Honda/Yamaha dealer recommendation

I'm in Dallas. I met a guy tonight at Keller's, who was riding a new
Yamaha ?-Star. I think it was Royal-Star, just one step down from the full
Venture.

Anyway, he was describing his experience(s) at the selling dealer, in
Mississippi. He seemed to have a great testimonial for this dealer.
He seemed to think the travel was well worth the effort to save on
his purchase.

So, I thought I'd plug the dealer here for anyone looking at a near
future purchase, or distant future purchase, for that matter.

Here's the dealer's URL:
http://www.lakehillmotors.com/

I know there were some folks here looking at FJR13 shortages, and
I was told this dealer had plenty. However, when I went to the site,
I didn't see anything about this bike. Maybe, I just missed it.

I'm not recommending the prices, just passing along information.
Maybe someone here has some additional comments on this dealer?

Anyway, standard disclaimers apply:
I don't have any financial, familial, political, biological, paternal,
genealogical, matrimonial, surgical, ancestral, natural, medical,
or unrevealed connections/interests to anyone described here.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[snip of spam]

[insert new spam]

Sorry Gary, there's no such thing as "shortages" on a bike that has
ALWAYS been sold via the Priority Delivery Program. Everyone who put
their cash down during the order "window" got their bike when that
year's deliveries began. Always exactly as many bikes delivered as
ordered. No shortages. If someone's looking at a new "floor model" be
sure that it wasn't bought using a phantom buyer and then put on the
floor by the dealership. If bought during the PdP, then the dealer is
required to record transfer to the buyers within 15 days of delivery or
take a financial hit on the bike. That means the warranty clock starts
ticking at that time because Yamaha is told by the dealership that the
bike was "sold".

If someone didn't order during the Window they do without, find used, or
find a bike that someone ordered then backed out on (again verifiy who
and when the warranty was assigned to and how much is left on it). In
some cases, some dealers ordered extra bikes using phantom buyers names
or employees names and then resold them when they arrived. There has
never been a flooring program for the FJR in the US. The problem with
the dealer lying to Yamaha that they had a buyer for x phantom bikes is
the question about if they would also lie to their customers if they
were willing to lie to their business partner (Yamaha Corp).

In 2005, Yamaha opened up a second PdP window with the announcement that
there would be NO 2006 PdP window (which tends to be around May of each
preceding year with delivery beginning around August of the preceding
year). So, for US 2006 models, delivery would begin in August of 2005.
Yamaha is wanting to synchronize all model year deliveries world wide.
By skipping the "us 2006" PdP program they may be planning to drop the
PdP and go to a typical flooring program with dealers. Nice for those
who can't make up their mind in advance or who want to window shop, but
that means the end of the killer deals to those who can commit to a
purchase 6 months in advance.

What's meant by "killer deals" and knock out dealerships? Try 2003
models (non-abs) for $9999.00 when all Dallas/Ft. Worth dealerships
wouldn't budge off MSRP (plus delivery, setup, and other fees that were
included in Yamaha's dealer cost of $9200.00). MSRP that first year was
about $11499.00. In 2004, Yamaha increased their pricing and these same
knock out dealers passed only the increase on to their customers; still
the same mark up. DFW dealerships, under the mistaken impression that
they were selling a "limited production" bike, also maintained their
full MSRP+additional fees pricing scheme; oblivious to the fact that
knock out dealers were selling 30 and 40 FJRs to their 4. That pricing
continued through to the last PdP order of 2005 for those willing to
drive to Cullman, AL (D&H Cycles), pay cash or cashiers check (no credit
cards and no financing - arrange your own), and ride that bike back
home. IIRC the current pricing is something like 10,999 for non-abs and
11,799 for abs. Shop and compare. D&H is great. DFW sucks.

48 months Y.E.S. contracts for $389 to anyone with an FJR that's in the
first year of original ownership, too. It's a Yamaha product and Yamaha
gets their cost for the product from D&H Cycles (google them), so
they're happy. D&H just sees a $50 markup as plenty for 10 minutes worth
of work filling out paperwork. Wanna bet most places in DFW want
something around $700?

I even went to 2 dealership and told them my plan to buy in AL. I
explained that I could do so but would be happier to spend money locally
with them. All they had to do was sell me a bike for 10,200.00. This
meant they got the same profit as D&H PLUS the $200 I'd spend on travel
costs out and back to AL. Both salesmen refused to even discuss it. One
shoved his book back, leaned back in his chair, looked me in the eye,
and said, "knock yourself out." Since it's just a day trip out and one
back to get the bike (under 800 miles), I did. When I later pulled in
for something from the parts department, he walked up to me at the
counter and struck up a conversation about it being "one of their
bikes." With everyone around, I reminded him of how he refused to do
business with me and, while he was making that huge $8000.00 profit on
the sale of 4 bikes, D&H had made $20,000.00 from the sale of FJRs that
year. He stammered about how dealerships only got 4 PdP forms and
wondered aloud about how could a dealer sell that many. When I explained
all they had to do was ask for more, he asked me why I didn't tell him.
I looked him dead square in the eye and asked him why he thought I
should help him when he refused to work with me. Even the parts guys
were grinning when I walked away.

The service dept and parts guys are a different story. They have always
been quick and good at their jobs and have always helped me get great
service on my bike. It's been adopted as one of "their bikes". So these
warnings about being an outcast if you don't buy locally are just more
scare tactics from some sales people. By being a Yamaha dealership, they
have obligations to properly service the product of risk losing their
franchise.

 

In previous discussions, I'd seen that PDP name mentioned, but I
never really understood exactly what it was. Perhaps I was mistak-
en concerning my reference to "shortages", but my intent was still
honorable. Perhaps also, your explanation is the exact reason why
no FJR13's seem to appear on that site.

I'll save your explanation for a slow read to allow greater understand-
ing.

Thanks,

Gary