Not that I necessarily agree with it, but the manufacturer's will also say that discounting affects the value of the "brand", so that gives them the right to include restrictions on advertised prices. If Harley or it's most influential dealers think they can keep other's from discounting in a down market, however, I look at that as just a little more proof that MoCo management is out of touch and needs to be replaced. This attempt at price fixing might work if there was no competition, and all the dealers were meek little followers, and all customer's were idiots, but since that scenario is not realistic, I think this is just another tempest in a teapot. Folks were claiming the same "no discount" crap a couple years ago with respect to bike prices, and there has been widespread discounting of bikes in the past year in pretty much all parts of the country.
I'm not a legal beagle, but if memory serves me the manufacturer's can't dictate the actual retail price. What they can do is dictate a minimum advertised price. That is how folks like Apple control how you never see ads for an ipod at less than full price, for instance. If the store is willing to sell it to you at half off, it's none of the manufacturer's business as long as the store doesn't advertise it. That's why you see so many ads nowdays that tell you to call for the actual price; that's how retailers get around the manufacturer's minimum advertised price agreements.
Maybe if they priced that stuff they buy for peanuts from China a little more realistically, it wouldn't be a big deal. But since we all know they're screwing us royally at MSRP, what incentive is there to continue buying their stuff at full price versus often better stuff from the aftermarket at better prices? I already spend more with the aftermarket than I do with Harley; dumb stuff like this will just ensure that the percentage that's aftermarket will get bigger.
Jerry
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Topic: Dealership discounts (Read 12252 times)