April has unusually been a busy month. Our second big batch of 18 Typhoon 50s came in, and a week later we’ve got 3 left. Fortunately
we’ve got more coming next month as our suppliers have realised that
this new model is the complete package, and have got the supply chain
sorted out. Hat’s off to them in how quickly they’ve done
this particularly given the lead time for most vehicle manufacturing can
be 6 to 9 months!
Very close to home, our local competitor closed his doors a couple of
weeks ago. As I’ve said in previous entries, they were one of a number
of scooter businesses that have moved toward the price-competitive end
of the market, which unfortunately is cut-throat. A $50 price difference can make or break a sale, and the competition is intense. Unfortunately for Carl, it was also unsustainable.
Ever since we’ve been inundated with requests to repair broken budget scooters. Its’
funny how many people seem to be genuinely angry that we won’t fix a
scooter that they bought from someone else, of a brand that we don’t
sell, because they may now have to take it 10km down the road to get
sorted. It might seem strange to turn business away, but
we can’t afford to take on machines that we know will have more problems
in the future, some of which, no doubt, will be attributed incorrectly
to our workshop. But we are getting a lot of extra tyre changes to do, many of which seem to be right down to the canvas. It’s
a hard customer base to rely on to build a business, and I’m glad that
we made the decision to move away from it 5 years or so ago. I’d
forgotten the amount of anger and dissatisfaction that exists in that
market, where expectation is high, but often rarely met.
The scooter retail industry is an interesting one, as I’ve alluded to before. Unlike most retail, customers need their purchases serviced. And
unlike the car industry which is so developed that you are spoilt for
choice for whom might provide such service, the scooter/bike industry is
a lot more restricted in that choice. Buying from one
dealer to take to another for servicing is not going to get you the
premium service that you want, so it’s worth considering what the
service capability and costs are from the dealer you intend to buy from
before you purchase – and factor that in to your purchasing criteria. Most
good dealers will do “book” services, that is, they will follow what is
required for that vehicle for the number of km’s and/or age of the
vehicle, and will charge according to what is required. Discount dealers appear to take two distinct tactics. Either
overcharge to claw back that discount they gave you in the first place,
or provide cheap servicing which doesn’t actually provide what is
required – but hey, it’s cheap, right? We serviced one
chap’s Red Devil who had it serviced every 3,000km religiously, but
after his 21,000km service the performance drop-off that he’d noted was
still there. So he brought it to us, and it was quickly apparent that it was desperately in need of a new belt. The
scooter dealer who had serviced till that point had clearly never
opened the transmission. Luckily he hadn’t been stranded due to a broken
belt, but if had continued on that particular service regime, it was an
inevitability! Another poor customer’s engine seized
because the bike shop she had her scooter serviced at hadn’t checked the
oil warning mechanism wasn’t working and fixed it, nor topped her
2-stroke oil up. Expensive and very avoidable.
So when you are buying, it’s not a bad idea to ask if you can speak to the mechanic. Have
a couple of questions to ask them – are there any common problems with
the particular scooter, what is the service schedule for the vehicle, or
what is the best way to run the engine in – it doesn’t really matter,
you just want to get an idea as to their “competence”. And that’s not necessarily their technical ability, but their communication skills. Even
with the modern diagnostic tools available, a lot of problem diagnosis
involves what the customer can relate to the mechanic and vice versa. If
you want some confidence that your purchase is going to be looked after
professionally, then talk to the person that could be doing the work. And if you don’t like the cut of their jib, consider looking elsewhere. Because
ideally you want to stick to the same workshop – they’ll have the
vehicle details and service history, so your job will be done quicker,
better and cheaper.
And if you buy an established brand from an established dealer, hopefully they won’t disappear in a puff of smoke either.