Are the OEM's trying to run the Mom & Pop dealers under?

[AKrider]

I'm beginning to wonder if there is a trend going on here or if it is the economy, higher prices on machines, the complexity of new sleds or what? A few years ago, Ski-doo basically told a small, family run dealer in a remote community that they needed to take X number of sleds or they would lose their franchise. They told Doo that there was no way for them to sell the number of sleds they were pushing and if they took them, they would go out of business. Doo ended up pulling their dealership. Now I'm hearing the same type of situation with a full line Yamaha dealer who has been in the business for around 30 years.

Do the OEM's have something against small dealerships? I like small dealers. I like calling and easily talking to the owner. I've bought at big multi-line dealers whose personnel constantly change and when you have a problem you get the run around. Is this a trend? What's wrong with letting dealers sell what they know they can sell? Why do OEM's insist on dealers taking X number of undesirable machines just so they can be allocated X number of hot selling machines?

I don't know much about running a dealership or a factory, but you'd think the larger number of dealers you have, the better off it would be for everyone?

 

[sledn]

They will say that the smaller dealers can't afford to buy the up to date tools and test equipment every year for the new product.Also the parts department do not have a large enough budget to stock very many parts.

 

[snow_knight]

its the way of the new economy.. its not just the snowmobile market.. or the recreational vehicle market for that matter... its the economy.. if a company sets a curtain allocation for dealers.. it is a way to ..not only keep market growth on a rise.. but also for keeping sled prices up.. as for your question with small mom and pop stores sledn answered that to a T... most OEM's want there customers to feel that there is a great emphasis put on customers service. although a couple (not going to name) actually think its cheaper to piss a few people off than to fix their problems.. I'm a business owner and I dont agree with the way its heading.. but if I was not to change my mindset on it.. I couldnt make it in the new business world.. my .02

 

[sledmanhof]

the same thing is happening with the dealer that we have. Polaris has been telling them that they need to sell this many sleds and if they dont they wont be selling polaris products very long. Parts unlimited already pulled the plug on them

 

[RobG]

What I've noticed is that even the larger dealers don't stock many parts. There are two BIG dealers here in town and neither of them ever have much of anything in stock. They always have to order.

Another dealer... a Polaris shop.... they're a big place too. Polaris is bullying them around too. Last year I was working there as a tech assembling sleds and quads, and Poo forced them to take a bunch of leftover 06 models in order to get the newer 07's. Last year was a really bad snow year here, and so now they're stuck sitting on a bunch of 06 and 07 sleds, and Polaris isn't even offering decent rebates to get the things sold.

Another big dealer here that is Doo/Cat told AC that they wouldn't accept any 2008 models because they had so many leftover 07's. 'Course this particular dealer doesn't really deal either, because they still have leftover 04's that they want full sticker for, just like last year's M8's.

Rob

 

[skibreeze]

Polaris drove the local springs dealer out of the sled business about 7 years ago for forcing them to take so many sleds. I do believe that the current dealer 45 miles away, Extreme, more than makes up for the loss.

 

[STEEP-N-DEEP]

It is so true about the new economy, It goes to the basic principles of marketing supply and demand, as long as the consumer want the latest and greatest in new technology and will pay the premiem price they oem will deliver, what needs to happen is a giant uprising of the common folk with a great leader like FREAK to lead us into battle with the OEM army outnumbering us not by heads but by MONEY but we will overcome the tyrants and the good will overcome evil and the days of the 5000 doller SLEDS WILL RETURN and we will live in peace and of course china will fall as well as all the other sweatshops and cheap labor will go away and the wars will end and global warming will stop and it will snow and we can all get together and have a big BBQ and snowmobile

 

[hilinerider]

what also doesn't help is the oem jacking around the dealer which makes the customer mad and they don't come back to buy new sleds after the last fiasco