I was wanting to know what it takes to become a dealer from building a show room floor to how much money it takes to get cannondales quads and dirt bikes. THanks let me know

 

GET YOUR CHECK BOOK OUT. List of things needed, incomplete:

Showroom start small industrial area
Get a flooring company
Get a Insurance company
Get alot of financing companies some will also floor them.
Get a awesome Salesman, you'll need him
Get a awesome service tech, you'll need him also
Get some marketing help
Getting the bikes is easy after that.

What line are you trying to get? How much expierance do you have in business? What is your averall plan? How will you make money?

This is just a starting point. The Devils in the detail.
If you need leads to any of the above just ask.


Smitty

 

Little help please? What's a floor plan?
I was thinking painted concrete would be economical...

 

A "Flooring Company" is business lingo.

Most dealership cannot afford to pay for all of the inventory, so they "Floor Them" They have a credit line set up by the flooring comapny and can order Units against that money. As the units come in the flooring com writes a check to the manufacturer. The dealership pays intrest on the amount of money that he has "floored" as the units are sold the dealership writes a check to the "Flooring Company". There are some more variables but you get the idea.

Smitty

 

It sounds like it would be tough to get started. Hey does pole barns count for good show rooms[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]. How much money does it take say if you already have the building built? Thanks for your time

 

I think you're getting the cart before the horse...

The first question to ask is - What is my business experience? The margins are fairly small on both machines and parts so you'll need to be a pretty good business person to make it go. Having enough capital to start with, ability to manage cash flow and inventory turnover are all things that a good business person will already know.

If you're an excellent business person, then you can start looking at mechanical and sales abilities and what it will take personel wise and financially to make things work.

If you don't currently have the background might I suggest starting small - buy, fix, sell used machines and do repairs. Ebay has created a way to start and instant business - you can sell anything there. Used parts, machines or accessories that you decide to manufacture. Once you can make money doing that then expand into dealership aspirations...

And if you really want to make money, oops.. that's my idea and I can't share it yet.

 

Lewis,

Good thing I didn't tell him about being "out of trust". Everyone gone to work and found security guards? LOL

BigGreen500,

If I was to start a dealership of any kind, the first place I would start is a service and parts. Get used to dealing with the whatever on a full time bases building a network of industry contacts. Carry after market parts and do upgrades and repairs. The overhead would be alot smaller and you can get a feel for what it takess. ALso start picking up used bikes detailing them and going though them and take things on consignment. This way you could get your feet wet with Banks, and other lending institutions before you put everything on the line. Once you have a good rep for repairs and parts, move into looking at new ones.


There is help all over for these and lots of sucessfull one to learn from. Everybody loves to talk about how they did it, so be prepared to sit down when they start talking.LOL

Knowsalittle,

For one of my grand plans check out Grand Plan

Smitty

 

Thanks all of this is helping. the starte slow process looks like it would work very well.