Or not...
So according to someone trying to sell the damn things reliability has been mucho improved, I think not!
Oh, you're so cynical...
Or not...
So according to someone trying to sell the damn things reliability has been mucho improved, I think not!
Thanks for your input, your approach is certainly something that we are used to dealing with on a daily basis and we would obviously be more than happy to discuss with you on a personal basis. The reason for my post was to see whether we could do things a little differently - in the same way I suppose as you see a house and make an offer that you are prepared to pay for the property. Ultimately, depending If I am happy to sell the product for that price I would accept - that would of course depend on lots of factors and probably not be limited just to the price - many of the posts on here suggest that an extended warranty might figure for instance. I'd like an iPhone 4 but don't need one and would probably only purchase one at the moment if it was around £25 a month and I could take the contract for 12 months - however unreasonable that might be, thats what I'd like. So, for instance I could approach Car Phone Warehouse (other stores are available) with my proposal and ask them if they could do it. It's difficult to know, without being 'in your head' what we could offer that would make you 'do it' and that's exactly why I'm asking. I am not promising I can do it, just asking what it would take.
What better way of finding out what a retailer should be offering than asking potential customers what they would be looking for? Novel huh?
So, with that in mind and us being a retailer of all things BMW and you being potential BMW customers.....
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO GET YOU ON A NEW GS THIS MONTH???
Here's just a few ideas...
-Free Panniers?
-Low rate finance?
-Good old fashioned money off?
-Servicing packages?
-Free nationwide delivery?
-None of the above, just a cup of coffee and great customer service?
That's just a few for starters, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to come up with some innovative and entertaining suggestions. If you are serious about a purchase this year and have a sensible suggestion or offer, feel free to pm me with your details - you never know what we might be able to do..............
5 years/100,000 miles mechanical and 10 years anti-corrosion, without the need to wash it after every trip in salty weather!
I've been thinking of buying a new or newish bike for the past few weeks. I was sitting in Pidcocks the other day looking at the new black 1200 with wire wheels. Nice looking bike but so expensive. I cannot shake the reliability issues with the 1200 either and that would bug me if I bought one.
The 800 models are nice and have a similar appeal to the Airheads (just not as rugged) but there's the problem with it not being a proper BM because of the engine layout. Now if they put a modern flat twin 800 in that chassis they would be onto something.
There's nothing in the BM line up that hits the spot for me.
The 800 models are nice and have a similar appeal to the Airheads (just not as rugged) but there's the problem with it not being a proper BM because of the engine layout. Now if they put a modern flat twin 800 in that chassis they would be onto something.
There's nothing in the BM line up that hits the spot for me.
If Rob's considering a new 1200, there's no hope for the rest of us
Look @ Bakerman, he declared his beat up 1150GS has more 'soul'
You have to have an open mind JB.
Nobody is making proper bikes any more
Crampie said :- "The right price is definitely key and probably the most important thing for most of us, particularly at the moment! So lets say, for example, you're looking at a new BMW bike (a desirable bike but with pretty good availability) at £10,000 and you really want it - without taking into account extras or extended warranties or part exchange prices, what's the right price? How much less than £10,000 would you expect to get it for? Would it be reasonable to expect 2% off 5% off? 10% off?"
I am going to take another tack and move away from the money. Most of the above points about quality and price are good but there are more important matters.
What has made me buy a new F800GS in March 2011? It is the memories of the times spent travelling on my pervious bikes (see the list in my signature below). Most of the good times travelling in the UK, Europe and Morocco have been on BMW bikes which have proved reliable and enjoyable to ride.
We fixate on the kit instead of the times the kit helps us to experience. If Ocean and BMW want to sell more bikes then concentrate on what the bikes deliver - the adventure experience. I do not mean another round of marketing blurb. I want to see real riding experiences, good and bad, of customers and BMW dealer staff alike brought to the fore using various media platforms. How about ‘a long way somewhere’ featuring BMW customers and no support teams – using existing and even new footage? Done with genuine spirit for the adventure of it all, it should bring potential clients to the showroom door. After that, the deals discussed above may come into play.
Of course, I volunteer to take part
Your quote about getting a new BMW for £10,000 is unrealistic as well, by the time you spec a couple of options up you are heading towards £13,000 - without any luggage!! Way too expensive for what is in effect a simple two cylinder air cooled motorcycle
Crampie your a brave man for opening this can of worms!
Hey, if you don't ask.........
All the points my learned Tosser friends make are very valid, most of them boiling down to prices
believe it or not, we actually DO want to sell bikes but of course, we also have to make a profit. Summer vacations in The Hamptons don't come cheap you know....
expensive servicing
Personally speaking, we have one of the lowest labour rates in the entire BMW network (I know, I phoned around!) but even we (like others) do have offers on from time to time - free oil at service, free lunch in the cafe, etc. We're always prepared to do a bit of a deal so don't be afraid to ask.
too many breakdowns etc
As suggested earlier and believe it or not, the overall number of warranty claims and breakdowns is reducing, in spite of growing numbers of BMW bikes. I've no reason to mislead anyone - we get paid to repair bikes under warranty!
and just not getting plain good old fashioned value for your money!
I guess, as others on here have already intimated, it's probably not always just about the price but often how you feel about the whole experience that determines whether you're getting value for money. I know we don't sell the cheapest bikes and we don't have the cheapest servicing but we do offer a great facility with well trained (and well paid!) staff who are here to provide a first class service (most of the time!) for customers who, like all of us, ride bikes. We also have a lovely cafe with good quality coffee, clean toilets, plenty of bike parking, loads of demos, all the latest equipment, ATA technicians..... we don't operate from a dirty garage or shed in a back lane or on a dodgy industrial estate and can't offer you ridiculously low labour rates (which by the way, don't indicate just how much you might end up paying....) or run a knackered old 500cc runabout as a loan bike.
probably a lot of it due to eco- friendly water based paints
Having to use this type of paint is not unique to BMW.......
whilst being better for the environment are absolutely rubbish at making the paint actually stick on the crankcase of your bike!
Jeez you don't even get a poxy plastic cover over the starter motor now to make it look a bit tidy, how penny-pinching is that!
errr.....you got me on that one, I agree!
Your quote about getting a new BMW for £10,000 is unrealistic as well, by the time you spec a couple of options up you are heading towards £13,000 - without any luggage!! Way too expensive for what is in effect a simple two cylinder air cooled motorcycle, I just cannot for the life of me see that kind of money in them and think anyone who stumps this up is a bit crazy, and its not that I don't have the money, I could buy one cash tomorrow if I really wanted one, its just that for the finish and reliability issues they are worth no where near that price in my mind.
You need to be around the £9,000 - £9,500 mark including heated grips and ABS as standard fitments as a minimum, Oh, and while I'm on, put a half decent tool kit back in them again eh??
ahem!....there is more to the range than the BMW boxer you know! The entry level G650 starts at 5K....
I was in a BMW dealer about a month ago, looking at an 09 plate Adventure, just under £10k when the salesman swooped and asked me if I was interested in it, "Absolutely not" I replied, and when he asked why, I pointed out to him that there was no paint left on the engine ( It was in a shocking state , all corroded and bubbled up, looked more fit for a scrap yard than a showroom ) also the frame and running gear were showing plenty of rust.
So then the salesman started making excuses for it - "No Fender extender", "rode all through the winter without washing it etc" so I said to him "What about that bike over there, and that one, ....and that one" The majority of the bikes in the showroom were in the same "moth eaten" state, I wouldn't give you £1,000 for it let alone £10,000.
If there was a bike here in that kind of condition, we wouldn't be happy to sell it. I must say however that, a lot depends on the care and attention the owner bestows on the bike. We can see two identical bikes of a similar age and with similar mileage that are in a completely different condition. Sure, you probably do have to take a little bit more care of the materials used to manufacture your bike now than you did years ago but a little bit of effort does go a long way.
My BM is 11 years old in June and it still looks as good as new, no paint has dropped off it and nothing is rusting, I didn't buy it cos it was fast or light or trendy, it was the quality that sold it to me, in fact as an engineer I can see places where the bike is "over-engineered" not assembled in the quickest way with the cheapest materials, but manufactured by engineers that in those days had great pride in doing it the best quality way first , with the cost being an almost secondary consideration.
So until BMW put that quality and pride back into their bikes, I'm afraid I won't be buying another one.
It IS BMW's mission to build desirability, reliability, technology and quality into every motorcycle. I think I have already said that they have made a concerted effort to right some wrongs over the years and having been to the factory I have absolutely no reason to doubt their commitment. I hope you'll soon begin to see the difference.
Sorry, but there you have it
Right, now I'm off to open a can of beans..
Something they could have easily done is stuck their hands up in the air, admitted to the problems and offered help with any FD / FPC / EWS failures, the factory gate cost of an FD can't be more than a few hundred quid, so why not offer 75%, 50%, 25% discount on any FD that fails at under 25k / 50k / 75k.
I appreciate some dealers have been fighting for their customers when bikes have failed miserably after the warranty has expired, however this should not be a fight, the one thing BMW could do right now is offer a lot more help and support for current owners when things that should not got wrong f*** up.
Bakermans a long haired hippy so doesn't count
You have to have an open mind JB. Looked at The Yam Tenere (still stuck to the dealers floor @ £14k) and the new Triumph (Bit twee). To be honest there's nothing out there that appeals apart from a Harley and I'm not prepared to pay stupid prices to have one. Nobody is making proper bikes any more.