I came across this article yesterday in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It caught my eye and filled me with a sense of fear that it is only a glimpse of things to come.
A long standing Harley-Davidson dealer closed its doors this week because they couldn't make enough profit to pay the rent. That is a sad state of affairs. Because of the economic downturn people consider motorcycles as a luxury item. They are not selling anywhere.
Check out the Santa Cruz Sentinel article. It will give you a wake up call...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
SANTA CRUZ HARLEY-DAVIDSON RIDES INTO SUNSET
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12 comments:
It is a sad day when things like this happen.
Years ago in the UK people used to have a summer and winter bike, however this does not happen much now as you can buy a used car for less than a winter hack. Couple this with the more difficult motercycle test system, more dealers are struggling over here I'm sure.
On the positive side scooter sales are up due to the recent increases in fuel prices, so it is likely that people will go for more fuel efficient vechiles in the future.
Although H-D have a huge following the majority of all makes of motorcycles do on average 1,500 miles per annum. These milages do not help to keep dealerships open as once a machine is sold the dealer relies on the buyer to return for servicing, comsumeables, riding gear etc.
To change the subject, I hope you are settling down in your new job Becky
Yes, this is a scary sign of the times.
For me, as a very active HOG member, it's especially sad. Without the dealership, there can be no Chapter. I can't imagine how those members out there must feel. If our sponsoring dealer were to close, it would be devastating to me personally. I hate even the thought of facing that.
I hope the economic situation turns around before this sort of thing starts spreading out to even more dealers. I've got my fingers crossed.
Being familiar with this dealer for a few years, without going into detail, I'm suprised they stayed open this long.
As for the HOG Chapter. Monterey Bay has two stores. I've heard talk of trying to work out a way for each store to sponsor a Chapter.
I was going to write exactly what Willy said...I would say that their customer service sucked, but that would be generous. In these hard times even if people are willing to spend their hard earned money they aren't going to hand it over to people who don't work for it.
If it was because of the economy, that's too bad.
But, if it was because they ran a shoddy business, then good riddance. I'm not a huge fan of the dealerships to begin with. But if you expect me to pay good money so you can treat me like crap, forget it.
I totally agree with Dean D-Day.
I'm fortunate that when I go to the local dealer by me, they treat me good.
The thing about Santa Cruz is that they had horrible customer service and we are fortunate to have plenty of other dealers within a decent distance so we have a choice to go to other dealerships that have stellar customer service.
This is exactly why I passed on a recent chance to go back to work at the dealership. I know My dealer is having some problems, They've already closed their shop (satellite store) and the main Dealership is up for sale. I would love to work their again, but right now, I just can't put my family at risk like that.
I am glad to know that their demise didn't leave the whole area without a Dealership. While Dealerships are not my favorite place to shop for parts, accessories or clothes, They are vital to the overall health of Harley-Davidson and I would HATE to see H-D go down!!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing
Santa Cruz is THRILLED to see those a-hole clowns leaving "off into the sunset". Good riddance to them.
It sounds like everyone who were locals to Santa Cruz Harley were glad to see them go. That is sad, although they apparantly didn't give good customer service. Thanks for all the comments from people in the know.
Bikerchickz
I've was a service customer of Santa Cruz Harley for years and have had nothing but top notch service on every occasion. They always made me feel that my business was important to them, remembered me by name, and were quick to deal with any tweaks that I thought necessary. All this, and I never spent megabucks on upgrades of any kind-- just service interval work!
I'm sorry to see them go.
I got the last '08 Road Glide there for$4000 of MSRP ! They treated me with respect. I cant believe you people are bad mouthing this dealership. I gave my local dealers a chance to come close to SCHD price and got blown off !So I traveled from Stockton to get a killer deal. I hope George in parts got on somewhere as he is a parts genius !The sales guys worked with me with respect same with service dept. I just didnt get enough xxl t-shirts ! Anybody listening? Morrey in Manteca Calif. morreysim@aol
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