Hey Knowsalot,
I have a question about dealerships. Our only local dealer whose name I won't mention doesn't advertise or offer any sort of competitive pricing. He calls everyone else crooks but everyone else beats his prices by quite a bit on the other brands he carries. I e-mailed Cannondale and told them this as well as the names and addresses and phone #s of three other dealerships that I feel at least one of them should carry C-Dale. They all advertise, offer excellent prices and probably each put more quads on the trail by at least a 4 to 1 margin. I live in Rochester and I run into people out riding that have never even heard of a C-Dale and I think that's nuts. I went on to explain that in the next couple of years I plan on buying one but at this rate I'm going to have to go out of state to get a good price. The women who replied said she had passed along all the dealer info to the sales/marketing department.

My question after all of that babbling is how hard is it to get a dealership? Do bigger dealers get better pricing from the factory like with other things? If I was C-Dale I would pull the dealership from this local Dillweed. He has sold 3 Cannondales one of which came back and the other 5 are sitting in the shop. His mechanic races a Moto and then puts it out front like it's new he's not smart enough to wash it which I think is an awful way to put such an incredible quad on display.

 

OK.....First off.....this cannondale dealer is doing nothing wrong.

Every Cannondale dealer pays the same price for every quad that he gets from Cannondale. This also applies to the Japanese makers. It doesn't matter if he sells 2 or 200. He pays the same price.

As for retail price.....same thing. He is not forced to compete with other dealers. Nor will cannondale or any other manufacturer advise him too. Alot of people don't realize that discounting prices actually hurt the industry. The profit margins on quads do not allow the kind of price wars that go on in the automotive industry. There are alot of dealers [Honda in particular] that sell quads for just $100.00 above cost.......however these same dealers are also the ones who offer poor service after the sale, maybe one employee in the shop, etc, etc. their focus is major untis only. by making less on the quad, they only hirte the staff needed to sell them and split the profits. Alot of other things are involved....but you see the point. I worked at the best selling Honda dealer in the United States for a couple of years, so i know how it works and where the money comes in. If you live far away and plan on handling every thing involving your ATV yourself,.....then a long drive to a discount dealer is a good move. Just be prepared later on. Also, what happened to the "support your local dealer" addage?? You do get what you pay for. That extra $400.00 you spent buying local could pay off bigger than you might think.

Every circumstance is different and your complaint about this dealer may be warranted. I'm not judging you or this dealer. Every dealer is evaluated each year and if Cannondale thinks there needs to be adjustments, they will advise of him of changes that need to be made. they just wont run in their and pull the franchise. Doing this would cause a lack of interest in the brand from other dealers.


As for getting a Cannondale franchise, you will need to contact the Sales division of Cannondale and inquire about one. If you meet the intial criteria that they want, including the distance from the nearest Cannondale dealer to you, then they might want you to visit them and talk or might even come to you the next time the Rep is in the area. It always varies, but the first call is mandatory ofcourse. You also have to have a specified net-worth to carry the franchise along with a building of XX square feet, etc,etc,etc,

As far as 3 Cannondale sold......did you know that there are Cannondale dealers out there who haven't sold ANY units??? If you consider the number of units sold according to cannondale, count up the dealers, take into account R&S, etc, etc,........he is actually the average Cannondale dealer regarding sold untits.

One other thing.....concerning existing multi-line dealers. This is a no win situation. It's bad for the sport that these "hop-up" shops get these things when no one knows of anything regarding how a dealership should be run or take into account the man power needed to have a successful dealership. However,.....with an experienced, established, multi-line dealership, you get the service and knowledge, but the ammount of units sold is not as great as it could be because they are being sold along side of competing models for less money. Our store is the perfect example. Our Cannondale sales are above average, but not as great as we would like them to be. It's hard to sell a Cannibal when it sits next to a Z400 which would appeal more to the "non-racers" and is over a thosand dollars less in price. Like I said...it's a no win situation....I could only do what your Cannondale dealer does......put the Z400s in the shop out of view. Same logic I guess.

Is the Moto you see at that dealership a demo unit for people to test ride rather than being a registered ATV belonging to the mechanic?? If so, that's probally why it hasn't been washed. We don't wash ours due to the fact that it gets dirty and muddy again about every hour.....LOL

Some of what I wrote here is just my opinion on the industry from our stores point of view...which is also mine. But either way....that is pretty much the way things work. if you need to know anything else or if I didn't make my comments clear to undestand just ask and i will try harder.

It's been a long week....LOL

 

The dealer with the moto out front breaks in all C-Dales for you unless you specifically ask hime not to providing you know about it. As far as the moto outfront goes I wouldn't put it past him to clean it up and try and sell it as new. This dealership did some of the work on SparkyEX's Cannibal and he later found out the mechanic and one or two of the other employess where out jumping for an afternoon before he picked it up. This Dealer carries Honda as well as Cannondale and is located in a small town outside of Rochester. I'm not looking for a dealership myself I'm trying to get Cannondale to look at our 2 big dealerships in rochester (there are a couple more but the don't give as good of deals). These dealerships both advertise on tv and radio all the time while the other dealer doesn't advertise at all. I ride in a lot of places in and around my city and have never seen another Dale and have met countless people who've never heard of them.

I can see where putting them next to a cheaper quad could hurt sales but there are still many people out there who if given the opportunity will by the latest and greatest of anything. Our local dealer only sold 2 out of 8 one was returned. They also have a speed in the back room that was crashed during one of their dealer break in periods. Personally I would even be happy to see our local top racer that runs his own atv race shop and sells used quads find a way to get Cannondale. He never loses and if he did it on a Dale everyone would want one and he is conscious of giving a good deal. Whether quads are discounted to the point where profits are small or not people still have the idea in their heads that if they are paying close to msrp then they're being ripped off. Just my 2 cents but everything you said makes sense and I appreciate all the insight into how it works.

What state is you dealership in? Eventually I may have to take a ride.

 

DirtDiggler, is that the C-dale dealer in Batavia? I would consider a C-dale quad, but there are no dealers close to me, and the nearest is way too far.

 

No comment on the dealer location. 92LT where do you ride? Are you close to Rochester?

 

DirtDiggler,

I am located quite a ways from you.......Mississippi.

But if you ever do find your way in the deep south, holler at me.

 

Knowsalot,You ever do any mx racing?

 

Damn! Mississippi!
Does that mean your a red neck?! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Not even bustin' your chops one of my best friends is a red neck and I have a little bit of red neck blood in my yankee self. My dad was born in Florida his dad was born in Cairo, Georgia and his mom was born in Mobile, Alabama and I think that counts. I've never been to Mississippi but I have driven to Florida to see my relatives so hey you never know.

 

special,

I have always done motocross up till this year.

I have only raced one motocross race this year and it was an arenacross race that was held in February and it was on a Honda. I haven't ran any outdoor motocross races since last year.

My focus this year has been harescrambles. Machine setup is cheaper, you spend more time riding for your $25.00 than you do in motocross, and the people thaty attend are much more civilized...LOL

I intend to do a few motocross races this Fall along with the arena cross in October.

My last hare scramble race for the season is this coming weekend. This course also has a motocross track that makes up the designated course. I guess I'll be getting some early practice laps for this Fall huh??.....LOL

 

Knowsalot,
When you decide to race some mx let me know.We can maybe meet.I am going to try and stick with the E-Z Ride guys were they race and it would be awsome to meet you and have another dale out on the track
with us.