 year old bikes is liability.

Not all old bikes are lovingly or concientiously maintained by their owners (especially the 5th, 6th, or 7th owners. Hoses could still be brittle originals, connectors and wires could be one more touch away from breaking. Many components can be ready to fail. Guess who gets blamed when a bike comes in for an oil change and the alternator stops working 3 days later. Customers are not always understanding. Tuperware mounts are old and brittle. A lot of things are NLA or have to come from Germany or take 6 to 9 months to get. Most owners of old bikes don't want to spend 50-150% of the value of the bike on a repair so the high profit jobs don't happen.

It can sometimes not be worth the risk to the dealers, so they just steer clear.





:dance:dance:dance
 
We’re seeing the same issues in the west regarding dealers refusing to service their brand because they’re out of date. In NorCA, Ozzies BMW, in Chico, still services BMW motorcycles, from old airheads to the latest and greatest. If it hasn’t already been done, maybe we should assemble a good list of independent mechanics and add it to our annual anonymous book. That leading link will be a fine addition. Don’t know anything about the Tractive suspension. Travel well Pete.

I’ll second your sentiment on Ozzie’s. I just bought a 2014 RT from a friend in Chico in May and had no problem getting it in for a quick check over, followed by a 12k service, including final drive, before riding it home to Maryland in July. I lived in Chico many years; though Ozzie has passed not so long ago, his tradition of good business and workmanship continues. In fact, I just arrived back in Chico last night for a two-week visit; a stop into Ozzies is on my list and I’ll probably borrow my brother’s GS to get there. :)
 
A list in the Anonymous Book

We’re seeing the same issues in the west regarding dealers refusing to service their brand because they’re out of date. In NorCA, Ozzies BMW, in Chico, still services BMW motorcycles, from old airheads to the latest and greatest. If it hasn’t already been done, maybe we should assemble a good list of independent mechanics and add it to our annual anonymous book. That leading link will be a fine addition. Don’t know anything about the Tractive suspension. Travel well Pete.

__________________________________________________________________________

That's a great idea, 6322
 
I’m not sure why a dealer would be losing money working on older bikes if they’re charging the same shop rate as for the newer ones and parts are available. The dealers I’ve worked for and spoke to said that the service was where the money was, not the new bike sales. I wonder if this is a move by corporate to force new bikes onto loyal BMW riders who are happy with what they have. Certainly lowers the marque.

:thumb

Good idea! Hope the Board is reading this.

E.
 
There is another issue. Drive by many auto repair shops and you often find a bunch of cars out back sitting for a long time. In many cases these are cars, fixed or half fixed, waiting for the owner to come up with the money to pay for the job or finishing the job. And all too often the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the vehicle and the owner says screw it and walks away abandoning the vehicle. I know a few shops that require money up front because of the risk of not getting paid.

I suspect that this is also true of repairs for some older motorcycles and contributes to dealers refusing to work on bikes where the cost of the work may exceed the value of the bike. Given shop rates and parts costs it is not hard to get upside down on an older bike.
 
There is another issue. Drive by many auto repair shops and you often find a bunch of cars out back sitting for a long time. In many cases these are cars, fixed or half fixed, waiting for the owner to come up with the money to pay for the job or finishing the job. And all too often the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the vehicle and the owner says screw it and walks away abandoning the vehicle. I know a few shops that require money up front because of the risk of not getting paid.

I suspect that this is also true of repairs for some older motorcycles and contributes to dealers refusing to work on bikes where the cost of the work may exceed the value of the bike. Given shop rates and parts costs it is not hard to get upside down on an older bike.

A point well made.
 
There is another issue. Drive by many auto repair shops and you often find a bunch of cars out back sitting for a long time. In many cases these are cars, fixed or half fixed, waiting for the owner to come up with the money to pay for the job or finishing the job. And all too often the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the vehicle and the owner says screw it and walks away abandoning the vehicle. I know a few shops that require money up front because of the risk of not getting paid.

I suspect that this is also true of repairs for some older motorcycles and contributes to dealers refusing to work on bikes where the cost of the work may exceed the value of the bike. Given shop rates and parts costs it is not hard to get upside down on an older bike.

Paul
Your spot on,
I once bought a late 70’s 450 Honda that had sat abandoned at our local airport for years, made it into a cafe BIKE, KNOWING FULL WELL THE COST INVOLVED UPFRONT, shop that did the work was super and I paid them the estimated cost before they even started work on it. All were happy
 
There is another issue. Drive by many auto repair shops and you often find a bunch of cars out back sitting for a long time. In many cases these are cars, fixed or half fixed, waiting for the owner to come up with the money to pay for the job or finishing the job. And all too often the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the vehicle and the owner says screw it and walks away abandoning the vehicle. I know a few shops that require money up front because of the risk of not getting paid.

I suspect that this is also true of repairs for some older motorcycles and contributes to dealers refusing to work on bikes where the cost of the work may exceed the value of the bike. Given shop rates and parts costs it is not hard to get upside down on an older bike.

That's a very good point. I had a Honda 750 Nighthawk prior to getting the RT. The local Honda shop required all anticipated parts to be ordered paid for prior to service. That limited the shop's financial risk primarily to the mechanic's hourly wage. I'm planning on getting the rims powder coated and I talked to the local BMW shop. That's the same approach they are taking with working on my wheels. The service department told me they no longer work on my bike's vintage, but the could replace tires and wheel bearings. I need to order the tires and wheel bearings from the parts department first.
 
I suppose when one thinks about it, the “sweet spot” for the dealer in terms of potential profit are those 3 to 10 year old premium motorcycles that occasionally require expensive replacement parts or maintenance. As long as the owner feels the bike is still worth fixing they will not refuse a costly repair bill when the alternative is essentially junking the bike. The dealer can avoid those potentially difficult situations by simply refusing to work on older machines.
 
I'll add to all this that the older generation of mechanics is retiring or already has. Sadly the current crop of parts replacers can sometimes hardly be called mechanics.
It seems to be tough for some not to have a computer tell them what to do and what part needs replacing....:stick So the older pre-computer bikes are too much of an effort for some..
I do realize that there are exceptions and that there are some good mechanics out there and so when you're lucky enough to find one, better hold on to him!
 
Checking "local" dealers for their take on servicing "older" bikes today. Sportland in Urbana, Il (260 miles) would be willing to check carbs, booking time three weeks out. SE Michigan is willing to look, but not on a ride in bases, need to drop off as their older mechanic has his own schedule (160 miles), Greater Cincinnati dealer has to have "older" bikes dropped off with a sorta open ended completion date (150 miles) and as noted earlier, Grand Rapids dealer really wasn't interested in pursuing my inquiry regarding checking steering bearings and balancing carbs. Called Indianapolis (125 miles) a few hours ago and left message, but no reply yet. So there are dealers out there willing to "look at older" bikes. However, each one needed to know the specific item being considered before they'd volunteer to do so.

A happy note to all this, received PM from MOA member who volunteered his services. He's only a short 90 miles away and doesn't need bike dropped off for an indefinite period of time. After we spoke via phone, I applied his wisdom and now high idle is gone. Sometimes it's the simplest things, like sorting out idle screws. Ya got to love this forum!
 
I think that at some point (age) a bike leaves dealer care- either by virtue of the dealer unwillingness, or the fact that the owner realizes it;s an olsder bike and needs a mechanic who is familier with that generation. Finding that mechanic can be hard but they are out there...they know more than any BMW mechanic about that age bike and it's quirks and what components tend to go next...they also have sources for parts- proper even OEM or NOS!!I don't know what age bike that SHOULD be. A ten year old bike doesn't seem old enough to need that grisley old mechanic- but necessity may change things. The guy who built my sons chopper ('78 CB750) is a carb guy. he jetted and fiddled, and adjusted the three carbs on my 2004 Triumph Thunderbird to perfection- it's never run so well. He isn't a Triumph guy particularly but he's a mechanic trained and in love with older bikes. There's a Harley shop nearby KNOWN for their cam and engine work-

My RT is 2016 so I have a while before I have to find the BMW guy around here...even though I'm in the middle of upstate NY I KNOW there is one- probably no more than an hour and a quarter from me, coincidently, about the same distance I am from Maxx. I'll ask other owners, the dealer, and online well before I NEED him (or her).
 
Just found out that one of the local dealers here in the SF Bay Area will no longer work on bikes older than ten years. They send out the wheels to another shop for tire changes even if you bring the wheels in off the bike. Luckily, there are other dealers in the Bay Area.
 
My Mercedes dealer has shop rate posted:
167/hr
200/hr vintage models
(Vintage is over 25 years old)
problem solved?
 
As far as I know most dealers will not work on older bikes because they simply have to draw the line somewhere. The dealer does not have an unlimited amount of hours available in the shop. They have only so many techs and there is not a huge amount of techs lined up at the door looking for work. I would bet if most dealers could hire more help and work on older bikes, they would.

Most every business is dealing with the same issues, and it was worse with COVID. With a limited number of shop time hours available they just simply work on the new models because they don't have the man hours to work on everything that would come through the door.

I had this explained to me from the owner of a HD dealership. He said they keep very busy working on new bikes with owners that trade often. He also said they don't work on older bikes because they can have an older bike come in and it turns into a serious problem and the repairs "total" the bike and they can't recover the shop expense. Plus guys will bring in a bike, they spend a couple hours working on it preparing and estimate, it is "totaled" and the customer never picks it up. So now they have a couple hours of labor, and a junk bike to deal with. More likely to happen on a $5,000 ride that a $20,000 or $30,000 ride.
 
My Mercedes dealer has shop rate posted:
167/hr
200/hr vintage models
(Vintage is over 25 years old)
problem solved?

Now that's a good idea. As shop owner, independent car repair, we get the odd customer in with the older car or custom. Every thing that has been said here applies. If I actually agree to try and repair the older car we go in with the understanding that the cost could easily exceed the value of the car. If not then the car gets towed before we spend any serious time. The odd time we actually get the Ok to fix and are pretty sure there is money at the end, We usually find that many hands have been in there before causing added issues and some times the issue we are trying to fix. The cost escalates fast. No one ends up being happy in the end.
 
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