daveinva
New member
Hey all-- long post ahead! Still looking at buying a new Spyder RS, trying to finagle the finances (might not succeed until NEXT year, grrrr), but wanted to get opinions from owners who have bought, and more importantly, serviced their Spyders in the Washington, D.C. area.
My main concerns are two-fold:
1. Sales-- don't want a shady dealer
2. Service-- FAR more important to me.
Reading through hundreds of posts here at this (exceptionally helpful) forum, I admit to being pretty intimidated by the, ummm, tenderness of the Spyder.
I'm barely mechanically inclined (enough to change oil on a bike and do very simple mods-- I can already tell now that I'd swap out every Torx for Dzus on day one
), but unfortunately I don't have a garage at my current house, so anything that can't be easily done in my driveway won't be done by me.
Now, I'm not afraid of buying a complex piece of equipment that might need more shop time than your typical high-end bike, but what I *am* afraid of is getting stuck with atypically unresponsive and unhelpful dealer service-- something that appears again and again here in threads.
By the looks of it as of Spring 2011 I have the following local BRP dealers:
1. Coleman Powersports Falls Church Virginia
2. Coleman Powersports Woodbridge VA
3. Fredericksburg Motorsports VA
4. Trumbull Motorsports Mechanicsville Maryland
5. Pete's Cycle Baltimore MD
(FYI, I've heard great things about Talbot's Powersports, but Easton is a serious hike for regular service).
Coleman Falls Church is an ideal location for me, just a few miles down the road, but sadly they have a horrible reputation-- pushy sales and a slow & expensive service department. I've never used them for anything other than gear, however, so I'm unsure how much their awful rep is warranted, particularly WRT Spyder service, i.e. they may have a great tech(s) working the Spyder as long as you use the magic handshake.
Heard that Coleman Woodbridge is better, but not by much. Fredericksburg Motorsports gets a lot of praise, but it's more of a hike and less convenient. Ditto Trumbull and Pete's.
So, any opinions on these specific dealers, and especially their service departments?
Likewise, for general help: anyone have advice for me in terms of what questions to ask a dealer ahead of time? I figure at a minimum:
-- How many Spyder-rated techs do they have, and with how much experience? I'd really like to find a knowledgeable, personable BRP-trained tech to get on my Xmas card list.
-- The dealer's relationship with BRP: are they on speed-dial or ignored?
-- A forecast for their charges for the maintenance schedule (600, 3000, 12000, etc.)
-- Average turnaround times for service appointments, both routine or emergency
Bottom line: unlike an easy-to-fix car or a cheaper bike, I don't look at purchasing a Spyder as buying a vehicle to drive off the lot so much as I'm buying a *relationship* with a capable and honest dealer... but I sure don't want to OVER pay for that, either. I fear that with D.C. area dealers, when it comes to Can-Am it's a case of "the best of the worst".
FYI, I'll likely bump this thread a few times over the next couple of weeks to make sure local owners see it... Thanks all for the help!
My main concerns are two-fold:
1. Sales-- don't want a shady dealer
2. Service-- FAR more important to me.
Reading through hundreds of posts here at this (exceptionally helpful) forum, I admit to being pretty intimidated by the, ummm, tenderness of the Spyder.
I'm barely mechanically inclined (enough to change oil on a bike and do very simple mods-- I can already tell now that I'd swap out every Torx for Dzus on day one
), but unfortunately I don't have a garage at my current house, so anything that can't be easily done in my driveway won't be done by me. Now, I'm not afraid of buying a complex piece of equipment that might need more shop time than your typical high-end bike, but what I *am* afraid of is getting stuck with atypically unresponsive and unhelpful dealer service-- something that appears again and again here in threads.
By the looks of it as of Spring 2011 I have the following local BRP dealers:
1. Coleman Powersports Falls Church Virginia
2. Coleman Powersports Woodbridge VA
3. Fredericksburg Motorsports VA
4. Trumbull Motorsports Mechanicsville Maryland
5. Pete's Cycle Baltimore MD
(FYI, I've heard great things about Talbot's Powersports, but Easton is a serious hike for regular service).
Coleman Falls Church is an ideal location for me, just a few miles down the road, but sadly they have a horrible reputation-- pushy sales and a slow & expensive service department. I've never used them for anything other than gear, however, so I'm unsure how much their awful rep is warranted, particularly WRT Spyder service, i.e. they may have a great tech(s) working the Spyder as long as you use the magic handshake.
Heard that Coleman Woodbridge is better, but not by much. Fredericksburg Motorsports gets a lot of praise, but it's more of a hike and less convenient. Ditto Trumbull and Pete's.
So, any opinions on these specific dealers, and especially their service departments?
Likewise, for general help: anyone have advice for me in terms of what questions to ask a dealer ahead of time? I figure at a minimum:
-- How many Spyder-rated techs do they have, and with how much experience? I'd really like to find a knowledgeable, personable BRP-trained tech to get on my Xmas card list.
-- The dealer's relationship with BRP: are they on speed-dial or ignored?
-- A forecast for their charges for the maintenance schedule (600, 3000, 12000, etc.)
-- Average turnaround times for service appointments, both routine or emergency
Bottom line: unlike an easy-to-fix car or a cheaper bike, I don't look at purchasing a Spyder as buying a vehicle to drive off the lot so much as I'm buying a *relationship* with a capable and honest dealer... but I sure don't want to OVER pay for that, either. I fear that with D.C. area dealers, when it comes to Can-Am it's a case of "the best of the worst".
FYI, I'll likely bump this thread a few times over the next couple of weeks to make sure local owners see it... Thanks all for the help!
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