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[SPIDERMAN]

San Diego H-D has discontinued their long standing policy of 10% HOG local chapter discount with 15% on the day of the monthly meeting. No more discounts - - - PERIOD. They are selling mind you for $40 a card you get swiped every time you buy something and when you've bought $1,000 worth of stuff you get $50 in store credits. Under the old policy you had an extra $150 in your jeans to go buy a nice steak at Ruth's Chris with (should you so choose) AND, you've actually spent $1,040 for your $50 in store credit. So they tell me that someone like me that spends $10k a year in parts and accessories would get more SD Bucks or whatever the hell they're calling the because they compound after $2k and $3k and so forth. I figured it out. If I spent $10,040 I'd get about $1,000 in SD Bucks vice $1,500 extra in my pocket.

OK What I'm seeing is the new GM seems to be taking H-D Dealership Management 101 straight from the MoCo. Is anyone else seeing stuff like this happening at their dealership ?

B B

[Fired00d]

My dealer has done something similar, but he offered HOG members the card for free (for a limited time when this program was started) so they could earn "Biker Bucks" for every dollar they spent. After much complaining from HOG Chapter he reinstated the HOG discount, but it's only if you go to meetings. So it depends on if you attend meetings you will get the 10% all the time when you purchase parts and you can earn "Biker Bucks" also along w/that discount.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[iski]

It is up to each dealer to discount to HOG members or not.  Each one is different.  Some offerred a 10% discount ALL the time in Florida to ANY customer (Crystal River), but discontinued it last year (as far as I know).  Others offer 10% but it must be used for in stroe purchases - no 'cash back.'  Some offer it for 1 day per year - only - but its a bigger discount.

Ours offers 10% on all non-sale purchase items but it is in the form of store credits for future purchases in store only.

[greglyon]

Must be a trend. In Scottsdale, the dealer just initiated a V.I.P.  program that sounds similar to the one at SD Harley.  HOG members still get the 10% discount but I heard they are discontinuing it next year.  Sounds like they want to lock you into buying at a dealership verses spreading your purchases out and acquiring no additional benefit.  They took this one right out of the airlines frequent flier playbook.   

[nixobilly]

All my local dealers now do the same thing -- along with rolling the points off every 6 months.

I now take a more disciplined approach and order EVERYTHING from either Chicago HD or Benji's (it has just changed name to something else).

20% off and no sales tax with minor shipping fees.   I also try to batch up  a couple of friends requirements at the same time to try to reduce shipping even more.

Net-Net of this is I'm saving a bunch at 28.8% off plus shipping!

Mark

[naitram]

still get 10% at my dealer as a HOG member, but any large purchases go to chicago

[icybay]

I never buy anything at my local dealer so I wouldn't know.  Every part I ever tried to buy they have to order anyway. For the 28.8% discount I can order it myself and save the aggravation.

All the local dealer is good for is a place to go and try on stuff to get the right size before I order it from someone else for less money.

[erniezap]

The dealers in the Bay Area never offered a discount or a card...

[cuthbertss]

pikes peak and cs harley just joined into the card madness....
whatever....

chicago or ohio HD give me 20% off.....  so, unless im in a hurry....  i make a phone call

[Jbbrown73]

If you know your part number, go to www.surdyke.com and get 20% off all of the time.

[SPIDERMAN]

Just from these few posts, it sounds to me like Chicago H-D is going to see a spike in business. I told my friend at San Diego H-D today that his bosses were making a mistake looking to short term gain at the expense of long term stability. These dealers don't seem to understand that their customer base is just that, a base. This isn't like the GAP store at your local Mall where 10,000 people a day walk by your store front. You have a customer base that grows or recedes based on your reputation for vehicle sales, service and P&A sales. You start getting a rep for haphazard service as has been the case with my dealer at times, couple that with a no discount policy on sales of Parts and Apparell and you end up driving your existing customer base to seek new sources as well as not increasing your base. I think this all goes back to the fact that a lot of dealers still believe they have a captive market. They think we're all a bunch of fools with more dollars than sense.

B B

[CVOwner]

I dont buy any high dollar stuff from my dealer, or dealers, theres llike 6 of them within 30 minutes of my house. I buy from online sources where I dont pay tax and save 20%! Screw'em! Buy from someone else! Buy online, thats the only way to get them to come off of thier prices. I see changes already, soon you will see Rebates on Harleys!! Mark my words, they'll whore the market just like every car maker has. They'll be putting up giant air mattress gorillas and have people wearing funny costumes to get people through the door. Man, I gotta try decaf!

[CVOwner]

I never buy anything at my local dealer so I wouldn't know.  Every part I ever tried to buy they have to order anyway. For the 28.8% discount I can order it myself and save the aggravation.

All the local dealer is good for is a place to go and try on stuff to get the right size before I order it from someone else for less money.

Hallelujah brother! I thought I was the only one who did that! As you can see, I went back to read the posts after I had posted my previous rant!

[iski]

I buy online as well, but when I am looking for a dealer for something specific this one offers discounts (20%) and has a very large inventory:

http://www.suburbanharley.com/

[Talon]

I receive my Rider Rewards card free with my bike, but if you don't buy a bike, it cost you $29. You have to spend quite a bit to get any real reward! The way I look at it, the price Harley dealers charge, even with these so called discounts, you can buy online or elswhere and still get a better deal. I buy very little from Harley, only what I need ASAP! Some one on this site had it correct, it's not dealers, it's stealer's!!!!