Why do the motorcycle dealers rip us off compared to the car dealers?

Anytime I can find a part number that is shared by the car side of BMW, I buy it from a car dealership. Why? Because it will be about 30% cheaper. There are many BMW car dealers who offer parts discounts for everybody, and all of them offer a token discount for BMWCCA members. I can't even think of BMW moto dealer that offers even a token 10% discount for MOA membership. What gives?

More cars thus more dealers and online retailers and aftermarket companies allows for more competition thus lower car part prices vs small volume, small aftermarket and small dealer networks for bikes.

Simple business economics.
They sell way more cars than bikes. Overhead is higher for bikes.
Personally I will spend the five or ten dollars more per part, can't imagine your going to find a bike part more than a hundred dollars-that will work on our bike, to help keep my dealer in business.

richshayegan said:

Anytime I can find a part number that is shared by the car side of BMW, I buy it from a car dealership. Why? Because it will be about 30% cheaper. There are many BMW car dealers who offer parts discounts for everybody, and all of them offer a token discount for BMWCCA members. I can't even think of BMW moto dealer that offers even a token 10% discount for MOA membership. What gives?

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When you get a chance, maybe you can fill in your profile a bit so others in your area, who are happy with their supplier, can share the source.

sal said:

Simple business economics.
They sell way more cars than bikes. Overhead is higher for bikes.
Personally I will spend the five or ten dollars more per part, can't imagine your going to find a bike part more than a hundred dollars-that will work on our bike, to help keep my dealer in business.

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IMO, Sal has some good advice. If you can find a dealer that you can develop a relationship with, you may be surprised at the deals that can be had.
OM

sal said:

Simple business economics.
They sell way more cars than bikes. Overhead is higher for bikes.
Personally I will spend the five or ten dollars more per part, can't imagine your going to find a bike part more than a hundred dollars-that will work on our bike, to help keep my dealer in business.

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On big ticket items you can't find at a car dealership, the German market parts prices are WAY cheaper (e.g. $145 for a valve cover in Germany vs $258 for the same valve cover in the US).

richshayegan said:

On big ticket items you can't find at a car dealership, the German market parts prices are WAY cheaper (e.g. $145 for a valve cover in Germany vs $258 for the same valve cover in the US).

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Very true. I bought a top case and lock for a R1200RT from a dealer in Germany for $600 delivered to my front door. The dealer cost including tax was close to $1,000.
,

Omega Man said:

IMO, Sal has some good advice. If you can find a dealer that you can develop a relationship with, you may be surprised at the deals that can be had.
OM

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Or, on the other hand, the dealer could treat all customers the same. Then, those folks that aren't part of the "in" crowd don't get pissed when they find that the "in" crowd gets a better price.
IMHO, non-standard pricing is an excellent method of telling new customers to look elsewhere for a dealer.

36654 said:

Or, on the other hand, the dealer could treat all customers the same. Then, those folks that aren't part of the "in" crowd don't get pissed when they find that the "in" crowd gets a better price.
IMHO, non-standard pricing is an excellent method of telling new customers to look elsewhere for a dealer.

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Not what I was getting at-really. Anyone that has operated in the retail world knows how customers actually act. When a customer is reasonable, courteous and respects the dealer, "generally" it works both ways.
It could be as simple as the dealership staying a couple of minutes late to get a customer a part they really needed.
IMO, if every time a customer has to go to a dealer with the attitude that "I'm gonna git screwed again", that transmits to the dealer..........And then why fight it? It would be time to change to a more suitable dealer whether it's parts, service or price.
YMMV
OM

In Albuquerque/Santa Fe, car club (national) members get a discount on the car side and (local) bike club members get a discount on the bike side. There aren't enough common parts beyond light bulbs between cars and bikes to make it worth discussing.

For the car club, national dues pay for membership in local chapter. Doesn't work that way with MOA and RA.

lkchris said:

There aren't enough common parts beyond light bulbs between cars and bikes to make it worth discussing.

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$20 saved on oil and filter alone.

lkchris said:

In Albuquerque/Santa Fe, car club (national) members get a discount on the car side and (local) bike club members get a discount on the bike side. There aren't enough common parts beyond light bulbs between cars and bikes to make it worth discussing.

For the car club, national dues pay for membership in local chapter. Doesn't work that way with MOA and RA.

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Bouncing around the BMW NA website, I now see that BMWNA is offering a rebate to BMWCCA members on the purchase of a new bike. Someday, I might regret dropping the BMWCCA membership, but it will be a small amount of sorrow.......

Since I started riding BMW's in the late 1970's, at least 9 dealers I did business with in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana no longer exist.

I have been doing business with Mathias BMW, New Philadelphia, Ohio for nearly 20 years. Excellent relationship, outstanding service and fair treatment. Whenever possible, I purchase from that dealership.

Yes, it may cost me more, but I am able and willing to pay to keep that excellent dealer operating.

GeorgeK1200RS said:

Since I started riding BMW's in the late 1970's, at least 9 dealers I did business with in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana no longer exist.

I have been doing business with Mathias BMW, New Philadelphia, Ohio for nearly 20 years. Excellent relationship, outstanding service and fair treatment. Whenever possible, I purchase from that dealership.

Yes, it may cost me more, but I am able and willing to pay to keep that excellent dealer operating.

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I guess if my local dealer could ship me parts, or wasn't such a pain to get to (not their fault, this area has bad infrastructure and I'm on the wrong side of a tunnel that destroys the traffic pattern), I would support them. Maybe I just don't feel the love since I order parts online from a dealer far away. I just view it as a business transaction, and while I'll pay some premium for service, when there is a way for me to get good service and 30% lower prices (and about 50% lower if it's big enough to be worth buying from Germany), it's hard to justify.

I support my local dealer as much as I can. I just had to order all new gear because of a crash. The gear cost about the same as if I had ordered it online. I did have to pay sales tax that I would not have had to pay had I bought online. My local dealer is 25 miles from me & they treat me very well. I send them business every time I can.

Everybody wants a deal.

Motorcycle shops are a tough way to make a living. We had every major brand in Santa Cruz until the economy went south. Every dealership folded, BMW, Honda, Ducati,HD, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Only KTM survived and that is only because it is a very old dealership that I'm pretty sure owns the very small building it is in and the brother of the owner runs and owns the boat business in the other half. I think only the main mechanic, Tom, is not a family member. Overhead for them must be lower than most.

I tried my best to help keep what was a fantastic local BMW shop in business by buying from them as much as I could, they folded.

rad said:

Everybody wants a deal.

Motorcycle shops are a tough way to make a living. We had every major brand in Santa Cruz until the economy went south. Every dealership folded, BMW, Honda, Ducati,HD, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Only KTM survived and that is only because it is a very old dealership that I'm pretty sure owns the very small building it is in and the brother of the owner runs and owns the boat business in the other half. I think only the main mechanic, Tom, is not a family member. Overhead for them must be lower than most.

I tried my best to help keep what was a fantastic local BMW shop in business by buying from them as much as I could, they folded.

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I've got news for you, more local dealers have folded because of corporate BMW than the economy. I'm connected to one in particular that has been a "mom and pop", shop for nearly forty years, only handling BMWs, their parts and service. They never hesitated to go out on the road to gather up some broken down bike and rider, anytime. Then they brought them home, put them up and fed them, without question.

They have done more for the BMW marque than corporate ever has and are about to be forced out because they don't fit the corporate model. They've told my dealer that if they can't fit the corporate model into their existing building, to sell it and buy a bigger one. Naturally corporate wouldn't contribute anything to that other than their demands.

They've also been told that they can't sell anything not BMW in their shop including riding gear, helmets, accessories or other farmers often found at a dealership. They've also been directed to remove from their walls all of the owners trophies, photos and racing memorabilia.

Form your own oppinion. I like riding BMWs and have for better than forty years. If there was any way I could continue without supporting corporate I would. Ride easy, gp

richshayegan said:

$20 saved on oil and filter alone.

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There are no common filters nor motor oil between BMW bikes and BMW cars.

lkchris said:

There are no common filters nor motor oil between BMW bikes and BMW cars.

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Correct, but for some reason you could still buy motor oil and filter from a BMW car dealer. Apparently they very recently made it so you can't buy the oil from a car dealer though Still can get the filter.

6322 said:

I've got news for you, more local dealers have folded because of corporate BMW than the economy. I'm connected to one in particular that has been a "mom and pop", shop for nearly forty years, only handling BMWs, their parts and service.

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Yet in New Mexico we had what at the time of their demise was the 2nd longest in business BMW motorcycle dealer in the USA. We were lucky if they ever hired a mechanic that could successfully do an oil change.

They were a multi-line dealer, but locally owned so fit the description "mom and pop." Can't say they were ever popular with BMW owners, however.

When the new BMW car dealer arrived with locations in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the Santa Fe location immediately began selling motorcycles, too, and almost immediately sold more bikes per year than the long-running Albuquerque dealer.

It took some years for all the negotiations to conclude for the Albuquerque car dealership to finally be able to buy out the old bike dealer. (They had their building ready years in advance.) FWIW, the old dealer ceased operation all together, not just the BMW bike part.

So, I wouldn't get so excited about the "look" of dealerships as much as their sales volume. I rather think that's more important to BMW. Seems to me if you're small you're small and your sales volume reflects that. If your volume is great, you can grow to something more than "mom and pop." Think that's legend on shaky ground.

On the car side, our dealership is one of the Top 30 rated BMW dealers in the USA. (http://www.bmwblog.com/2015/03/05/bmw-of-north-america-announces-best-dealership-awards-3/) Don't think BMW has a similar award for bike dealers. But the point is, you're not going to be tops by not pleasing your customers and this attitude translates to this dealer's bike side, too. Personally, I think this works well to a significant extent because both products are luxury products. I'd worry most about dealerships combining luxury products with WalMart level products, i.e. Honda, etc. Not sure the "mom and pop" concept works so well with luxury products, either. It's not 1970 any more and BMW doesn't sell quirky Airheads at low volumes any more either.

For those lamenting "mom and pop" operations ...
http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-abundance-experience/

6322 said:

I've got news for you, more local dealers have folded because of corporate BMW than the economy. I'm connected to one in particular that has been a "mom and pop", shop for nearly forty years, only handling BMWs, their parts and service. They never hesitated to go out on the road to gather up some broken down bike and rider, anytime. Then they brought them home, put them up and fed them, without question.

They have done more for the BMW marque than corporate ever has and are about to be forced out because they don't fit the corporate model. They've told my dealer that if they can't fit the corporate model into their existing building, to sell it and buy a bigger one. Naturally corporate wouldn't contribute anything to that other than their demands.

They've also been told that they can't sell anything not BMW in their shop including riding gear, helmets, accessories or other farmers often found at a dealership. They've also been directed to remove from their walls all of the owners trophies, photos and racing memorabilia.

Form your own oppinion. I like riding BMWs and have for better than forty years. If there was any way I could continue without supporting corporate I would. Ride easy, gp

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THIS is the issue. I was in the auto industry years ago and saw the start of this, the small dealers that were friendly, took care of their customers and were rewarded with customer loyalty and sold tons of vehicles were forced to expand or sell. That lead to the mega dealers that don't give a crap about anything except to make enough $$$ to keep getting bigger. Many don't care for their employees or customers.

I never understood this. How many people will not buy a BMW motorcycle because the closest dealer is over a hundred miles away? I live in Western NY the only dealer is in Rochester, if they were not there it would be over 3 hours to the next dealer, in the HIGHLY populated state. No Buffalo, no Syracuse, no Erie PA, all major cities along the I 90!

How many more bikes would BMW sell if there were more small dealers? My guess is 2 to 3 times what they sell today.

But blame the Auto industry, they started the tread, maybe someday new blood will get into the marketing departments and wake up to the untapped potential of availability, the benefits of small friendly dealers and the loyalty they produce.