Stealerships...

That's what my scooter forum buddy Jerry calls the big multi-brand dealerships in the Phoenix area.  My experience has pretty much duplicated that.

Last night, I saw a new, non-current (2016) Suzuki Burgman at one of those dealerships for $2999.  IF it could be bought for somewhere near that price, it would be a good deal over the $5495 price of a current model new.

So, today, we went out and about on the scoots...

We avoid the Interstates with these scoots, but we get close.  ;-)

Nah - the RV park we are in is just south of I-10, so anywhere we go north means going under the Interstate.

So not to speak directly about where we went to look at the Burgman 200, I'll just say it is a multi-brand dealership... named Ride Now, located on Bell Road in Surprise...

The first person to greet us was a nice young man who was mostly a dirt rider - he knew they had a Burgman 200, he knew it was a scooter, and that was about it.  Joan and I spent some time poking around the scoot...

The price on the bike was only $500 higher than what was listed online.  When I pointed that out, the young man told me, "We will honor that price."

I asked, "Without all the bullshit fees?"  He looked down at his feet.  I asked if we could get the key to check out the storage.  It took them 10 minutes and a lot of scurrying to come up with the key.

Wanting to know about the maintenance, I asked about battery access.  He went to the shop to bring a tech out to answer us... and came back alone.  "He said it is somewhere under where your feet go."  Joan looked it up on the internet

I told the young man that we should probably talk price and reminded him of my feelings about all the over-inflated fees.  "We'll treat you right," he said.

Another guy came out to look at my PCX for a trade and said, "That is in really nice shape."

"Yep, we take care of 'em."

I went back inside to look around the Burgman some more; Joan had a seat at a table.  Another 10 minutes and a 3rd guy came out to "do the dealing."

When he put the sales sheet down on the table, I looked at the bottom line and asked, "Did you forget about my trade-in?"  I was being facetious - even though I told them I didn't want to play the "stick 'em with big fees, then show 'em how you'll discount" game, that's what they were going to do.  Not wanting to publicly shame this person, I'll just say his initials are: Brian, with a lot of tattoos and a bushy beard.

Before he could start to explain all the over-inflated prices, I said, "We're done here."

"Wait, wait - let's talk about this.  This is just a starting point..."

I took the sheet and started going over each bullshit item: "Did you really pay that much to get it shipped to you?  Wow, you guys really got ripped off; that is more than twice what it really costs.  Almost $400 to set it up?  How bad are your mechanics that it takes them that kind of time?  Sales tax and license have to be paid - but it Texas, not in Arizona.  Let's just say that one is close.  A $395 document fee?  You want me to pay for your secretary to type up the sales sheet?  She must be getting paid $800 per hour!  Oh, and that is YOUR JOB to write up the sale and do the paperwork.  Apparently, you think I am stupid?"

He said, "I don't think you are stupid..."

"Well then, YOU must be stupid.  'Cause there are only two of us at this table, and one of us is definitely stupid, and you don't think it is me - so it must be you.  Listen, Brian, I don't want to be combative, but this is a terrible way to try to do business."

He said, "I didn't mean to make you mad..."

"I'm not mad, Brian.  Well, OK, I'm a bit peeved that you think ANYONE goes for this crap, but mostly I feel sorry for you that you have to lie and try to cheat people as your job."

They wanted $1150 dollars and my scooter MORE than the advertised price of their scoot.  A total of $4145 difference... yes, on a scooter priced at $2999.

"Wait - that's just a starting point.  Now you make me an offer..."

"I told you I don't want to play that stupid game.  If you could have done better, you should have come to me with that.  NOW, you say you can give me a better price?  So, you were willing to cheat me if I didn't complain about it?  I was willing to go $2 grand difference, on a bike that you've had sitting for a couple years, and trading my very desirable scoot, which you would be able to sell easily.  IF you came to what I was willing to pay originally, I would not do business with such a lying cheating bunch.  So, we're done."

He said, "Give me 30 seconds."

I said, "That's about the amount of time it will take me to walk out your door and to our scoots.  Don't waste your time."

As we were putting on our helmets, he came out the door and said, "We'll go $2500 difference."

"Not with me you won't."

He started telling me that he has a $30,000 Harley that is only worth $11,000 to this dealership... I said, "That should teach you something about working for an outfit like this."

"Oh, well," he said, "ya can't get every sale."

"I can't believe you can get ANY sales with this crap."

Joan decided to jump in when she heard what they were originally asking for a difference: "So you want to charge us almost $1800 to take his trade in?  That's crazy."

"Yeah, we discussed this," I said, "more stupid than crazy."  ;-)

We left.  On the bright side, it was a nice urban scooter ride today.  We stopped at Mickey D's for some ice cream and a chance to talk about this stealership.

Heading for home...