My buddy is a salesman at a big harley dealer. He personally moves 20-30 bikes a month. Bikes out of this dealership sell for $4k over MSRP. People come in and buy, bad credit, no license.
I sat through a sale with him a few weeks ago. A 21 year old kid, with his young wife, and 2 kids. He bought a new 1200 sportster. No license but they got him insurance, bad credit but they got him financed at 18%. They prepped the bike, took it into the delivery bay and my buddy goes over everything with him. The kid starts it up to ride it home. He dumps the clutch and the front tire jumps off the ground, trying to hold it up he runs it right into the curb not more than 20 feet from the delivery bay and the bike is lying on its side, he never got it out of the parking lot. We run over to check on him and the tears start up. I'm thinking "this guy is going to say the throttle stuck and end up with this bike for free", but he takes all the blame on himself. They wheel the bike back into the service area, and tell the kid to call his insurance company so they can get it fixed up for him. The kid walks off to his wife "who is in their truck" with his head hanging low. Hard to believe but I witnessed it first hand.
Now the reason for my post is: This dealer charges a premium of $4k over MSRP, and people are lined up waiting on the new 09's. Harleys really aren't my thing so personally I'd think I was taking it in the shorts to pay MSRP, but I guess thats not how these dealers work.
