Another 5 bite the dust

[capnkirk]

I suppose I'm a contributor to this problem. Haven't purchased anything from a dealership in a decade or more. Some will remember their Auburn location was originally Hinshaw's. I think someone told me this was the first Honda shop in Washington and that mother Honda forced the original proprietor to also start selling cars in the '70's. A place I fondly remember visiting as a boy to get pubescent, motorcycle posters for my bedroom wall.

5 Seattle-area motorcycle dealerships abruptly closed by their owner, a Microsoft executive

Workers at the five NobleRush dealerships — a joint BMW-Ducati-KTM location at 8100 Lake City Way in Seattle; a Ducati dealership in Redmond, and two multibrand dealerships in Auburn — were surprised to learn that the businesses had been closed...

www.seattletimes.com

 

[paulcb]

Wow, that's a big one. Never heard of that many closing at once. Hope those left out to dry get their bike or their money back.

 

[scootac]

Yep....buy everything online.
Amazon. Ebay.
It's cheaper.








For now.

 

[Uncle Phil]

If you read the article, there appears to be no financial reason for the closings.
However, the owner works for Microsoft, so I guess the system crashed and needed to be rebooted …
especially after it seems that he ran off all the long term employees with his tactics.
No vaccine for somebody running a business into the ground regardless of Amazon or eBay.
The last time I was in a dealer they didn't want to work on my ST1100 because 'it was too old'.
The dealer before that I ordered an extra ignition key blank.
After 3 weeks, I called them and they 'forgot'.
Then they ordered the wrong one.
I gave up and ordered it online and had it in two days.
I have a difficult time financially 'supporting' incompetence so I have given up on dealers in my area.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Sounds similar to what has been happening around here- people with lots of money earned in unrelated industries and who have no experience in motorcycling let alone the motorcycle industry buy motorcycle dealerships and run them in to the ground.

The Honda dealer that was local to me had been around since 1968. Original owner (a real biker) wanted to retire and put it up for sale. The guy who bought it had made millions in the pharmaceutical industry. He decided he wanted to get in to motorcycle racing and thought that having his own dealership to support it was a good idea. He replaced all of the previous owners experienced and knowledgeable staff with his own non-motorcycle employees. They provided such lousy service that all of the long time and very loyal customers stopped going there. Things got so bad that one day, without prior notice, a 53 foot truck sent by Honda Canada showed up. They loaded up all of the bikes and every bit of Honda branded merchandise in the place. They had legal people with them who left documentation stating that effective immediately this is no longer a Honda motorcycle dealership.

Another local Honda dealership that was also a Yamaha and Polaris dealer had been around for years and was sold to a guy who owns John Deere dealerships. He got rid of all of the existing knowledgeable motorcycle people and replaced them with his own tractor people. The last time that I went there the parts clerk was not even able to figure what part number oil filter I needed. I looked it up myself on my phone and gave him the part number. I never went back there again. I guess no one else did either as they closed as well.

Another Yamaha dealer who has been there as long as I can remember was sold to a new owner. I don't know what his story is but the few times that I went there after he purchased it the service sucked and the employees didn't seem to know anything about motorcycling. They are now closed as well- what a surprise!

The closest Honda dealer around me now is staffed with knowledgeable people who actually seem to ride bikes and seem to understand motorcycling and motorcyclists. This dealership seems to do very well. Whenever I am there it always seems quite busy. There are always people at the parts, service and sales departments. They must have easily 75 bikes in their showroom. So while I agree completely that internet shopping has made it much harder for these retailers to compete it is not the whole story at least around here. Staff with no knowledge who provide crappy customer service seem to play as large a role in the demise of these businesses from what I have seen.

 

[TPadden]

Yep....buy everything online.
Amazon. Ebay.
It's cheaper. For now.

Nothing difficult about any dealer moving into the 90’s and establishing an internet presence. Hard to beat competitive, efficient, and effective.

Tom

 

[red one]

If you read the article, there appears to be no financial reason for the closings.
However, the owner works for Microsoft, so I guess the system crashed and needed to be rebooted …
especially after it seems that he ran off all the long term employees with his tactics.
No vaccine for somebody running a business into the ground regardless of Amazon or eBay.
The last time I was in a dealer they didn't want to work on my ST1100 because 'it was too old'.
The dealer before that I ordered an extra ignition key blank.
After 3 weeks, I called them and they 'forgot'.
Then they ordered the wrong one.
I gave up and ordered it online and had it in two days.
I have a difficult time financially 'supporting' incompetence so I have given up on dealers in my area.

That and the fact that you have forgotten more than they would ever know of the care and feeding of an ST1100

 

[dduelin]

The stories counter guys could tell about customers.

 

[paulcb]

The stories counter guys could tell about customers.

No doubt. During college, I was a counter guy at an auto parts store for several years in the early 80s, back when we used only catalogs and we'd repair alternators on the counter and fix cars in the parking lot. Man, some customers were _________!

 

[red one]

My only Honda dealer in town closed down over 6 months ago. He was a 36 year old dealership. There is a new Honda dealer that was added to this new guys Kawasaki, ATVs, Polaris and Indian franchises. Its sad to see the same White Goldwing DTC sitting there for the last 6 months. Or the fact that the Honda area is shoved over into a small cubby hole. A far cry from when I remembered That Honda had it going on with the showroom loaded with Honda CB 550's, CB650's CB750 and 900 Customs. CBX's CX customs and about 20 different flavors of Goldwings. Also remember spending hours at the motorcycle dealers shooting the bull. Now today they make you feel if you are not buying anything move on.

 

[Uncle Phil]

The stories counter guys could tell about customers.

And the stories customers can tell about counter guys … and girls!
It is a shame that what is mediocre customer service now get's rave reviews because it's about all you can get.
What you forget is the counter folks have a much larger 'population' to pull from than motorcycle customers who may only have 2 or 3 dealers in their area with a few counter folks ...

 

[cjames431]

I have 2 dealers close by. One is 5 minutes, the other 15. I drive the 15 minutes because their online prices beat out everyone else and if I elect to pick up in shop I don't pay shipping. The old parts guy would give me the online price even if I was ordering in store. The new parts girl charged me the in shop price and would not price match their website and wanted a restock fee if I canceled to reorder online . The 5 minute drive is looking better after that experience.
One of the dealers that just closed was double the cost of my 15 minute drive as is the 5 minute drive. The closed dealer didn't know what an ST1300 is and the 5 minute dealer doesn't like them, would rather deal with FJRs. The 15 minute dealer was the supplier for the WASP ST's.

 

[caldercay]

And then you read this

Motorcycle News: Peter Hammond Motorcycles celebrates 60 years of business.

Peter Hammond Motorcycles celebrates 60 years of business

 

[ToddC]

I have 2 dealers close by. One is 5 minutes, the other 15. I drive the 15 minutes because their online prices beat out everyone else and if I elect to pick up in shop I don't pay shipping. The old parts guy would give me the online price even if I was ordering in store. The new parts girl charged me the in shop price and would not price match their website and wanted a restock fee if I canceled to reorder online . The 5 minute drive is looking better after that experience.
One of the dealers that just closed was double the cost of my 15 minute drive as is the 5 minute drive. The closed dealer didn't know what an ST1300 is and the 5 minute dealer doesn't like them, would rather deal with FJRs. The 15 minute dealer was the supplier for the WASP ST's.

Dude. Just another example of why Seattle has gone so far down hill..... Nice city...lovely area....but the people have just ruined it. Way too many people. Linda like lemmings..... Seattle is great, move there......and then there were too many....way too many. With no where to go. And in a big city...customer service means nothing like in a smaller community. Because you have to live with the people you see, behind or in front of the counter.
Young big city folks feel like ..,"I will never see this person again, so how I treat them doesn't matter."
Just my two cents worth...having lived there for 33 years. Love being gone from there......
Sorry for the rant.......

 

[Igofar]

My niece lives in Seattle with her husband. While its tree's and mountains are beautiful, and its closer to the ocean than I am now, you can have it
I could not feel comfortable with the laws in that state, as there is no under the influence of a controlled substance, and my brother and I walked by more than a couple folks sitting curbside shooting up heroin in broad daylight