Ok this is kind of long please bear with me. Couple of weeks ago I traded in my 09 Harley and got 2 Yamaha 4X4 atvs and a trailer to tow them in. The dealer told me he would pay my bike off and allow me 1000 toward the atvs. He was wanting 1,098 for the trailer and I paid cash for it and talked him down 300 on it. I paid MSRP + prep for the atvs. I knew yamaha had a customer cash back deal going on and I asked the lady doing the paper work about it. But she said it wasn't for the bikes I was getting. So anyway a few days later I was looking on the Yamaha site and read about the cash back deal and my atvs were listed 2008 Big Bear 400 IRS=400 and 2008 Grizzly 350 4X4 IRS=350 cash back. So I call Yamaha an asked them and they said yea but I would have to go throu the dealer to get it. So ok I call the dealer and first he says the cash back was for 09s only so I tell him he needs to check because it's for 08s also. He tells me hold on and he will check. So about 10 min. later he comes back and says yea I was right but he was using that money were he had dropped the price on the trailer and he had gave me more than book price on the bike. Now you have to understand he is the only Yamaha dealer around my area so I was bitting my lip not to start screaming but I didn't and said I would check on that. So I called Yamaha back and talked to a product spec. and told them the whole story and the lady said she could see why I felt it was unfair and she would call the dealer and get back to me. Well that was last friday and she has never called me back and I have tried calling her back and leaving messages for her to call me back but she seems to not want to talk to me. I have spent over 11,000 with these people and they are tring to jerk me around over 750 dollors. I didn't feel good about what he had gave for my Harley to start with it was like new with only 1000 miles on it and a couple thousand in extras on it but if I had knew he was giving me even less for it that would have been a deal stopper. What do you all think my next move should be. I like the atvs but I'm not going to get stiffed on this if I can help it.

 

I had a bad experience with a dealership as well as very good experiences with others. It is hit or miss with some stealerships.

Some of your options: There are some local news shows that run consumer advocacy pieces and try to rectify consumer issues.

You could try the state attorney general.

If you are really ****ed and have a lawyer friend, having the lawyer drop a letter might move them to relent.

Good luck!

 

I'd chalk it up to a lesson learned. On a major purchase like this, whether it's a car or an ATV, the price you sign for is the price you're paying, and that includes customer incentives such as cash back. Realistically they didn't stiff you. I bet if you read the small print you'll see that they did include the cashback. (If there's no mention of the customer cashback anywhere in the paperwork, then you have a good case).

Your best bet usually is to:
* sell your "trade-ins" private party before you buy the new items
* arrange financing (if necessary) elsewhere
* Research any incentives and rebates before going to the dealership
* offer cash for whatever you're buying
* be ready to walk away if you don't get the price you want

The dealer relies on overwhelming you with numbers. They'll play games with how rebates or cashback are applied, what price you're getting on your trade, and interest rates, downpayments, and loan terms.

Taking care of these details ahead of time takes away a significant negotiating advantage from the dealer. And right now, given the economic climate, puts you in control of the entire transaction. Chances are they need to sell the ATVs more badly than you need to buy them.

 

yea some dealers are real crooked some are real cool, if you get to know the guys that work at one and become friends with them and stuff they will usually treat you pretty good, but this also is a matter of reading the fine print, idc if there in a hurry for you to sign the papers take your dear old time and read everything, thats exactly what i do for anything nowadays, ill take as long as it takes to read it all over before signing away on stuff.

 

Sometimes just mentioning the BBB is enough to get a dealer, or store owner to make things right with you. But, maybe not. If this is the only dealership around and you feel like you are captive then you may have to eat it. Sounds like there are several variables that the dealer can conveniently claim as responsible for the final price. I would never allow a dealer to "pay off" my trade. Whenever I deal with cars, bikes, etc I always buy straight out and never deal with a trade. One thing that I always keep in mind is that the dealer has to make a profit and I don't begrudge them for it. That leaves me with the decision of how much money I am willing to pay him for his profit. When you have multiple transactions it makes it hard to determine how much profit you are paying them. In your case you have your motorcycle, the trailer and 2 quads. That is 4 transactions and there is a profit in every one of them I bet. You should have sold the motorcycle outright, bought the trailer outright, and really played hardball on the quads. For me it is about how much per hour the dealership is going to make off of me. Why do I do it this way? Because that is how I am paid myself. I also pay no attention to the location of the dealership, it doesn't matter to me as a factory warranty is valid at any dealership. I once drove over a thousand miles round trip to buy a quad, but saved over a dollar a mile driven to make the purchase. Well worth the drive.

 

What really sucks is that you're not sure that you got ripped off. Whenever you trade a vehicle in, all you're going to get for it is its trade in value with little, if any, consideration for add ons. Get on kbb.com or something and see what the trade in value was for your Harley. You'd really be surprised at how much they depreciate as soon as you drive one off of the lot. You can see if you got a fair trade in.

The next thing to look at is what the bottom line price was on the four wheelers. After everything is calculated, see if you were, in fact, given the rebate. If you weren't, then I'd go see what I could do about that. There's a difference between making a bad deal (if it was a bad deal) and getting ripped off. Unfortunately, the law will protect if you got ripped off, but it won't if you just made a bad deal.

As a point of reference, I bought an 08 Big Bear three months ago. I paid $5100 plus TT&L for it.

 

For every one of the yamahas that I have bought I got a phone call or survay in the mail asking about my dealer. That would be the chance to blow off some steam

 

When I bought my ATVs I went online and ordered the report showing exactly what the dealer pays for the quads. The cost of prep for the atv is paid to the dealer by Yamaha. Any charge you paid is a bs markup charge extra money in the dealers pocket. I too would look for a tv or radio consumer reporter that might help you.

 

I would say your first problem was trading in an almost new bike. Harley or not, you are taking a HUGE depreciation hit at the dealership. Since it had a lein on it, you lost all that money in interest paid since the purchase, which would have been the majority of your payments since you were still at the front end of the loan.

 

Thanks for the replys guys. I went back to the dealer yesterday and we got it worked out. Glad it didn't get any messer than it did. Ride safe. C/P