Dealership Vacuum

[exgman]

Take a look here and see if this is a warm invitation to become a BMW dealer in the US: https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/service/become_a_dealer.html

 

[Visian]

Take a look here and see if this is a warm invitation to become a BMW dealer in the US: https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/service/become_a_dealer.html

Honestly, it’s kind of sterile to me, but who knows how well it appeals to people with the money to pay what it takes to sell BMWs.

The testimonial video I found on the page (below) is quite interesting, it talks to the importance of each dealer being different. I can remember when BMW NA came out with the edict that all BMW dealers had to look essentially the same. (and that new same look was going to cost you 7 figures…)

For people who know, the relationship between dealers and the mother ship (and the Vater-ship) is quite interesting…

 

[nc5p]

Albuquerque and Santa Fe have been combined BMW car and bike dealers for at least a decade now, and I usually posted you didn't have have a better bike dealer. When this transition occurred, it included buying out the 2nd longest in business BMW motorcycle dealer in the USA ... a dealer one couldn't trust to successfully perform an oil change. We were really pleased.

Recently, the enthusiast sole owner sold out to a big dealership chain, and so far they've maintained the same excellence on the motorcycle sides.

Perhaps this experience could encourage other car dealers to take on bikes. IMHO the most important thing is running the dealership with understanding of German automotive culture as opposed to attempting to force 'merikun iron experience into the equation ... which doesn't work. I think the car presence helps and I don't think Kawazukis in the same dealership does. Stand alone BMW bike dealerships are questionable in medium to smaller markets.

My buying experience (new) was pretty good there. I never had the chance to utilize their service since work took me back to Arizona for two years, then over here to Texas since. I rode the F800GS to Scottsdale on a New Year's day, a great ride even if it started out at ten degrees. I still own a house in the North Valley near the balloon park but my daughter lives in it now.

 

[fmdualexhaust]

Most days I wish we could go back to Butler&Smith and Mom and Pop dealers.

 

[slipstream]

This thread is interesting to me on several levels, in that I posted a similar thread after moving to the Charlotte, NC area 2 years ago, and had a rather negative experience with the local BMW dealership. I say "similar" in that many of the responses on this particular thread are alerting fellow BMWMOA members of sub-standard customer service at dealerships that don't deserve our business.

I posted a query to the forum (2 years ago or so), wondering if other BMWMOA members also had a bad experience with the said major, big dog, huge (the name cannot be said out-loud) dealership in the Charlotte area (*cough*), since I was new to the area, and genuinely wanted to know if I shouldn't give them my hard-earned money.

Well, the moderator accused me of "trolling", and stated that the dealership in question was a frequent poster on this forum, and was a supporter of BMWMOA...so shut up. As a side-note, I've had another rather negative service experience with the dealership, with the result being one of the senior managers taking my side, and apologizing. I take my bikes all the way up to Asheville, NC now (a 3 hour ride), despite the fact that the Charlotte dealership is 7 miles away.

Bottomline: The forums should be used by us, BMWMOA dues-paying members, to share information to better our BMW riding experience...not censured to accommodate the narrative.

 

[pglaves]

This thread is interesting to me on several levels, in that I posted a similar thread after moving to the Charlotte, NC area 2 years ago, and had a rather negative experience with the local BMW dealership. I say "similar" in that many of the responses on this particular thread are alerting fellow BMWMOA members of sub-standard customer service at dealerships that don't deserve our business.

I posted a query to the forum (2 years ago or so), wondering if other BMWMOA members also had a bad experience with the said major, big dog, huge (the name cannot be said out-loud) dealership in the Charlotte area (*cough*), since I was new to the area, and genuinely wanted to know if I shouldn't give them my hard-earned money.

Well, the moderator accused me of "trolling", and stated that the dealership in question was a frequent poster on this forum, and was a supporter of BMWMOA...so shut up. As a side-note, I've had another rather negative service experience with the dealership, with the result being one of the senior managers taking my side, and apologizing. I take my bikes all the way up to Asheville, NC now (a 3 hour ride), despite the fact that the Charlotte dealership is 7 miles away.

Bottomline: The forums should be used by us, BMWMOA dues-paying members, to share information to better our BMW riding experience...not censured to accommodate the narrative.

Can you provide a link to that thread. Please. I would like to read it.

 

[slipstream]

Can you provide a link to that thread. Please. I would like to read it.

No, I'll let you find it...and yes, I know who you are. (I sent you a copy of the discourse between the "moderator" and me...there's a saying "Don't piss on the Pope while he's blessing you"...so I've no illusions that you will be impartial.)


EDIT: The original post's discussion was a bit thread-jacked, by other member's discussion of dealership ownership transfers and customer service failures.

Any fellow BMWMOA member who has to travel hundreds of miles/kilometers to get to a good, reputable dealership has my empathy and sympathy.

My point was, and is: if there are BMW dealerships that fail repeatedly, and have no loyalty to their customers, then we should be able to share that information freely amongst the membership, despite the moderator.

 

[jammess]

Most days I wish we could go back to Butler&Smith and Mom and Pop dealers.

Oh man, isn't that the truth? I think there is a lot of truth to what someone here said a few posts ago about the rapid rate of changes in technology making it so hard for the tech guys to keep up and effectively solve customer issues. The thing is I just can't see how much of this makes sense and I don't see how it has improved life on planet earth in a way that is productive for most people. Electronic fuel injection and ignition control are, to me, the last meaningful technical advances in mc/auto technology with the rest just a combination of, for the most part, whistles and bells which I prefer living without which is becoming harder and harder to do as time passes.

Yesterday wife and I are out on our daily 2 mile walk when our neighbor stops next to us in his whistle and bells loaded Tesla Model Y and roles down his window. Next thing we hear is what sounds like someone passing huge quantities of gas. It turns out to be one of his rides computer generated sound affects that my neighbor is so proud of. This did not make my day and I did not find it at all amusing. I swear to god I would sooner walk through purgatory than be dumb enough to waste a red cent on a vehicle like that!! BMW is, imo, going down this high tech road in much the same fashion as auto makers like Tesla and I just won't have any part of it. I would sooner walk first!

There, done with today's commentary on the sorry state of technology today.

 

[fmdualexhaust]

Too bad we are on opposite ends of the country.
We could have a scotch.

 

[Visian]

Yesterday wife and I are out on our daily 2 mile walk when our neighbor stops next to us in his whistle and bells loaded Tesla Model Y and roles down his window. Next thing we hear is what sounds like someone passing huge quantities of gas. It turns out to be one of his rides computer generated sound affects that my neighbor is so proud of. This did not make my day and I did not find it at all amusing. I swear to god I would sooner walk through purgatory than be dumb enough to waste a red cent on a vehicle like that!! BMW is, imo, going down this high tech road in much the same fashion as auto makers like Tesla and I just won't have any part of it. I would sooner walk first!

Let me be sure I have this straight... the Tesla started making fart noises?

 

[pglaves]

Let me be sure I have this straight... the Tesla started making fart noises?

Yes! The "horn" can be set to make the sound of a very loud, long fart.

Reinforcing my oft-repeated refrain,"Ain't technology wonderful."

 

[Visian]

Yes! The "horn" can be set to make the sound of a very loud, long fart.

Reinforcing my oft-repeated refrain,"Ain't technology wonderful."

Awesome. (why don’t I know this?)

We once pitched IBM to produce a series of interactive gross games involving farts, burps, pukes, boogers, etc. You should have seen their faces in the meeting. But kids would love it.

We finally got a job to produce a Burp Machine for Cartoon Network.

What better thing to do with technology?

 

[20774]

Awesome. (why don’t I know this?)

Shoulda asked ChatGPT!

 

[jammess]

Too bad we are on opposite ends of the country.
We could have a scotch.

I'd go for that.. Wife's from Rochester but me I'm a native of OR. I like upstate NY, be great riding country kind of like this used to be until the great northern migration occurred in recent years. Grrrr... We spent the night in Naples, NY in the Finger Lakes where I embarrassed myself. I was standing on the sidewalk admiring a fine old victorian home where there was a sign in the front-yard that said, "NO Frack". I said to the guy standing next to me..."Man, this guy Frack must be a real winner because nobody likes him". Then I later found out about fracking which turns out not to refer to an actual human being as it were. Anyway the guy I said that to just looked at me and said, "You obviously aren't from around here". I definitely had hoof-in-mouth disease that day. It was the look on the guys face that really stays with me as if to say...man, what boat did you sail in on.

 

[stevenrankin]

Rochester

LOL, I have a new patio to break in this summer, sometime I have scotch on hand. St.

 

[motormike]

Yesterday wife and I are out on our daily 2 mile walk when our neighbor stops next to us in his whistle and bells loaded Tesla Model Y and roles down his window. Next thing we hear is what sounds like someone passing huge quantities of gas. It turns out to be one of his rides computer generated sound affects that my neighbor is so proud of. This did not make my day and I did not find it at all amusing. I
.

It's my understanding that the new turbo V6 Toyota Tundra has a fake "V8 rumble" sound effect piped into the cabin. But at least the owner can turn it off.

 

[BBrowning]

Thank the absolute powers that I have retired from the Auto Repair World. Towards the End I was just getting angry working on this new ****. I have always said, " Just because you can doesn't mean you have to"