Am I crazy?

[Vault13Hero]

Ok, first things first, I haven't had a whole lot of experience buying bikes (I've only purchased 2 at separate dealerships).  I went to a dealer (let's call them dealer "X") today to look at a ninja 250 for my wife.  Now we've been looking at prices online and have called 2 dealerships to see what their OTD price was with taxes, fees, and everything.  I told dealer X what the cheapest price I found was (which was kind of far away from me, so I would have gladly paid a little more to buy locally), and after them going to the back room to discuss, they came and told me there was no way that they could meet that price and that the other dealer couldn't possibly be selling for that price, that I must not have gotten the price with taxes and fees, etc.  That's fine, I expected that they wouldn't match the price, and I expected that they wouldn't really believe me that I found it for $500 less than what they were offering the bike for.  So far, everything had gone as I had expected.  I wish they could've come down cheaper, but whatever, I'll keep looking around.

Then this happened.

The dealer then told me that if I bought a bike at any other dealership, that dealer X would not honor any warranty work for that bike.  I had to ask again because I couldn't believe it.  They said that Kawasaki doesn't reimburse them enough so they only do warranty work for their customers. 

So sanity check please:  Is this normal?  Have any of you had a dealership turn you down for warranty work because you didn't buy a bike there? 

[sas mayhem]

No that's a bunch of bull.  Call the regional HQ and run it buy them.  That would would turn away a lot of business from Kawasaki, let then know that.

Cheers
Ron

[Makz58]

The warranty comment is the same I got from my local dealer and Kawi supports this as I was told when I called customer support.  This is what the support person at Kawi told me yes the dealer has tp honor the Kawi warranty but at his leisure. So you could be SOL if your local dealer is really busy.

[Cholla]

That is illegal as per the Magnusen-Moss act.
Kawasaki will happily pay for repairs at any dealer of your choosing. They did twice for me.
Those are dealers you don't want to deal with.

[koval68]

Ninja 250's are a very hot item (if you don't buy it, somebody else will...), so Kawasaki dealers are taking advantage of buyers.
The warranty comment is totally inappropriate,  dealer "X" doesn't deserve your business...
Things are much worst in Canada, to give you an example (besides paying much higher price in Canada, but I'm sure you already know that),Kawasaki policy for U.S dealers not to sell cross border to Canadians, once again is being Strictly Enforced.

[jim_de_hunter]

Local Honda-Yamaha dealer only sells at list price.  If you want a discount from MSRP, go somewhere else.  Called to get a 500 miles service on a CB750 that I bought across town and they had a 6 week wait on service.  The dealer is making a boat load of money; he just doesn't get a lot of mine.

[booger]

Man, talk about wanting your cake and eating it too!!!!!!

You can contact Kawasaki regional headquarters and I assure the end result will be they will handle the warranty work.

You obviously pissed them off by not buying from them.  Why would you want them to?

You chose the dealer you wanted when you purchased the bike.  Just stick with them for the service work, unless you are on the road and have to have emergency repairs.

If your want a loyal service department, you buy the bike from them.  And you buy local.
 
 

[JetJock]

Total BS. All dealers are compensated the same for warranty work AND they cannot turn down legit warranty work on the "you didn't buy it here" premise.

If they did, you could report them to Kawasaki. Matter of fact, I would do exactly that right now. This is probably some dumbass sales guy creating policy that the owner knows isn't true, just to try to force a sale. Ask for the owner and get him to repeat it. Betcha he won't. Betcha they will have a "help wanted" sign in the window shortly thereafter.

[JetJock]

And BTW, the Ninja 250 is Kawasaki's best-selling bike. Close to impossible to find one at discount and the dealers always sell out. But because it's a first bike, lots of them for sale used. Buy used if you can.

[Scaffolder]

Local or not, I don't and haven't paid MSRP for any bike or car for that matter. I almost went 6 states away for my 2010 C-14. But I found a good enough deal 1 state away $13200 OTD with abs. I was there today for warranty work, but I won't be doing that everytime. I'll go to a closer dealer.
Never pay MSRP unless you are one of those guys who need to own it first then you have to pay the price.

[MAN OF BLUES]

The warranty comment is the same I got from my local dealer and Kawi supports this as I was told when I called customer support.  This is what the support person at Kawi told me yes the dealer has tp honor the Kawi warranty but at his leisure. So you could be SOL if your local dealer is really busy.

wow, and adding in a couple other responses:
"No that's a bunch of bull.  Call the regional HQ and run it buy them"

"You can contact Kawasaki regional headquarters [and I assure the end result will be they will handle the warranty work]"


I just have to say what rock do you guys live under?

there is one regional office, it's known as Kawasaki U.S.A, located in California.

that is your region.  Any futher questions???
best of luck calling anyone there, and getting anything realistic for an answer, i have hotlines inside the network, have for years....you will not get into the sanctum sanctorum on the best day. You might get some knob, with a tude, telling you b/s, but then you'll never get thru to anyone to complain about him.
as for corporate backing, ANY and ALL licensed Kawasaki Dealerships MUST and I repeat, MUST honor all Factory warranties, AND extended GTPP warranties, bar non, without prejudice or malice for anyone, anywhere, with the request for service, lest there be problems from the top down, lightning bolts, or whatever.

lets just cut to the chase, get over the apparent opinions B/S and deal with facts.
OK?

to the O/P:
go back to that dealer and tell him that you talked with "the head of corporate Dealer warrenty service" and explained what the dealer told you, and you were told by him that he is full of b/s, also tell him during your call, you verbally gave a  statement to this fact, and were assured it would be followed up on by corporate....

then sit back and watch what happens.
oh, find another dealer, where ever you have to, because this dude is a sham.

[booger]

Local or not, I don't and haven't paid MSRP for any bike or car for that matter. I almost went 6 states away for my 2010 C-14. But I found a good enough deal 1 state away $13200 OTD with abs. I was there today for warranty work, but I won't be doing that everytime. I'll go to a closer dealer.
Never pay MSRP unless you are one of those guys who need to own it first then you have to pay the price.

I gotta agree with you.  I haven't paid MSRP for a car or motorcycle in 40 years.  And I try to buy local.  But I always give the repair work, warrantied and post warranty, to the dealer I purchase it from.

[Makz58]

I just have to say what rock do you guys live under?

Not under a rock by the way...I was refused a recall fix so I called Kawi Canada and complained to the Kawi rep for Western Canada that dealer owner denied to do the recall specifically because I did not buy my bike there. Yes the rep told me he had to do the fix.. Right after the dealer called me back and said yes he would do it but was 4 months backlogged and might not even get to it this riding season. So a loophole and the guy is a a$$hole who sees none of my business.

[Bergmenized]

Dealers in general are notoriously ignorant of the nature of warranty coverage and warranty work. The ones I talked to never even heard of Magnusen-Moss and don't have a clue as to what their responsibilities are.

I had the owner of our local Kawasaki outfit strenuously tell me that if his shop did not do all scheduled maintenance work the warranty would be null and void. Also, one must use factory oil and filters or the same. They don't care as along as they can convince gullible buyers to go along with their positions.

This subject came up while I was discussing my SPOOKFAK to the owner before I introduced it to the market. I was just as ignorant at the time so that's when I looked it up.

Gotta look out for #1.

Dan

[sherob]

I smell BS on that... but after hearing that from them, I wouldn't let them near my bike anyway.  You could call and make a fuss with Mama K, just to make a point.  But I wouldn't take my bike there for anything.