People keep saying "Compensation".
"Compensation" for what exactly ?
I understand that people are not riding the RT they bought BUT, in the summer mind, most of my local dealer's affected customers are riding around on a 1200GS or a 1600GT. They are putting the miles on those bikes clocks, whilst their own bikes are not wearing out tyres, pads or getting closer to Service.
It would be totally different if people were being left with no motorcycle to ride, but from what I can see BMW have ensured that isn't happening.
Given the circumstances, it seems like a pretty fair deal to me, in all honesty.
Hmm, I could be wrong, but I get the impression that you're not one of the affected owners. If you were, you may be feeling a little different.
To answer your question (compensation for what?), IMHO:
1) Loss of faith in the brand.
You spend just shy of £16K on a bike, only to have it whisked away after a couple of months/weeks/days with very little official explanation. Doesn't inspire confidence in the bike's future prospects.
2) Cancelled / interrupted/ modified/ postponed trips....disappointed and associated cost.
You make plans for trips which suddenly you cannot do. We had planned a trip which needed changing significantly once our bike was recalled, not least of all because the longest we could stay away with 2 of us on the bike was 2 nights. Our loaner GS has a top box only, our dealer could/would not get us panniers. You'd be amazed how quickly a top box gets filled when there's a lady involved - and we still had to bungee our 20lt drybag on top (very awkward for ma petite puce to get on bike).
3) Damaged residual value.
Doesn't matter what anyone says, if you keep your bike it's always going to be, "one of the ones that was recalled". In future, given the choice between a recalled and a non-recalled bike, which would you rather buy? Unless there was a price incentive involved of course...(case in point).
I could go on, but I'm sure most people have lost the will to live by now.
Personally, as per my previous post, I believe our dealer has done a great job in very difficult circumstances. Conversely, I think BMW has offered the absolute bare minimum. At the very least, I'd have liked them to offer what they have in cash-back (not vouchers for something we don't need) AND have the bike's warranty reset or - ideally - extended an extra year as a gesture of goodwill.
I may be currently riding around on a lovely new GS when I could be putting miles, wear etc on my own bike, but you lose sight of the fact that my/our own bikes are currently locked up somewhere unknown, unused, batteries going flat, tyres getting flat-spotted, being moved around by people unknown etc etc when I'd rather have our bike, in our garage under our care, thank you. We, like many others, have paid an awful lot of money for a bike we're not in possession of.
Having received BMW's offering, our original decision (to just do nothing, use the GS and wait see what happens) is unlikely to stand. It's not enough to 'compensate' for the above. There is now absolutely no point in hanging onto our original machine and every point in getting a full refund and considering either a new RT once this situation has passed or a different machine altogether.
I honestly think you have to be in this situation to judge it though.
If you're not, you're expressing a worthless opinion to people who care very little for what you say!
