You don't really think that dealers "profit" from performing warranty work, do you?
Harley functions similarly to the auto companies in that they publish their own flat rate manual. There are specific labor codes for most jobs that directly translate to specific labor hours that can be charged. If the book says you get 5.2 hours to do a particular repair, that is what H-D will pay. As for the labor
rate, that will vary depending on the laws in each locale. In the USA, laws have been passed that require manufacturer's to pay the dealer's normal retail labor rate. The trick is the retail labor rate has to be verifiable, not just some BS posted on a price board. If a manufacturer wishes to protest that claimed $100 per hour rate, they can audit retail work orders and determine the actual rate. BTW, in those cases where a labor code doesn't exist or extra diagnostic time is required due to the complexity of a problem, most manufacturer's will reimburse the
documented actual time. Documented as in time stamped on and off the job.
There are also laws in the USA regulating what auto manufacturer's must pay for the parts used. It isn't just dealer cost, it is dealer cost plus a percentage. So no matter what your friendly dealer may try to make you believe, they do not lose money on warranty repairs. They may make slightly less than if that same job was retail, since there is no limit to how many hours they can charge and at what rate, and the sky is the limit on parts markup. I'm assuming that those laws would also apply to folks like H-D, but I can't state that as fact. Maybe one of our dealer members would like to jump in and give us the latest info here.
Conclusion, yes dealer's do profit from warranty work. How much they profit has much more to do with the competence of their shop than with the reimbursement rates from the manufacturer. Inefficient or incompetent shops just pass along the costs of that inefficiency or incompetence to the retail customers, but they can't do that with the manufacturer's. That's the real issue in a nutshell.
Jerry