Re: price of 1200RT

["Steve Makohin" <wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello John,

John Laughter <jflaughter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


> I've gotten the bug for the new 1200RT.  I am driving a 2000 1100RT with
> only 50K miles on it.  It works absolutely fine.  I just have the bug. 
> What
> price should I expect to pay for the new bike?  I've never bought a new 
> one
> so I don't know how much to negotiate on the price.  Are BMW dealers fixed
> on the new one or are they flexible?  What prices have you found?

To determine the street price of your R1100RT, I suggest you ask several BMW 
dealers "what would it cost me to buy really good running 2000 R1100RT with 
around 50K miles on it, assuming I could locate one?" have them look up this 
value rather than vaguely guessing at it. Beware of basing your opinion on 
the "asking" price in "trader" magazines or the 'Net, because product owners 
are known to be optimistic when pricing their own products (remember, they 
are not business people who are experienced in properly pricing a product to 
balance profit with time to closure). Also keep in mind that a private sale 
will take up your time with tire-kickers, low-ballers, test-ride issues, 
etc., so when you factor in your time and aggravation, convenience has its 
price.

Alternatively, you can sell your bike to the BMW dealer as a trade in for 
the new bike. Your dealer will offer you less than market value because they 
will incur real costs associated with buying the vehicle from you, prepping 
it for sale, providing some sort of dealer warranty (90 days?) to the new 
buyer, retail costs, salesperson's commissions, some profit for the 
dealership, paperwork overhead, etc. That's just the cost of doing business. 
Again, convenience has its price.

With respect to buying a new BMW bike, I have found that BMW dealers in 
general (where I live) do not discount their bikes. Especially not new 
models, like the R1200RT, whose supply is still short of the pent-up demand. 
Selling at list price has happened as a result of necessity because years 
ago, too many BMW dealers existed for the size of the market, and they used 
to compete against each other on price to get the sale. BMW in Germany 
decided a smarter way to handle this is to have fewer retailers and a 
smaller margin on each vehicle, so that it was no longer feasible to 
discount them in any significant manner at the dealer level. All things 
factored in, your BMW Motorrad dealer is "just getting by" when he sells a 
bike at sticker price.

- -Steve Makohin
 '01 R1100S/ABS
 Oakville, Ontario, Canada 

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