From: dougr@meaddata.com (Doug Ritter)
Subject: Re: Pre-Season Fever
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 14:18:28 GMT
Distribution: usa

In article <1992Aug19.084850.25629@hemlock.cray.com> pjp@cray.com (Patrick Perro) writes:

>I have a friend who had been riding Yamaha for the last 7 years. First he had an `87
>Phazer, then an `89 and in `90 he upgraded to a `91 Phazer because he wanted the better
>handling of the wider ski stance (I had been riding an Indy 400 during these years).
>Plus he was hoping that Yamaha had improved the performance of their engines. They had
>not. It took a PSI pipe to bring the performance of his sled near that of my stock
>400 (the Phazers use a 475cc (I think) engine). He was quite happy with the fit,
>finnish and handling of the sled(s) but the performance was way off par. Now he
>is jumping the Yamaha ship for Polaris. He has an XLT special on Snow Check.

Vote with your dollars - it's the only effective way to get a corporation to change
it's policies.  As many sleds as your friend bought, you'd think the dealer would
have been really good to him!

>Now for some inside Yamaha info, a friends mother (who is an accountant) was working
>a contract job here for Yamaha (their snowmobile division is headquartered in the
>northern suburb of Blaine Mn.). She said some Japanese Big Wigs came into town
>recently and raked the locals over the coals as to why they are third behind Polaris
>and Cat here in the U.S. She did not stick around to hear the answers but my

Last time I checked the sales figures, Polaris had 1/3 of the market and the other
3 manufacturers pretty evenly split the other 2/3 among themselves.  Maybe it changed
last season, but Yamaha, Ski Doo and Arctic Cat were all within 10,000 or 20,000
machines of each other in 1991.  Maybe they were just upset that the VMax 4 didn't 
generate more sales - although I've never understood how a limited-edition musclesled
could induce someone to buy a different model from a manufacturer's line, they say
that's the way it works.

>Yamaha buying friend said that:
>
>	1) Yamaha has no snow check or factory sponsored "accessory rebates"
>	
>	2) Dealers do NOT dicker on price. You pay whole sticker price.
>
>	3) Yamaha holds their "open house" in Chicago, not in Minn. where the 
>	   competition (not to say one of the largest populations of snowmobiliers)
>	   resides.
>
>	4) Yamaha doesn't listen to their customers. His experience with the
>	   company and their dealers has left him with a bad taste for Yamaha.
>	   They don't cater to the customer.
>
>	5) Yamaha dealers are too busy selling motorcycles. The sleds don't
>	   come out until late in the "buying" season and dissapear shortly
>	   after the New Year.
>
>It appears that Yamaha might start something new for `94 since the Big Wigs were
>here just a few weeks ago. We'll have to wait and see. Also, my friends statements
>and experiences come from the Minnesota and NW Wisconsin dealerships and are not
>necessarily representative of all Yamaha dealerships. How does Yamaha fare elsewhere?

In my experience, dealers is dealers - some are good, some are bad, most are ok, but
the one thing they all have in common is that they are selling stuff to make money.
When I bought my first brand new sled, I was a rube!  An easy mark for any salesman,
I was young, inexperienced, enthusiastic (and obviously so) about the sled I wanted
to buy, and had money to spend - so I paid full price.  And then when I picked up
my sled, I bought another $300 worth of stuff I didn't need.

Now I'm older, not so enthusiastic about *anything* and with *no* money to spend,
so I was able to get a good deal on my Cat.

However, I think timing has more to do with the price you pay than almost any other
factor - buy your sled in May and you'll get a deal.  Buy it in November and you'll
pay a premium price.

How the dealer treats you depends on the dealer and the people who work for him.
At Joe's in Dayton, there's a girl who works the counter weekdays who's about as
helpful and pleasant as anyone I've ever dealt with - she's never too busy to look
things up for me, never gets impatient when I call and say "I need one of those little
doodads for the fuel gauge of a 1975 Ski Doo Tnt".  And as a result, I hold Joe's
in pretty high regard.  (BTW, they sell Ski Doo and Yamaha sleds!)

But I have gripes about every dealer I've ever run into.  Not that that's surprising,
no one is perfect.  Case in point: the place where I bought my Cat sells Polaris and
Arctic Cat snowmobiles, all kinds of new and used boats and all types of trailers.
I got a good deal on a '92 at the end of last season because they didn't want to get
stuck with it - but they "low-balled" me on the price (told me $4400 and then weasled
it up to $4600 when they saw I was interested), screwed up the paperwork beyond belief,
and never did get me an owners manual.  I call them about every two weeks (they're
located 60 miles north of here) and ask them about the $126 they owe me and the owners
manual - they *never* remember who I am until I go through the whole spiel, and then
they give me the same story: "I'll see if I can dig up a manual for you, and as soon
as the paperwork errors are cleared up, we'll send you a check."  But I *like* these
people, believe it or not!  I think they are really just incompetent, so I let 'em
slide!  I'll get my owners manual, even if I have to call Arctic directly.  And I
don't really want the money they owe me, I'd rather have a new helmet (and that's
*exactly* what they were hoping I'd say!).  I like my new sled and I got a good price,
and even if they did jerk me around a little, on the whole, I'm not unhappy with them.

In my experience, I've found most dealers to be fairly autonomous - how they sell
sleds is pretty much up to them; and how they treat people has nothing to do with
what brand of sled they're selling.  But since one of my dreams is to move "up north"
and buy a snowmobile dealership when I retire, maybe I'm too easy on them! ;-)

>Patrick J. Perro              Indy 580 XLT                The comments listed
>Cray Research Inc.             			   above are my own. Not
>655F Lone Oak Dr.  					   that of my employer
>Eagan, MN. 55121					   (unless specifically
>pjp@fig.cray.com					   noted).

--
Doug Ritter (dougr@meaddata.com)