Orange Coounty

[Keith Foster]

My $0.02, I agree with bshpilot and TX. Not that I have a lot of selection in dealers in my area, but I bought from the closest dealer, didn't haggle over price, paid for it up front, probably one of the easiest deals they had that month

 

I could have driven to FBF, or shopped other places, but this dealer was closest to me (110 miles), has been around for many years, was close to BWI (as I travel semi frequent I figure it would be handy to combine business travel with service work on occasion). And if I did have any warrenty issues, I figured I would have a better position than if I'd "danced with another" as TX so eloquently phrased it.

 

Sure enough, I had some issues, the day I picked it up (search for "The good, the bad and the ugly" if you want to know more) and a bit afterward. Result? - I was taken care of, helped out, they busted their hump to get the bike fixed, had the 1st service done no charge for my troubles, and established a relationship with the shop. No coincidence in my book - well worth the extra coin it cost me - to me.

 

I know a dealer is "required" to do the warranty work somenewguy, but these fine machines we enjoy are still cared for by humans, and humans remember who you dance with at the party. For sure my 2 day turn around for my work would have been a lot longer from the dealer, in the middle of April, just as prime east coast riding season was kicking in, if I hadn't bought the bike from him. To compare buying an appliance .. oops ... car to buying a MG anthro, well these are two birds of a different feather.

 

BTW, I read somewhere else this week that John Stoddard had been named the new head cheese with MuZ N.A. in FL. It said "former CEO (or whatever was his title) of Moto Guzzi N.A. The plot thickens....

 

But hey, tomorrow is a high of 75, sunny, I get to ride to work !! maybe I'll try leaving my neighborhood in anger

[Guest Guest]

I purchased my 2001 v11 from OC Motorsport 18 months ago. When my oil cooler brackets broke, Mickey at OC had one of his mechanic rolled one of his brand new bike off the showroom and stripped the part so I did not have to wait for the backorder. Mickey is the general manager at OC (best Triumph mechanic in the USA- personal experience with a triumph t595). I bought the bike for $8700 OTD - which included a free initial tune up (I had to pay for the fluids [$50]) and brand new FBF exhaust. They Dyno tuned my PCIII for $300.

 

MGNA warranty is crap and most of us work on our own bikes anyway so the only thing that I look for when I was in the market for a Guzzi was affordability. I was able to get on a bike that I lusted for vs any other typical motorcycle. All i need is this board and all the helpful people here to perform all my maintenance and typical Guzzi issues.

 

[TX REDNECK (R.I.P.)]

MGNA warranty is crap and most of us work on our own bikes anyway so the only thing that I look for when I was in the market for a Guzzi was affordability.

Agreed most of us work on our bikes. Let's try this scenario. I buy a 03 Aluminum, a bike that has a higher than average problem with hydraulic valves & premature failure of clutches. Now I have a warranty problem, I take my bike to the local dealer & demand that they fix it. Now , walk in this dealers shoes. He's expected to spend some time( 3 hrs min,faxes, phone calls, paperwork) submitting a claim to MGNA on a bike he didn't make a dime on & then get hosed on warranty work. With the spare parts situation being what it is, who do you think is going to get those replacement parts? the guy who bought his bike from way out west or the guy who bought his bike from the local dealer? Go ahead tell him your going to sue MGNA, he's probably suing them too.Having a good working relationship with your dealer is key to having a good experience with Guzzi ownership. Do a search here & you'll find that having a dealer that will go to bat for you is far & few between. Do you really think way out west gives a $hit about you when you're back in Timbuktu with your broke down bike ? Well get a grip, neither does your local dealer

[al_roethlisberger]

Again, IMHO.... succinctly... it's all about keeping the $$ local....

 

If OC is local to you, and they will be doing all of your service work, then this is less of an issue. But the resale/value issue is still a partial concern.

 

Every dealer should have had an equal opportunity to take advantage of this "deal", and apparently they did not.

 

 

al

[Anthro]

What a controversy!!!.

 

I am really amazed,

 

I though the passion for motorcycling and specially MG was something clearly into the sports and the technology, I did not suspect to be on the spot at this site just by buying a MG to the best of my habilities as a consummer (!?).

 

Indeed support and warranty, together with parts and accessories are important. But no one is going to make me feel like crap just because some local dealers are not able to put the money where a sales guy supposed to, into selling.

 

I am not a supporter of business like Walmart or similar, on the other hand I can not be supportive of the laziness and comfort of a zoned market place where there is no need for pricing dialog with the potential customers, you buy in Texas here is how much is it.

 

We are making a moral deal of the lack of will to risk and invest of some dealers that happen to be closer to home.

 

They were unable to jump into the MG-USA urge for cash, and I am sorry about, but they knew what they were not doing.

 

If I am in business I’ll take one of the today’s cheap loans and buy (and sell) as many MG’s as I could. I guess I’ll have to get the new dealers Pack from MG-USA to help to bring more MG riders to Texas.

 

Then we would not be having this bitter discussion and we all be welcoming new MG riders who will participate in the expansion of the market for MG parts and services (we all want that).

 

Note for Redneck: The MG Aluminum is doing great, I mean I was ready for the worst of the MG experiences, buy wanted to get into a MG anyway… and I got an almost perfect bike… I have no leaks, not clutch flaws no misfire, vibrations are down to pleasant (450 miles) I just need to watch it not do wheelies as I used to do while in college age on my jap iron.

 

I though this site was committed to MGuzzi, I mean the riders' passion for it.

 

When you like a football team or have passion for soccer, do you really care about where you got your tickets to attend to game?

 

I mean MG sold one more bike; I’ll be paying for parts and repairs, and may be some toys. Money will stay local according to the local investment. They could not sell the MG, but they will do the rest, that is what they are investing on...

 

 

Anthro

[jrt]

Anthro, you made a choice based on your ideals. Don't sweat it (you're obviously not), and enjoy your bike. Others may feel differently and they should act accordingly. Personally, I have a great dealer that's close, so I'll use them. If I pay more upfront there, I don't worry about it, because I'll get it back threefold. So for me, it's worth it to shop local. Actually, they sell for very reasonable prices. Other people do not have this luxury.

To some degree, this sounds to me like an oil or wal-mart thread. People are very passionate about their feelings in this matter. I learned long ago that I will rarely change people's religious, political, wal-mart or oil views, so I just don't try. Instead, I slash their tires (kidding).

J

[al_roethlisberger]

ahhh, Jason..... you vandal <_>

 

[jrt]

I have stock in bridgestone.

[Guest JON]

You know it is such a shame to see all of you for blasting a dealer so much. I have purchased a 03 Aluminum cause it was too good of a deal. I have previously owned a GSX-R 750 and a Vulcan 800. I love this Guzzi. Now I am in the works on getting my hands on a Cafe' Sport. I have had no problems with these guys! Mickey and Nathan have been there hand for hand for me.

 

I see everyone is worried about the warranty to work on Guzzi'z and how dealers say they don't get paid enough. I see dealers are refusing to do warranty work just cause they bought it from another dealer. That just seems like bad buisness. I know OC would take in any bike from any dealer. They have no problems with warranty from Guzzi. My understanding it is free money and free work to them.

 

You know with history there is change. OC is trying their best with Guzzi and is selling a whole bunch of them. I suggest quit bad mouthing them about these so called issues and just call them if you have a problem with them.

[al_roethlisberger]

Let's not confuse the issue

 

I know of few Guzzi dealers that are refusing to work on bikes bought eslewhere(although I'm sure it does happen, as with any brand) .... but the issue is that shops tend to lose money on warantee work.

 

Of course, this is not just a "Guzzi thing".... as most manufacterers, and especially importers of foreign bikes, tend to pay the bare minimum for warantee and recall work. In many cases, shops "lose money" on this type of work, as measured against what they would have made for regular service work over the same time period.

 

 

So if one shop in California is selling into a Texas shops' territory because of an unfair pricing advantage, the local Texas shop takes a double-whammy.... first by not getting "the sale", and second when the new owner brings the bike in for warantee work. And if there is too high an incidence of this scenario, where the shop becomes primarily a warantee service center instead of making actual sales and selling service.... well, they'll go under. And then where will the local customers be? Are they going to ship the bikes back to California for work?

 

Sure, the new owner may still buy some accessories, or have other service done to help offset the loss for the local dealer.... and one can always point out that any sale for MG is a good thing.... to which I would generally agree.

 

But bottom line, just as with any franchised business, there are territorial and overlap restrictions based on the local market for a reason. And any unfair pricing that effectively extends one franchise's market beyond their local market, makes the other dealers less successful. And that isn't just about competition. It's an unfair advantage. In the end, the extreme case would be one very successful dealer in Southern California, with nary any other dealers nationwide surviving.

 

One has to recognize that although this is about local dealers, it's also about local owners... and the potential of losing good local support, which especially for bikes like ours, is a valuable resource.

 

I don't think that loss would be a strategically desireable outcome, nor healthy for the brand.

 

Of course, I don't think that extreme would come to pass nationwide, however the impact to the local dealers is real.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, and in this one... I don't think anyone blames the customer for taking the best deal, and to some degree also doesn't blame OC for getting the best deal they could on the bikes from MGNA.

 

I really hope it doesn't come across that way. In other words, I know that I can speak for myself and say I don't mean to "bash" the new owner, nor OC.

 

But a lot of folks are upset with MGNA for what appears to have been some inequity, that in the end is costing other dealers sales, and service costs on bikes they didn't even sell.

 

 

Again, I think most dealers are upstanding, and am not suggesting OC isn't either. I also think most MG dealers will do what they can to support a bike that wasn't bought locally, up to the point where it's financially possible. So I wouldn't worry about that too much.

 

But in some cases, like Moto Guzzi Classics, the impact was apparently just too great... along with a string of other MGNA gotchas... that finally broke the camel's back. And that's too bad.

 

My information on the subject is admittedly second-hand, and I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong with regard to any special consideration MGNA gave this dealer, as opposed to all dealers.

 

But I've heard this story in various forms from 4 large and reputable dealers in 3 different states, and have seen the pricing as compared to what they could sell their bikes for. So....

 

al

[TX REDNECK (R.I.P.)]

What Al said & let's not forget about resale value. I don't blame OC for using their buying power, but if they would stick closer to MSRP then the long term health of Guzzi would be better. Let's face it nobody wants to buy a bike & then have the value cut in half a yr later. Even if you believe in buying local, do you want to take it in the ass ? OC pricing structure hurts Guzzi sales nation wide. Another thing if OC is as great as some let on, then how come people in southern Ca try to have their warranty work done at other dealers ? You need to pull your head out of your ass if you think that your local dealer gives a shit about doing warranty work on a bike he didn't sale.

[Guest vkerrigan]

Perhaps a way out of this would be if dealers asked to perform warrantee work on bikes they did'nt sell were authorized by MG to charge some sort of surcharge for their work. If this were stated in the sales contract at the time of the sale, the buyer would then have to factor this into the "bargain basement" prices of some of the volume dealers. But I think it might take some of the unfairness out of the present system

[TX REDNECK (R.I.P.)]

Perhaps a way out of this would be if dealers asked to perform warrantee work on bikes they did'nt sell were authorized by MG to charge some sort of surcharge for their work. If this were stated in the sales contract at the time of the sale, the buyer would then have to factor this into the "bargain basement" prices of some of the volume dealers. But I think it might take some of the unfairness out of the present system

We'll just have to see how Piaggio conducts business now I hope they use some of that due diligence

[Anthro]

The price battle is over... all business is back to normal, price schedule make unrealistic purchasing out of state.

 

I least I got to enjoy my first MG for cheap, the next one (I hope soon) will have to be at its real value, and perhaps from a local dealer.

 

I did never fear that MG will go out of business under Aprillia. I just felt how desperated for money they where to clearence such fine pieces.

 

No more huge difference with dealer pricing, so indeed Orange County was not evil, and I am not a WalMart stock holder (and will never be), it was just a company trying to survive selling some of its products for fast cash.

 

LONG LIFE TO MG.

 

Salute

 

Anthro