Cat Dealers droping like flies

[BigRed118]

From what I have heard it is more the financing companies than it is Cat or Doo. When the finance companies holding the flooring decide not to do sleds any longer, the o.e's have to find a company to hold flooring for the dealers and that is becoming harder and harder. The o.e's are not set up to floor the massive amount of inventory that they force down there dealers throats. So since the dealers cant pay cash for all of the sleds that they have left over right now, it is easier to give up the dealership and send the units back. I talked to the company picking up the A/C's in Monroe and he said that he picked up over 300 ATV's from a dealer in Southern Oregon

 

[phatty]

Heard that Weller's in Kamas was gonna give up the Cat end of things today. Don't know how much truth is behind this claim, does anyone have any input on this?? It would be ashame. When we had our Yamaha franchise in the 80's we bought EVERYTHING from Wellers place. We used to race with them in the early 90's and what not. Any Utah guys know the story behind this?

wellers has polaris, yamaha, and ski doo... they havent had cats in years.
And yes they are a fantastic dealership.

 

[Beels]

From what I have heard it is more the financing companies than it is Cat or Doo. When the finance companies holding the flooring decide not to do sleds any longer, the o.e's have to find a company to hold flooring for the dealers and that is becoming harder and harder. The o.e's are not set up to floor the massive amount of inventory that they force down there dealers throats. So since the dealers cant pay cash for all of the sleds that they have left over right now, it is easier to give up the dealership and send the units back. I talked to the company picking up the A/C's in Monroe and he said that he picked up over 300 ATV's from a dealer in Southern Oregon

It's not just in the RV business either, it's everything. One of a ag manufacturers we carry had a flooring deal for their dealer network with Textron and they completely cut off any new iron going onto their paper with little or no notice. The company is carrying some of it themselves, but it left everyone scrambling.

 

[Ollie]

We lost both our Polaris dealers in norther CO in a week.
One went out of buisness, the other got his quota from polaris and told em to take a flying leep.

I think a lot has to do with the times, some of it has to do with minimum orders that must be placed and dealers not being able to move product.

 

[FreeAgent]

From what I have heard it is more the financing companies than it is Cat or Doo. When the finance companies holding the flooring decide not to do sleds any longer, the o.e's have to find a company to hold flooring for the dealers and that is becoming harder and harder. The o.e's are not set up to floor the massive amount of inventory that they force down there dealers throats. So since the dealers cant pay cash for all of the sleds that they have left over right now, it is easier to give up the dealership and send the units back. I talked to the company picking up the A/C's in Monroe and he said that he picked up over 300 ATV's from a dealer in Southern Oregon

Talked to a Dealer in Idaho today and he is dropping Cat as well, the flooring is killing him. I am thinking about dropping Cat ATV'S and Prowlers and Polaris sleds because Polaris just did a HUGE rate increase on our flooring terms. We are also thinking about getting rid of Yamaha Watercraft and boats because of the flooring. You would think that the OE's would help us out but they are not they are actually raising our interest!!!! WTF thanks Polaris and Cat.

Michelle

 

[superdoo]

.

probably 50 miles apart. like the trees that yamaha riders claim to ride through.

BANG, outta nowhere.

that's friggin awesome. and fitting.

 

[whiserd]

im surprised cat is having trouble. They got a great line of mountain sleds, and it seems many large family groups are purely cat riders(they got nice bottom line and up sleds too in my opinion)

 

[calgarysledguy]

We have a new dealer just open. Bass Pro Shop . They sell Cat. Only ATVs for now but the guy i was talking to there said well see what happens when winter comes along. Hopefully they will Bring in sleds but would realy like to see them selling parts and servicing them.But i do most of it myself anyway...

 

[UintaVentureBoys]

wellers has polaris, yamaha, and ski doo... they havent had cats in years.
And yes they are a fantastic dealership.

Thats what i thought, last time I was down there bought a 670 summit x in 99 and only seen a few USED cats no new ones.. didn't think they specialized in it but my source (dumbass) said he swore to god they specialized in cats since '95 and they were going belly up.. Figured he just smoked too much and was lost in his own mind.. figured i'd get the truth

 

[Desperado]

im surprised cat is having trouble. They got a great line of mountain sleds, and it seems many large family groups are purely cat riders(they got nice bottom line and up sleds too in my opinion)

I don't think cat is in trouble I think they along with the finace company Textron are playing hard ball with the dealers and some of the lower volume dealers are saying FU. I can't blame the dealers 18 percent flooring eats into the profit quick. The former dealer in my area even arranged a line of credit with the local bank so he could buy the sleds directly from Cat, cat said NOPE, it all had to be done through the finance company Textron. Maybe larger volume dealers can cut different deals but the two former dealers in my area were pretty small (mom & pop) dealers and it seem like those are the dealers being squeezed the most. Guess if you can't turn 100 sleds a year they in no way want to help. My upgrading sleds every few years are over.

 

[racingpit]

LOL agreed!
Lost only cat dealer in our town about a month ago.. Skidoo has pretty much monopolized the rider base in our area anyways, no rides a cat around here anymore.. Kinda sucks cause I was rather impressed with the M7

So Kmotive closed????

 

[racingpit]

Yep, I've also heard it's the new flooring terms Cat is implementing to dealers that's making them quit. Maybe Cat is playing hard ball or maybe they are trying to clean things up a bit.

In my area there are a couple of great dealers that understand how to run a good business and then there are several others that probably can't balance their own personal checkbook and should probably go back to fixing lawnmowers.

Either way, it sucks to see them leave!

I think you might be right. I think this is some house cleaning....without Cat going out and saying they are closing dealers....they let the dealers decide for themselves.

 

[batman]

did you see that cat just laid off 60 more people in thief river and lost 17M in Q4 2008?

cat might have a tough road ahead. they all might except for the piano maker.

sucks.

 

[Trashy]

I don't even ride a 'Cat and it kinda hurts to watch them struggle... but poor economics hurt everyone. I do believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel tho, the only question is how long will it take to fix all the damage.

 

[Stack]

My Cat dealer, who is also a buddy of mine, isnt so much complaining about the sled sales, but he is getting hammered on the ATV's. ATV sales have fallen in dramatic fashion over the last 2 years, from their historic highs that lasted for several years. The economy certainly doesnt help matters, especially for products that are wants over needs.

I am a bit different, I like the smaller shops that give good service and are much more personable. This might cost you a few extra bucks versus the volume dealers, but to me service and overall support mean a lot. In a small area we have my friends shop, which is a decent size, and we also have a very small shop that was grandfathered in from CAT. The small shop (One of the original, if not the first Cat dealer in Michigan) only orders a max of 10 sleds per year, pays all cash, and the rest they make is in service and parts. I like the small shops, but it seems from the auto industry to the powersports industry the small "Mom and Pop" dealers are a thing of the past. OEM's want Mega dealers, the volume dealers like a Rexburg motorsports that advertise on this site, and that just a mistake. My opinions on Rexburg dont need to be known

All in all we are in for a lot of changes in the dealer netwroks over the next few years, many not for the better.

John

 

[zrt1000]

Textron going out of business

The flooring company that A/c is using is shutting down and Cat told the dealers they are responsible for finding there own flooring company or Cat will pull there dealer agreement. We are still getting letters from Cat saying that we have 30 days to find alternate flooring or there going to pull the dealer agreement (which we gave up in late Feb.) gotten three such letters since Jan. Had three different people looking at buying the dealership but when the banks looked at the old inventory and the what the manufactorer wanted us to buy for the coming year the banks told the guys that it would be impossible for anyone to purchase the place. Sent everything back to the manufactorer so they can sell them at auction thus creating another problem(low resale value of used). I'm just going to stick to servicing them & fixing them hopefully they won't figure out away to ruin that for me too!

breathe in breathe out breathe in breathe out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[XFIRE800]

I have a cat dealer 10 minutes away, but it is the worst cat dealership i have seen to this date and i refuse to do any business with the d&%$head. I can order parts in sauke centre minnesota from Country Cat and have them before the local dealer would get them for me becuase he has almost no parts on hand. He charges within $200 of MSRP on sleds and wants almost new prices for used sleds. For example he has an 07 M8 with 1500 miles in fair condition in his lot of 5 sleds 10 fourwheelers 5 prowlers and some dirt bikes that he wants 8000 for I can also buy current year sleds from country cat for cheaper than his 1 or 2 year carryovers. He also sells 020 belts for $85 when i can get them from other dealers online for under 50. Somehow the majority of the sleds and four wheelers around here are arctic cat, but it pathetic that cat lets a dealer like this hang around i know this is the opposite of wut you guys are going through, but this dealership needs to close because he has no clue wut he is doing, he rips everyone off, and he just puts horrible rep on cat. I found a local guy that has been working on sleds his whole life and actually knows what he is doing and im almost 100% sure that he gets more work than the cat dealer does. Cat really needs to step up and close the dealers that arent worth a **** and help out the decent dealers.

 

[Blu Du]

if thats the story about not haveing any financing anymore(dealer has to find his own financing). i think cat is circling the drain of bankruptcy. all winter i was wondering which manufacture would go first cat or poo

 

[craveboost]

wellers

i believe that wellers gave up there cat dealership to a place in heber. i cant remember the name though.

 

[vdo1948]

XFIRE, don't know if we're talking about the same eastern SD dealer but if we are I agree. I refuse to go there anymore. Not only is service and pricing bad but I know more about my sled than they do, but they are sure they are correct until the part doesn't fit. I'm pretty much using Freeagent on here or a dealer across the border in MN now. I agree Cat needs to close down their bad dealers. Curious where/who the 'local guy' who knows his way around Cats is. If you could PM me with contact info I would appreciate it.
VDO

I have a cat dealer 10 minutes away, but it is the worst cat dealership i have seen to this date and i refuse to do any business with the d&%$head. I can order parts in sauke centre minnesota from Country Cat and have them before the local dealer would get them for me becuase he has almost no parts on hand. He charges within $200 of MSRP on sleds and wants almost new prices for used sleds. For example he has an 07 M8 with 1500 miles in fair condition in his lot of 5 sleds 10 fourwheelers 5 prowlers and some dirt bikes that he wants 8000 for I can also buy current year sleds from country cat for cheaper than his 1 or 2 year carryovers. He also sells 020 belts for $85 when i can get them from other dealers online for under 50. Somehow the majority of the sleds and four wheelers around here are arctic cat, but it pathetic that cat lets a dealer like this hang around i know this is the opposite of wut you guys are going through, but this dealership needs to close because he has no clue wut he is doing, he rips everyone off, and he just puts horrible rep on cat. I found a local guy that has been working on sleds his whole life and actually knows what he is doing and im almost 100% sure that he gets more work than the cat dealer does. Cat really needs to step up and close the dealers that arent worth a **** and help out the decent dealers.