From: mayer@sono.uucp (Ron Mayer)
Newsgroups: ba.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Loans for new motorcycle.
Date: 29 Aug 92 00:35:22 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California


Thanks for all the great info everyone.

wallich@iti.org (Kenneth Wallich) <wallich.714959480@pepper> writes:
>mayer@sono.uucp (Ron Mayer) writes:
>>
>>Anyone have any tips on financing a new motorcycle?  

Summary: Most banks don't have "motorcycle loans" so you would have to
 get a "unsecured loan" for about 18% these days.  Most credit unions
 do have motorcycle loans, and I've heard 12.1% and 14%.  Some dealers,
 especially BMW, have their own loans which are competitively priced.
 They sometimes may match or beat your credit union if you ask them to.
 The dealer told me 12.9% and I think I'll take that.  (A cleverer
 denizen than I got 12.1 from the same dealer, but for the amount I'm
 financing there's not much difference.  I may ask for a discount on
 the 600 mile service discussed on the r.m thread.)

>>Also, when buying a new bike, how negotiable are the prices?

Summary: It depends.  Depending mostly on the make, somewhat on the
 model, and a little on the dealer, often you can get ~10% below the
 "Suggested Retail Price"; rarely you can do considerably better; and
 sometimes you can't get any discount.  The best strategy for
 bargaining seems to be to be informed and take your time, letting
 them call you instead of you calling them.  Some places are willing
 to match deals you find elsewhere, others won't.  Some places will
 match previous sale prices they had, others won't.  Some places are
 more willing to toss in extras like service discounts or accessories
 instead of lowering the price.  If they are already having a special
 deal, you won't be able to get away with much more since they already
 did quite a bit to make the sale look impressive.
 I didn't get away with any significant bargening below the sale price.



>You forgot to tell us what you were thinking of buying.  No fair
>whetting our appetites like that, then not coming through with
>the main course.

I always kinda wanted a dual-purpose bike, and figured I'd get a new
cage and some cheap dual purpose to have fun with.  My "problem" was,
as I slowly got better at riding, I played with the idea of not
bothering with a new car, and investing my $$$ in a bike instead.  Now
that my car started dying again, I need something really reliable.  It
seems that there are a lot of really good dirt-oriented dual-purposes
out there; but it looks like the bike may be my main form of
transportation so I really need a more street oriented dual purpose.

With this set of criteria 1) reliable, 2) dual-purpose, 3) good on
roads, 4) fun, 5) same poser manufacturer as my cage:-); the only bike
which excelled in all these areas was the BMW R???GS.

Yesterday I test drove a '92 BMW R100GS at the dealer on Middlefield
Great test drive!  They asked my how much time I had for a test drive
and what kind of roads I wanted to see, and when I couldn't decide
they said we'll try some of everything.  I followed the sales droid up
Arastradero(sp?) road over to the other side of 280 for a few curves,
a little stop&go in lunch hour traffic, a few straight sections, etc.
Kinda scared me once, and especially the sales guy, when it ran out of
gas and I disappeared in his rear view mirror, but other than that;
best lunch hour I've had in a long time!  If you're ever considering a
BMW, I recommend checking out this dealer just for their test drives.

They're currently having a "sale" on their 1992 R100GS's, R100R's, and
some K bike; so if you're thinking of buying one, you might want to
check them out.  They said their sale will last "until the middle of
Sep. or when they run out of 92's."


>(due to the "low" price (i.e. < $10k) you mentioned, I assume it
>isn't a BMW or a Harley ;-)

C'mon BMW's aren't that bad.  The only bmw's that list over 10k are
their big engined K bikes. It's their accessories that can't get for
under $10k (1/2 :-) 


>In the case of my BWM [...]

Thanks for the great info about your dealings with these dealerships.
My story's starting out exactly the same way; except I started at Cal
BMW's sale.  I'm slowly juggling how much I can put down and how much
I'll finance.  If I can get my financial situation together before the
sale ends, I'll soon be the new owner of a R100GS!

    Ron Mayer    sun!sono!mayer