Should you expect a discount if paying cash for a motorcycle

[oxbow1]

In my experiance,
last week I went to a Kawasaki dealership to look at the Vulcan 500.
The MSRP on the bike was $5040.00.
I said whats the best price out the door for this bike?
he ran through tax, title, mv, ect ect.
and it was nearly$6000.00

I put $500.00 in cash on his desk and told him I would be back in an hour with $4000.00 more in cash if he would take that for the bike.
He said thats not enough and read the list of fees to me again.
I picked up my money and started to walk out he said sorry we can't help you out.by the time I got to the door I could hear his father(the owner)
asking him if he was crazy, he chased me out into the parking lot and said he wanted to talk to me I said too late I'll keep my old bike and play alot of golf.
and thats how I decided to keep my 93 Nighthawk

[RhadamYgg]

No...they actually do better money-wise if you finance through them, that's why you negotiate the price before telling them how you'll pay for it. But right now you might not do better than MSRP on a Ninja because they are in demand, but 6 grand? Definitely good that you walked away. You really can do better than that.

Is buying used not an option? You can get one 2-3 years old for a whole lot less than new, and they're reliable enough that your risks would be low. And at the much lower price, if you did need repairs in the future, you'd have that cash you were going to pay for new...

Now the Rebel is a pretty sweet bike, but you're more likely to want something with more power a lot sooner than you would the Ninja, and if I recall, you like the sportier looking bikes--? It's still tons of fun, either way.

Well, here is the thing. If you buy it as soon as they get it - they never make the interest payments. It is really weird, but when they have stock on their lot or building - they own it - and they make payments to the manufacturer.

So, that is why they push to sell things at the end of the month - they don't have to make the next interest payment on the motorcycle.

The people that make the money on the financing - is the financial institution - they might make a finders fee to the dealership, but that should be it.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Thumper is right you will save money if you finance through them. That is how it was when I bought my Ninja.

Also don't get the LoJack for it unless you plan on keeping the bike for a very VERY long time. I highly doubt anyone will steal your ninja because frankly it's really cheap.

Why go through the trouble of stealing it and getting rid of the serial numbers or whatever these nefarious people do when the resell value is till going to be LESS than retail.

That's the point of buying "hot merchandise" to get it cheap.

Now if you have your Honda 600 CBR RR yeah I guess having a LoJack wouldn't be a bad idea.

Yeah, I'm not going to get lojack if I get a new Ninja 250 - it doesn't make sense to spend nearly a third of the new-bike price for something to help you save it if it is stolen.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

I had a similar situation. Two weekends ago, I went to look for a Ninja 250. MSRP was $2999.99 for the last 2007 they had, which automatically is $500 cheaper than the 2008 model.

So I went with the 2007, was paying with cold hard cash and started negotiating. I got them down to $2521 on the bike price. I was pretty happy with myself, THEN I got to the "deal room" aka financing room. First I had to deny all the mandatory "Do you want LoJack, do you want an extended warranty, do you want a service warranty, do you want GAP insurance" "crumb". They actually asked me if I wanted GAP insurance. HELLO "exceptional people", I AM PAYING CASH... lol.

Anyhow, after I got thru that I took a look at the contract. They were going to charge me $681 in freight, and $225 in dealer prep!! I was irate that they would try to screw me over like that. I got up to leave, then the guy told me he could do better and took the freight down to $350 and the dealer prep down to $125. It still seemed higher than I wanted, but not exorbitant like it was.

So that's where it ended up... does anybody know what an honest rate is for dealer prep and freight is? I presume dealerships probably rob people all the time when it comes to those items.

I might aim to do something like you did. But used is starting to look really good right about now.

BTW those first prices for those fees they gave you - are much higher than what I was quoted. I'm glad you talked them down.

RhadamYgg

[oxbow1]

Rhaddam, did you get the PM I sent you about the 04 ninja?

[RhadamYgg]

I'm sure any deal you may have gotten on the purchase price at kawasaki was outweighed by interest expense, finance charge, etc. Somehow, the dealer made money on the deal. True, I did not take into account incentives that dealers may recieve from financing companies. But generally, cash now is better than cash later, thus purchasing with cash is generally preferred by dealers.

Sorry, but I don't think that is true at all, even in our depressed economy. Financing a bike or car will always be preferrable to a dealer. They don't worry for one second about weather you will default on the loan. That's the financing institutions problem, not theirs. Financing of motor vehicles has always been and will always be one of the main things that keeps most dealerships in business. Cars especially are not selling anywhere near as well as they were at this time last year, so you will see more and more "attractive" financing offers on new cars so dealerships can stay afloat. This is not a cash economy and has not been for some time. A dealer knows he will make out better on the sale if you finance your vehicle through him. No dealer is happy to see a cash customer. Today's economy is all about a good credit rating, not weather you actually have the cash to back it up.

The attractive financing is only to bring in customers to buy vehicles, not a means to profit in itself. They hate paying for vehicles on their lot that aren't moving.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Rhaddam, did you get the PM I sent you about the 04 ninja?

Not yet, but I will, thanks.

RhadamYgg

[oxbow1]

I'll hang out and wait

[RhadamYgg]

I'm sure any deal you may have gotten on the purchase price at kawasaki was outweighed by interest expense, finance charge, etc. Somehow, the dealer made money on the deal. True, I did not take into account incentives that dealers may recieve from financing companies. But generally, cash now is better than cash later, thus purchasing with cash is generally preferred by dealers.

Sorry, but I don't think that is true at all, even in our depressed economy. Financing a bike or car will always be preferrable to a dealer. They don't worry for one second about weather you will default on the loan. That's the financing institutions problem, not theirs. Financing of motor vehicles has always been and will always be one of the main things that keeps most dealerships in business. Cars especially are not selling anywhere near as well as they were at this time last year, so you will see more and more "attractive" financing offers on new cars so dealerships can stay afloat. This is not a cash economy and has not been for some time. A dealer knows he will make out better on the sale if you finance your vehicle through him. No dealer is happy to see a cash customer. Today's economy is all about a good credit rating, not weather you actually have the cash to back it up.

I don't understand entirely what you're saying here...

If the buyer pays cash, then there is no loan for the dealer to "worry about".

In any case, cash is cash - whether it comes from the buyer or from the bank. The dealership (aside of some incentives) won't get rich off of interest rates if you pay with a check from your financing bank.

Financing is always worse - you lose in interest - period. If you can manage to come up with a few grand for a bike purchase, then go for it. If you need to finance, however, try a credit union or the like. Avoid financing with the dealership - that is the same as a credit card, and any boo-boo you make along the way can cause that interest rate to climb as high as 25%. Be careful and read those fine lines.

Cheers,
Loonette

Thanks, good advice, I was thinking cash or finance at the dealership. But the problem is in my investigation online for financing, a lot of these places classify motorcycles with cars - and a minimum load amount of $7500.

I mean, hell for $7500 I could get one hell of a bike - and then drop it. )

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

So that's where it ended up... does anybody know what an honest rate is for dealer prep and freight is? I presume dealerships probably rob people all the time when it comes to those items.

$0. I prefer to deal in an "out the door" price whenever I'm working with big ticket items. Is the dealer planning on selling you motorcycle parts in a box that you have to pick up at the factory? You'll notice he was able to cut those charges down rather quickly. That's because they are discretionary charges which the salesperson uses to get back to a price you'd previously negotiated away from.

The main reason I say this, is that it is much easier to get a comparison when you know all of the costs. Basically get a dealer to say, here is your price plus Tax, Title and License which should be fixed charges based on your region. You can then use this price to approach other dealers with. When I bought my bike I actually used the phone a lot more than I showed up to kick tires. If you know what you want, call 6 different dealers with the price you have now and I'd bet they would be willing to beat that price. Repeat this process until dealers say they won't beat a price. (Then maybe ask if they could throw in a helmet or something instead...) After that it's just a matter of deciding which dealership you like best. The one that tried to throw in the setup charges would be at the bottom of my list. Keep in mind, that when you call, the salesmen should feel like they only has one chance to make the sale, and that's if they can give you a price that makes you want to come in. If they ask you to come in before negotiating simply state that you know exactly what you want and really don't need to sit on the bike, you've got another offer lined up and just want to see if they can beat it. They should be willing to work with you because knowing what you want, a few minutes on the phone could represent a very quick sale if you can agree upon a price, just make sure they state that the price as quoted will only have taxes and other regional fees applied.

Wow - you are da man. That sounds like a great plan, but I suck at this type of thing.

RhadamYgg