Dealer fees. Whats acceptable?

Was looking at the "looking for a new bike" thread and I am presently shopping for a KTM Duke 790 that is priced on the dealer site for $6499 plus fees. After talking to the dealer they gave me an OTD without tax for the ridiculous price of $8194+ tax

I want to know what you guys think is acceptable. For me $1695 in fees is shocking

 

For almost $1700 what do they do to justify that? Obviously the initial bike set up but what other value do they provide besides what appears to be a good ass f’in to the buyer?

 

Probably shipping from India to USA

 

For some dealers, thats where the negotiations come in. I had cash in hand one day, on my way to a dealership a few hours away, because I got quoted an OTD price that was hard to beat. Stopped in at my local dealership before I left. They had the same bike on their floor. I told them the quoted price at the other dealership, said I had the cash in my pocket, and if they could match, or come close enough to make it worth my while to not drive to the other dealer, that I would buy from them. They didn’t even hesitate, and dropped all tho extra fees. That bike did happen to be sitting on the floor for longer than they wanted, and were probably just happy to get rid of it. But.. moral of the story, if you are a serious buyer, it never hurts to ask.

 

the fees are negotiable.

 

Reminds of the hooker scene in Full Metal Jacket.

The dealer love you long time.

 

But what is acceptable?
I was thinking $700 in fees is fair.

 

No other value. Just freight, prep, doc fee.

 

My 2023 R1 was listed at $18999. Out the door it was $24xxx this was in 2023. Non negotiable at the time. They were hard to come by, dealer knew it. Told me it was going to sell by end of day. I tried negotiating. So its case by case. If the bike is in demand they wont negotiate mark ups. Tax and license was prob $1500-ish for the R1. Assembly prob $400. Everything else was just bullshit.

 

Did you pay the $24xxx?

 

Fuck yah I did. Had money burning a hole in my pocket at the time! Then I sold the bike with 700 miles on it for $17k a year later. Felt like a jack ass.

 

Damn! At least you have the balls to admit you got hosed.

Did you burn down the dealership after selling the R1?

 

HA! I’m texting my local dirtbike dealer at this very moment trying to get my out the door price between 4 different bikes. Already told him on Monday if they start piling on retardo fees, I’m walking

 

Ouch! Sorry man but…….ouch!!!!!!!

 

Just never trust the invoice, give it all a hard look. If you are buying a motorcycle and check the hidden fees section to find stuff like 'air in spare tire, also a windshield wiper for the passenger side' then you have to realize that's not really a trustworthy dealership.

 

I also found a great deal on a 2017 R6 that was fully prepped for track. So the R1 just sat there. Didnt really like it. The R6 was just so fun to ride/race.
Was making payments on it and it just collected dust in my garage. didnt make sense to keep it. Was pristine. Guy was so happy who finally bought it. I was trying to get $18,500 for it but didnt get one call.

 

KTM is apparently financially not doing well. So fuck them. Tell them if they want the sale they need so bad. Drop them by half or better. It’s just tacked on profit for the dealer.

 

A sales guy at a dealership a couple years ago let slip that freight/pdi (which locally averages $495-$1695) has roughly 100% markup for profit so the dealer pays roughly half that amount, and doc fee's are 100% profit. The only fee they can't remove or lower is the $13 tire fee.

Different dealers and manufacturers charge vastly different amounts - like for example locally Triumph/Ducati/BMW dealer charges $2100 total for all fee's where a smaller dealership that sells Aprilia and CF Moto has $795 for all fee's on CF Moto's and $1495 on Aprilia's.

Also - semi-related..., but the worst thing you can offer is CASH MONEY!!! lol...

Financing is yet another profit center with a finance charge PLUS kick back from the lender based on the loan amount and interest rate. I never tell them which option I'm going with until they give me an OTD price and FWIW - I don't care about fee's, all I care is OTD total price. Charge me $5k for a doc fee if you want, as long as the OTD total is where I need it to be.

 

I don't know how it is now in ther industry but when I was in it in the 2000's dealers got paid for the PDI and got a kick back for shipping.

Dealers soon will compain that nobody buys bikes anymore. Well no shit. You're fucking your customers.

 

Maybe if the OEMs had a decent markup and less floorplan charges, dealers wouldn't need to rape customers for documentation fees.