How dealers work..

Having spent 40 - something years working in car and bike dealers, I've gained a bit of knowledge of how they work. During my time as General Manager of a Harley dealership, I put my head above the parapet with the Harley-Davidson Riders Club of Gt. Britain (who held official UK Harley dealers in low regard) and offered to try to answer questions they might have, or even bury misconceptions. For example, rejected warranty claims were a great source of angst!

If any of you guys have questions I might be able to answer, ask away!

No questions from me.
I've only ever been pillion on a Harley and that was in Ireland when my trusty old AJS broke down, oh and again in France when my trusty old AJS broke down... Hmm there's a pattern emerging here - don't go touring with a Harley! :cool:

Would be interesting to hear some stories but I rarely visit any dealers let alone a Harley one so I'll need to scratch my head a bit on questions to ask ....... hopefully I'll come up with something to take yo up on your offer.

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Originally Posted by BB

No questions from me.
my old AJS broke down, oh and again in France when my old AJS broke down...

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Edited for accuracy :p

Just to clarify, my bike dealership experience isn't limited to just Harley! Over the last 18 years I also did time with other brands including Triumph, Yamaha and Suzuki, and my career began in 1979 in a multi-franchise dealer that included Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, Moto-Guzzi, Laverda, Triumph, Harley-Davidson and BMW! All very different then!

Hi John, my Son is looking to get get into the motorcycle trade (against my best advice I might add!) in quite a specific way and it would be helpful to run a through questions past you if you don't mind. Perhaps we could catch up over a coffee once Cap'n Boris lighter touch rules come into play? I'm South of you but love riding the roads out your way so happy to pop up when suits us both

Yes, quite happy to do this! I don't know what route into the industry he's looking for, but to give him an idea of what's out there, get him to look at www.bikejobs.co.uk

Working in a bike dealer isn't dissimilar to working for a car dealer these days. Especially as a number of car dealer groups are adding bikes to their portfolios. For example, Blade Motorcycles are now part of Heritage Automotive since the founder of the original Blade Group sold out to them and went off to play with his toys in the sun. (Good for him! I can tell you from personal experience that he is very much a biker, and the Blade Group name came from his passion for the Honda Fireblade.) Go in to any major brand's dealerships these days to buy a bike and you will be sold to. Not the bike, but the finance and insurance products that are a major part of dealer's profits these days. (By insurance products I mean things like GAP and tyre damage insurance.) This kind of activity has seeped into bike dealers from the car world steadily over the last 20 years.

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Originally Posted by John Phelan

Yes, quite happy to do this! I don't know what route into the industry he's looking for, but to give him an idea of what's out there, get him to look at www.bikejobs.co.uk

Working in a bike dealer isn't dissimilar to working for a car dealer these days. Especially as a number of car dealer groups are adding bikes to their portfolios. For example, Blade Motorcycles are now part of Heritage Automotive since the founder of the original Blade Group sold out to them and went off to play with his toys in the sun. (Good for him! I can tell you from personal experience that he is very much a biker, and the Blade Group name came from his passion for the Honda Fireblade.) Go in to any major brand's dealerships these days to buy a bike and you will be sold to. Not the bike, but the finance and insurance products that are a major part of dealer's profits these days. (By insurance products I mean things like GAP and tyre damage insurance.) This kind of activity has seeped into bike dealers from the car world steadily over the last 20 years.

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Cheers John, I'm popping down to Cornwall for a few days this week (to see if our static van is still there!) but maybe we could catch up in a couple of weeks time. I'm free most weekdays as well as weekends