From: wallich@iti.org (Kenneth Wallich)
Newsgroups: ba.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Loans for new motorcycle.
Date: 27 Aug 92 23:51:20 GMT
Distribution: ba

mayer@sono.uucp (Ron Mayer) writes:


>Anyone have any tips on financing a new motorcycle?  My cage died
>again (it's doing this twice a year); so I figured it's finally time
>for me to look for a new vehicle.  I had about $4000 saved up for a
>bike; but the one I'm most interested in lists for about $7495 (but I
>see they're having a "sale" for about $1100 less until the middle of
>next month).

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.

>In coming up with the other $3500, I looked into financing from the
>dealer, a credit union, and my bank.  Strangely, at least according to
>friends who financed cars, the dealer had the best rate.  Is there any
>reason against financing through the dealer?

Well, it depends on the dealer, but I've found that in general it
doesn't much matter.  Motorcycle loans are considered unsecured loans
by all major financing institutions, and as such generally have fairly
poor terms.  What seems odd is that even considering this, many
companies seem willing to finance through dealers for less usuary
terms so that when the dealer gets his cut, you still come out ahead.
I financed a Honda (for 3 months until my consulting income came in),
and they charged something like 17%, when car loans were %15, and
unsecured were about %18.  Now, if your thinking of a BMW, they have
their own big financing setup, and charge fairly reasonable rates
(considering), but you do pay for it up front, so to speak.

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

Again, it depends on the dealer, and the bike, and how many of both
there are.  If you want to by a Laverda or Norton, you'll have a hard
time getting a price break.  Generally, you can get a price break on
*some* japanese bikes (due to the "low" price (i.e. < $10k) you
mentioned, I assume it isn't a BMW or a Harley ;-), but for popular
models, they often sell every one they get.  If they are having a
sale, it's either because the bike isn't selling, in which case you
may be able to get a break, or because of the sale, they are selling,
and you won't get a break.  If it's a Honda, just don't try to get the
best price at Honda Penninsula (if you haven't already read my
thoughts on them).  

Let me tell you a story...

In the case of my BWM (since I've already bored this group with my
Honda bike sales horror stories, I'll only bore you with this one), I
checked first with San Jose BMW, which had a really good price on a
R100GS's with saddlebags (the motorcycle from heaven, at least for
me).  I couldn't afford it, and asked how long they'd be on sale, and
Bill (the owner) told me another month or two.  During that time, I
visited Cal BWM, who talked me into a test drive, which talked me into
the bike.  I asked Kari (the co-owner) what he could sell it for, and
he told me pretty much the retail price.  When I indicated I could get
it for more that $1000 less at San Jose, he told me "well, we can't
really compete soley on price".  Well, 6 weeks later, I had the money
(well, most of it, I financed some through BMW), and I stopped by San
Jose (since they are both top BMW dealers, and I *could* compete on
the basis of price :-), but the sale was over.  When I saw Bill I told
him I was bummed, since I had talked myself into buying it for the
sale price, but the retail price still shocked me.  He just said "you
asked about them during the sale, I'll sell it to you for that".  So,
even when dealers have a good selling bike (the GS's were selling very
well at that point), they may give you a good price, but it does
depend on the dealership.  (I've since bought a used hack from Kari,
so now both dealers like me now :-).






--
Ken Wallich
wallich@ncd.com  
ken@wallich.com
Xref: sparky ba.motorcycles:117 rec.motorcycles.harley:213 alt.motorcycles.harley:757 ba.market.misc:6816 ba.market.vehicles:3223