bargaining for a new bike

A couple of years ago I retired and my wife and I moved to Cornwall. I
sold my car after a while, since it became obvious that we didn't need
two cars, but next year I'm going to buy a bike, because I haven't had
one for ages. Favourite at the moment is the Suzuki GSR600, for the
excellent reason that it is very pretty. Only in my opinion,
obviously, but then, that's the opinion that matters.
Now, I'm used to going into a Midlands car dealership, asking how much
they want for a new car, falling about with laughter and then telling
them that the dealers down the road will give me a much more
substantial discount off the list price. I don't know if that works in
this case. There are far fewer motorcycle franchises, especially down
here, and I don't know if they're used to people effectively making
them an offer for brand new machines.
So, what do you think? How much bargaining is normal, bearing in mind
that I actually want to end up with the bike?

Geoff Bayes
http://freespace.virgin.net/geoff.bayes/

 

Surely if you can afford to pay the sticker price (and are willing to
pay the sticker price), you should walk out with a bike whether they
accept your offer or not?

But bargaining is normal, yes, and at the moment you should be able to
negotiate a very good price indeed.

 

Last time I bought a new bike I got a cash price from dealer A,
told dealer B who made a better offer, then went back to A and paid
a price I was happy with. Dealer A closed down a year or so later. ...

Just hope the recession is still going on next year as I'd quite like
an '09 gixxer at a decent discount and 0% finance.

 

Yep, cash. Plus, depending on what it comes with, I might want them to
fit a hugger, belly pan and crash bobbins.
And, apart from my old helmet, which is still around somewhere, I
shall also need a coat, boots, paddock stand, security chain, etc.
Those are local purchases, though, for obvious reasons.

Geoff Bayes
http://freespace.virgin.net/geoff.bayes/

 

I've found motorcycle dealers different to cars. If buying a new bike,
they'd knock something off. You sometimes have a better chance of
getting accessories at cost & fitted, as there is greater mark up on
these items. For second hand bikes I was really surprised to find
several dealers wouldn't budge on price at all. This is the experience
of a couple of guys at work as well. Probably the biggest problem is
we'd all travelled to see the bike. The dealer did advise to sort the
price out before setting off. Still he gave the bike a full service,
MOT, new chain at no extra cost a new front tyre at cost. The bike was
below guide price for the age and condition, so not a dead loss.

Probably worth having a look at some guide mags and checking out prices
on Auto Trader.

Tim