My Dealer Quit Selling Sleds

G

Geezer

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
6
Location
NW Ohio
After several low snow seasons and a less than desireable location for sled sales, my dealer quit selling new sleds and gave up his sled franchise. I'm not sure that is the correct terminology but they claim Yamaha charges them a fee to be a snowmobile dealer even though they sell the other Yamaha products and it's just not worth it anymore. I've heard of other dealers in Ohio claiming the same. I would think sled sales would be tough enough for dealers without putting them in that situation. It's not a huge deal as I guess I just became a buy where I ride customer and that could have advantages but this dealer has been great for us over the years and it's sad to not see sleds on his showroom floor.

Geeze
 
my dealer closed shop altogether :( lost them at the end of last season and they were FANTASTIC!! NEVER had anything they did be anything less than perfect. they were 4 hours north of where we live, but we have a second home there. they would actually pick the sleds up from the garage (they were about 10 minutes from our place) service them, and return them ready to go! that way when we got there we just pulled and went on the first ride! man I miss them, and this year I havent even gone for a ride yet lol!! man, doesnt this low snow thing suck in SOOOO many ways???? even the cat/polaris dealer that is across from where they were is for sale now!!! WE NEED SNOW!!!!!!
 
Got a dealer up here in Northern Lower Michigan about ready to give up on the Yami sleds, Lack of snow hurts, Pricing being whored out by multi-line dealers hurts just as bad for the loyal single line dealer. The owner I have spoken with says he would be further ahead by closing for the winter months & going ice fishing. His biggest complaint is snowmobilers headed south to save a couple hundered bucks on what is preceved as being a deal. My own deal is I would like to see Yamaha cater to the single line dealer that knows & takes care of their product & getway from catering to the multi line dealers that only care about moving units. Stop into a multi line dealer & play dumb about snowmobiles, You may be supprised & what brand they try to put you in! :(
 
bushman, I hear that! thats one of the things that killed my dealer. he wouldnt really give deals, but after the sale service was amazing. when everyone was out of w-arms, he had 20+ in stock. he had a guy come in one day and ask if he had one. the guy he knew rode here a lot, but always got everything from a southern dealer that would give steep discounts. well he told that guy he did have them, but not for sale lol! he was actually keeping them in stock for the 20+ people he had sold vipers to! he told me he was worried that one of his loyal customers would end up without a w-arm and lose his riding time because he sold it to a guy that was only there because his dealer had sold out. now THAT is customer service! I never went there and had to wait for parts because of that though (and man did I need parts for my last sled lol!!!) its why i bought all my accesories and parts from him, because he took care of me ALWAYS! RIP, Pittsburg Motorsports :(
 
The argument fo global warming can be debated either way, But it seems that the warmer weather has moved up atleast 1 state from where it was 10 years ago or so! Here in Kentucky snow was the pretty normal back in the 70s I have seen several pics of big knock out snows! Now we seem to have Tenn weather and we are getting the black bears too! My cousin lives in lower MI ( Toledo OH area) Last year in Feb when we went to Gaylord we did not see snow untill 45 min from Gaylord just brown!
 
It's economies of scale-the more product lines a dealer carries; the more they can sell on volume and provide steep discounts. It's the Wal-Mart/Sam's Club Approach-offer everything cheap and make it up on volume and/or repeat sales. It drives out competition until only the large dealers remain-at which time they raise their prices.
 
and its a damn shame. my dealer knew my name, sled, and riding style. and I didnt even stop in other than to buy oil and plugs, and 2 tune-ups per year. that was nice, now I am just another face :(
 
The dealers are required to take a certain number of sleds each year to keep their dealership. The company is always hounding them to take more sleds than they sold the previous year. And sometimes they are forced to take models that do not sell well. The low snow years in the midwest have taken a toll on the dealers.
 
Well yamaha or any of the big 4 need to "get a grip", how in the hell
can ya sell a sled when there's no snow!!!

cut back on production rather then craming sleds down dealers throats..
 
None of the 3 yamaha dealers here sell sleds. The one i go to most of the time just merged with a ski-doo dealer. So they have TONS of revs but NO yamahas. I asked if they were going to start selling sleds and he said its not worth it for them to sell them. They dont stock any sort of sled parts, I usually get parts from somewhere online because i can get it shipped faster if I go thru an online retailer. The only thing they are useful for is oil, they do stock that. :o|
 
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