The last time any of my bikes (including ATV's) have seen the inside of a dealership was the day I bought them. Short of a factory recall, they never will. I don't have 3 hours to kill driving to the dealership every time I want an accessory or need a part. I always shop around for the bikes I want and I don't mind traveling to get the best deal when it saves me several thousand dollars. I bought my M109R in Romney, WV, I bought my 2 Grizzlys in Latrobe, PA, I bought my Magnum and 2 KFX90 ATV's for the grandkids in Woodbridge, VA, and I was lucky enough to find a deal good enough to not make it worth traveling or shipping the F3T up in Fredericksburg, VA. I have no dealer loyalty because I have never received any loyalty from a dealer. I have always attempted to give my business to the local dealers here in town. They refuse to deal on the price of their bikes tho, so I go elsewhere. They want MSRP or nothing and are willing to let serious customers walk out the door. As an example, the local Yamaha dealer wanted MSRP on a Grizzly 700 that was 2 model years old. I went in and talked to them 3 times. The third time was with cash in hand for 2 bikes. I told them the OTD price I was quoted and showed them the paperwork from the other dealer. I told them they didn't have to match the deal. Just get close enough that it wasn't worth the 10 hour round trip to Latrobe, PA pulling an enclosed trailer with my Diesel truck back when diesel was over $4 a gallon. They said the best they could do was a $300 rebate. I drove 10 hours and saved well over $3000 on the 2 bikes. Then they want $200 - $300 for oil changes at the dealership that you have to wait anywhere from 2-4 week for... No thanks! I can do it my self thank you very much!!! To top it all off, it will end up being some young kid working on your bike. You end up with a stripped out drain plug, or they over or under fill with oil. Lots of stories out there on this type of thing happening all the time. Seen it a few times myself with friends I ride with.
Stealerships are nothing more than a middle man between the manufacturer and the consumer. If you are at all mechanically inclined, have a service manual, and online access to the parts you need, there is no need for a dealership beyond the purchase of your bike. I realize there are some good dealers out there. I don't mind giving them my business. Unfortunately, none of them are close to where I live. Most of the online parts distributers are owned by dealerships that get it. The others are owned by aftermarket part companies such as cruiser customizing owns cheapcycleparts, and partzilla is owned by a dealership in NY if I remember correctly. Most have their prices for accessories at around 10% off and are willing to price match if you find it cheaper somewhere else. cheapcycleparts offers free shipping over $99 or $199 most of the time. Even when they don't, they have reasonable shipping rates. That is why I am looking for somewhere similar to buy accessories. The dealership where I bought the F3T said they are willing to ship parts to me, but they first have to order them and get them in before they can ship it. They will not drop ship anything and they don't normally ship parts, so their shipping rates are outrageous! It ends up negating the discount, and in come cases, cost more than it would to order direct from the manufacturer.
I'll probably just call cheapcycleparts with the part numbers from the BRP catalog when I'm ready to place an order. They have always done me right in the past. They carry Spyder parts and accessories. For some reason, they just don't list the F3T in their accessories section of their site. I'm sure they can get whatever I need / want tho.
