My dealer (a fairly large outfit) sells only Arctic Cat and Polaris. I'm a newbie to ATV's and just bought an '09 Polaris X2 from him a week or so ago, but while there I was sorely tempted by a large array of "leftover" '08 AC's he had lined up and heavily "factory discounted" (whatever that means). Examples: '08 AC 400 TRV (two-up) in red or lime $5995 asking price. '08 AC 650 H1 in red or lime, $5395 (this one was REALLY tempting if I had wanted a single rider machine, but I was afraid it might be a little underpowered for two). These were starting prices and he appeared to be willing to squeeze them a little more. He had about a dozen or so other '08 AC's sitting around, all with full new factory warranty at similar discounts. Since I've not done any extensive AC homework I didn't know what the normal AC pricing structure was, but these sounded like pretty good deals to me, especially compared to Polaris prices. So if you are an AC guy and looking to upgrade to something newer with a factory warranty, a trip to kick some tires might not be a bad idea right now. Arctic Cat seems to be pushing their dealers to get these things priced low and sold quickly.

 

Scrambled sentence correction: it was the 400 TRV that I thought might be underpowered for two. No question the 650 H1 has plenty of power, but of course it's not a two-up machine.

 

Not sure how much 'factory' input there is but it's common to find year-old yet now models on the showroom floor. I've even been in some dealerships where they have brand new ATV's for sale that are now two years old. Since it's common for ATV models to go for several years with on basic upgrades in graphics and colors the dealers have no choice but to give some decent discounts on those older models. I mean, if they have a brand new '10 model sitting on the floor for a MSRP of $5K and it's sitting to an equally brand new '08 that's a different color that is also selling for $5K, which one would you buy? No brainer. A two model year old bike is going to sell for around 30% off list. All warranties apply. The only down side to you is that it will be worth slightly less whenever you sell it.

 

Here to. A new 500 AC is $1500 less then a Polaris 550. I never rode a AC ATV but there sleds are popular around here and second to none.

 

Good deals to be had. I am working on a sweet deal on a Prowler right now. Just need to get the wife to give the final nod. She like the machine (dealer doesn't know that yet) so may be getting a new plow toy for the winter.

 

all those deals and me with no money !!! lol