I sent to cyclebuy.com and pulled the information for the Kawasaki KLR650 I am thinking of buying, here is the data, I will follow with comments:

Dealer Invoice Report
2005 KLR 650
List Price: $5099
Dealer Invoice: $4411
This is the base dealer cost before the freight charge and assembly credit.
Freight Charge: $130
This is a standardized freight charge from the Kawasaki dock to the dealership.
All dealers pay the same price.
Assembly Credit: $77 - per Kawasaki dealer pricesheet
Each dealership has its own method of figuring cost of assembly and preparation for sale.
Ready to sell cost: $4464
This model Kawasaki has 5% (of list price) dealer holdback.
This holdback money is paid to dealers in April or October for units that are sold within the previous 6 months. Dealers must pay Kawasaki the full "Dealer Invoice" price and wait up to 6 months after selling the machine to receive their dealer holdback.
Wholesale Incentives: January 1 - February 28, 2005 - $200 factory to dealer purchase incentive. Subtract from ready to sell cost.
Retail Incentives: none at this time
The "Ready to sell cost" is the cost of the machine with NO PROFIT to a dealer. Dealers do not stay in business very long by selling machines for no profit.
Many dealers charge additional fees for "Freight and Setup" over and above the selling price of the machine. Add the "Selling Price" to the "Freight and Setup" charges and subtract the "Ready to sell cost" to determine the PROFIT a dealer is asking to make

So....the ready to sell cost is $4464, which the dealer will make no profit. But, if I buy next weekend, the dealer gets a $200 factory to dealer incentive. This brings the 'ready to sell cost' down to $4264. The retail on the machine is $5099.

So what do you think I should pay for this machine to be fair to the dealer and get a deal myself????

 

First how close to list price is your dealer now? With that report I would be happy to walk away for 4799. I wish I could remamber what I paid for mine back in '92. Kind of sucked because it was stolen almost a year from the day I purchased it. I had refinanced and used a personal loan to pay it off. I ended up still owing on it afterwards.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

I haven't worked a deal with the dealer yet, the one dealer I was in said to bring in a price from another dealer and they would beat it.....if you read above you will see what happened when I bought my ATV....I gave them the price from the other dealer and they didn't beat it, so when the sales person said they would beat a price I told her 'no you won't, you didn't on my '05 700 EFI', she looked stunned that I said that. These dealers are the ones that make others look bad, they try to screw you for every dollar they can.

 

They did not have a price posted on the bike? If not, I hate that.

 

hey Elkbow, I would say that if the dealers ready to sell price is $4464 then I would say anywhere from $4500 to $4700 is fair. I don't think any dealer should get list price for a machine but I know there are people out there that will walk into a dealer and say load it up without any negotiations but I am not like that, I want a sweet deal on everything I buy or else I aint buyin. this is where I am talking about a dealer giving you the "sweet deal" to earn business later.

oh and as for the dealer that tells you to bring in a quote and "I'll beat it". I called a place in Lansing, MI of the name full throttle motorsports when I was researching/looking for my quads and they said bring in your best price (which I even gave her over the phone) and I will beat it. I said ok but I am going to drive about 1hour and 45minutes to get there so I don't want to get screwed when I get there and she said you won't get screwed I promise you I can beat that deal. so my wife and I drove there and showed her the quote/deal which was in writing along with my second and third best deals and she said that we had to fill out the polaris credit form which was like a security deposit/cash down type thing which I questioned then she said she wouldn't ask her boss to beat my deal unless we filled out the polaris credit form cause she wanted to know we were serious about the whole thing first. I told her I wouldn't have drove almost 2hours if I wasn't serious. anyways she asked her boss and came back and said that she wouldn't beat my best quote but would beat my second best. I asked her "why would I buy from you for more than my lowest quote" and she said "I don't know but it's up to you what you want to do." my wife and I walked out of there and drove home, the first thing I did was type up a nasty letter to the owner/head manager of the dealer telling them what happened and let them know I also emailed the same letter to Polaris customer service. I got a call about two days later from the head manager and he was all like I'm sorry that happened to you and I was out of town that weekend and then went on about how he would match my best quote and give me a couple of cheap helmets bla bla bla bla. I told him where to go and how to get there the fastest way possible cause I would never step foot in that dealer ever again and told him that he better believe that I would tell everyone I know never to buy from there and that I would post it on as many sites as possible so that's what I did.

the funniest part of the whole thing was that I told him that I was going to Weiss to pick up my quads that same night and that I also was bringing my wifes cousing Chuck back up to Weiss later to buy a 700 as well. he sounded pissed cause the saleswomen screwed up a three quad sale. It all worked out though cause Weiss beat my best deal and gave me almost $600 in free stuff. sorry this was so long but should have been interesting.

 

I hate it when that happens, the dealer right down the road from me is a crock of crap, they won't beat any price and then when I tell them the price, they say 'who gave you that price'.....i won't give them the dealer name, I had one call the other, found out later that they chewed them out for selling for that price and asking them how they were going to make money....

did the same on my '05 700 EFI, they wanted to know who gave me the quote....I wouldn't tell them, so they wouldn't beat the price, they actually gave me a quote that was $500 higher than the other one, thinking maybe I was BSing them, so I went and bought it at the other dealer....

so,...somewhere from $4500-$4700? Remember, if I buy it this month they get a $200 incentive, so that means that the price for them to break even is $4264.....

I was thinking of offering them around $4500, we have to pay tax and registration here....tax is 3% and registration isn't too bad. So around $4700 out the door should be a good deal.

dave

 

elkbow,

I wish my sales tax was 3%! It's friggin 8% here in Cleveland. SUX!

 

Bought mine out of state ... then only had to pay a flat $25.00 title/sales tax fee. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Better than paying the full 7% tax!

 

I bought my Quad at town&country in N.H. because I called around and they were the cheapest. I found out why after the sale. A untrained incompatent staff and a jarhead mechanic. I was treated like crap after the sale. They sold me incorrect parts and then would'nt take them back.
On my way home I stopped at Mainly Action Sports in Oxford ME. They took care of me even though my quad and parts were bought somewhere else. They had a smart sales staff and great parts and mechanic people working there. I called Polaris to complain about the other dealer and at the same time tell them what a great dealer Mainely was.
Iwill buy my next quad there even if they are 500 more. It's worth it in the long run.

 

elkbow the KLR 650 is an interesting bike. I bought one new in '02 and like it, as it is my main machine on our annual trip to Moab.

What kind of riding are you planning on doing? There are other choices out there for dual sports and I always wonder why guys graduate to the old technology of the KLR. That is not a slam as I did it myself. The KLR 650 platform has been around a long time and still seems to sell quite well.