Did you have poor luck with your DS? I hope my 04 is reliable and doesn't require extra coin spent fixing her time and time again. I spent my wad when I paid for her the first time.

 

the ds will treat you fine.

 

Your DS650 should be fine. My luck on a scale of 1 through 10 is -10 so it's just MY DS650 that has to have more problems than a Quadzilla 500.... But I THINK it should be fine now..... we'll see.

 

That's cool and the gang, because all I've heard is how solid this machine is. She sure rides like a caddy when I'm wipping her around. Mechanically sound is what I want in a machine that cost 6.7K.

 

It seems like your expectations are a little high. The 2004 DS's are out, which makes yours four years old, and you want to trade it in on an almost new one (3 tanks of gas) for a $1500 difference. Wow, that would be an extremely good deal, but the dealer would have to be stupid.

Ask yourself if you would pay more than $2500 dollars for your 2000 DS650. The dealer still needs to make $500 dollars to make it worth while for him. And, it's a lot harder for him to sell an old quad than a newer one.

 

Actually there isn't much mark up on quads. Each dealer has a floor (or bottom line cost) on the price of their inventory. The mark up is anywhere from 0 - $1000........that way it looks like your getting a sweet deal from the MSRP. for example: an 03 DS 650 baja MSRP is about $7499.99. Dealer advertises price of $6599.99. Looks like your savings are about 900.00.. dealer costs is 6150.00 his gross profit is 449.99......Be careful......they have MFG rebates or kickbacks.......usually $300 - $500......their mark up is only %7.3 (449.99/6150.00). regarding the freight and setup........it depends on the manufacturer.....I know bombardier charges their dealers anywhere from 130 - 200 for freight........it's kind of a catch 22.......unless a dealer is willing to waive the freight, your kinda stuck. I know their freight does NOT depend on the size of the shipment.......if a dealer needs a specific model, they will usually transfer in from another dealer, rather than order from a manufacturer......hope this helps ya.

 

Maybe the dealers in your area do it that way, but around here, unless there is a sale of some sort
going on, dealer list pricing is usually within $200 of MSRP. The Kawa-Zuki dealership I worked at was
MSRP all the way. The only way you could get the price lower was bring in a written lower price from
a competitor and they would match it, not beat it, match it. Needless to say, after the first purchase from them I never bought there again, even though I worked there. LOL

Your mark-up example is nice, but it doesn't take into account dealer prep. Most, but not all, dealers in Central Ohio charge $150-300 in prep. And when the buyer pays freight, sales tax is charged on that freight which is not paid to the state, because it is not a taxable item. Title fees are charged at around
$50. Actual is $8. Using your figures, and the situation here, with a selling privce of $7300 (200 off MSRP) prep of 150, freight of 130, 50 for title, and sales tax of 6.5%, yeilds a total dealer reciepts of $7630.45 not including legitimate sale taxes. A profit of $1480.45, which is 20.28% of the selling price. I assumed the dealer cost was as you stated. I saw the invoices from Kawasaki on a few motorcycles. Dealer cost on a KZ650 in 1981 which sold for $2299 was $1445, freight excluded, a potential profit of 37%.

Things may have changed since then, but not by much I will bet, except the figures of course LOL.

 

Everyone needs to be happy. The dealer needs to make a buck and we need to feel like we received a good price. It's how the game works. If you haggle and get the price down, great. If the dealer walks away, he's not making the duckie he needs to stay in business. No wonder our manufacturing jobs are leaving north America. We all want to pay $3000 for a great quad. If it's engineered and made in China or India, that price is possible.

My fear is that 10/15 years from now, the manufactures who make autos, atv's, etc. won't be able to sell them to a smaller workforce who can afford to purchase these items. We need good paying manufacturing jobs so those people buy cars, trucks and toys. Without Ford, GM and Chrysler there wouldn't be as many toys sold in this country. Good jobs = spending on stuff. Simple economics IMO.

 

Amen brother OZ! Agree with the jobs concept. If we're not working...who's gonna buy this stuff?

As to the price of the quads, I've seen the dealer price sheet on new Cats and Boms. MSRP is 5999 on an '04 Regular DS and dealer cost is a full 1000 less than that. The freight as somebody mentioned is about 130 to get them to the dealer. Paying more than 200 for dealer prep (THATS HIS JOB BY THE WAY) and freight is BS. The Cats have less margin in them than the Boms but its definitely more than the 500 or so they talk about.

The dealer has to make a living but there I've always refused to pay a document fee. I pay only what the registration costs. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay the dealer to fill out the paperwork the are required by law to do. WoodsRuner had it nailed down pretty right.

Regardless....the real reason I replied was to say that I have both a DS and a Raptor. Both very different machines. I like drag racing the DS but after one outing on the trails it never sees the woods anymore. Small hill, deep ruts, a pesky tree root, me laying on my back with a 450 lb DS on top of me was not a good time. So, we ride the Cat and the Raptor (full plates) in the rough. The Raptor really moves well when you drop a tooth on the front sprocket and is a pretty good all around bike.

So, depends on what you're wanting to do with a bike. I found that just one won't do the job for me. Ya gotta pick yer poison!!!!

Cheers.

 

woods, your saying that dealers in your area are charging a tax on the totalt package? (ATV+Frt+ licensing+setup)? That's gotta hurt in the pocket book.......I don't agree with paying tax on frt, licensing, or setup.....Only on a retail purchase....(the ATV itself)...I wonder if the dealer maybe pocketing the tax he charges on FRT, licensing, and setup.....if this is the case, definitely worth looking into......