05-15-2015, 04:01 AM
The bikes are delivered to each store by some company that receives and stores the bikes until the dealer wants them on the floor. American Honda charges every dealer, regardless of location or volume, the same freight and set-up fees.
Dealerships most often tell customers that freight and set-up are "pass-throughs" from American Honda, and that they make no profit. Not true. "Almost" all dealerships mark them up. $425 and $175 are certainly more than A.H. charges, but not a lot more. But if customers "believe" it is not a profit item then they don't haggle. Same with "Document fees" .
Sometime in the past, some manufacturer started advertising bike MSRPs without including freight & set-up. It had the desired effect of making their bikes seem cheaper than the competition. So everybody started doing it to erase the advantage. Nowadays, customer "sometimes" get pissed when the final price on an $8,000 bike is $2,000 higher. But you'd be surprised how many customers don't react to it at all. I know I am.
When I bought my DLX the dealer got it from another dealer and had to drive there and bring it back. But, dealer charged me the normal freight fee.
That was an "inventory exchange". The dealer that gave up the bike is responsible for flooring costs while he had the unit. When it is transferred to another dealer, the receiving dealer picks up all the costs from the A.H. invoice. Unless the dealer that originally got the bike had his service department P.D.I. (Pre-Delivery Inspection) the unit. If they did PDI the bike, they will collect that charge from the receiving dealer.
(PDI and "set-up" mean the same thing)
Dealerships most often tell customers that freight and set-up are "pass-throughs" from American Honda, and that they make no profit. Not true. "Almost" all dealerships mark them up. $425 and $175 are certainly more than A.H. charges, but not a lot more. But if customers "believe" it is not a profit item then they don't haggle. Same with "Document fees" .
Sometime in the past, some manufacturer started advertising bike MSRPs without including freight & set-up. It had the desired effect of making their bikes seem cheaper than the competition. So everybody started doing it to erase the advantage. Nowadays, customer "sometimes" get pissed when the final price on an $8,000 bike is $2,000 higher. But you'd be surprised how many customers don't react to it at all. I know I am.
When I bought my DLX the dealer got it from another dealer and had to drive there and bring it back. But, dealer charged me the normal freight fee.
That was an "inventory exchange". The dealer that gave up the bike is responsible for flooring costs while he had the unit. When it is transferred to another dealer, the receiving dealer picks up all the costs from the A.H. invoice. Unless the dealer that originally got the bike had his service department P.D.I. (Pre-Delivery Inspection) the unit. If they did PDI the bike, they will collect that charge from the receiving dealer.
(PDI and "set-up" mean the same thing)