10-24-2013, 04:50 AM
I bought both my CBR and CB from Western Honda. I always know exactly what I want and never need sales "help" other than to negotiate the price. The first experience wasn't riveting, but wasn't horrible either, although when I asked the sales person about the oil-eating 2008 CBR's, he claimed that he hadn't had a single one come back for service (which, unless all their customers crashed them, must have taken them somewhere else, because a large majority of 2008 CBR's eat oil for breakfast, mine included). The second was lackluster. I was dealing with what appeared to be a new sales person, and every decision had to be run by the sales manager. I am a big believer in pushing responsibility down the chain and empowering employees to make decisions, so this was annoying to me. All in all, I got what I wanted, for a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I paid MSRP for my bike the first couple of weeks it was available.
The parts department has outrageous in-person prices (I think I paid $2.50 for nuts for the battery terminal screws when I needed them in a pseudo-emergency); their prices online seem alright, but I live here, so why would I not buy in-person? I had them change the tires on my CBR a while ago, I brought in the wheels, and they scratched them. Now I go to Kelly's Kawasaki for that, no scratches and cheaper. Other than that, I do my own maintenance, so I don't have any real experience with their service department.
Hearing the bad levels of service everyone seems to have almost everywhere makes me want to open a dealership so badly. I love motorcycles of all kinds, I love seeing people enjoying their bikes, and I love to help people when something goes wrong with their bike or just for general maintenance. I've toyed with the idea of taking a part-time job as a service writer just to get experience to see how things work.
The parts department has outrageous in-person prices (I think I paid $2.50 for nuts for the battery terminal screws when I needed them in a pseudo-emergency); their prices online seem alright, but I live here, so why would I not buy in-person? I had them change the tires on my CBR a while ago, I brought in the wheels, and they scratched them. Now I go to Kelly's Kawasaki for that, no scratches and cheaper. Other than that, I do my own maintenance, so I don't have any real experience with their service department.
Hearing the bad levels of service everyone seems to have almost everywhere makes me want to open a dealership so badly. I love motorcycles of all kinds, I love seeing people enjoying their bikes, and I love to help people when something goes wrong with their bike or just for general maintenance. I've toyed with the idea of taking a part-time job as a service writer just to get experience to see how things work.