Manchester and Chester HD Closed

Mark Hammond

Mark Hammond

Committee
For info, apparently Manchester and Chester HD dealerships closed today.

Seems legit, several people reporting that they received e mails today confirming the closure from the dealership and HOG chapter director

If true, thats seven dealerships closed since beginning of the year.

IMG_6945.jpeg
 
This is gathering pace only thought 5 max would go its not good and bodes badly for owners all over the uk , spares availability could become a night mare as i have been told by a mate at hd in the states that that stocks of spares held in europe are to be reduced 🤔
 
From what I have seen, it said Kirk Herbert, has been seriously ill and the other two owners do not want to run the business!

I assume they would have tried to sell the business or perhaps not and just liquidate!
 
SJC69 said:
From what I have seen, it said Kirk Herbert, has been seriously ill and the other two owners do not want to run the business!

I assume they would have tried to sell the business or perhaps not and just liquidate!
Click to expand...

Apparently the business has been for sale as an ongoing concern for some time and the closure is as a result of a combination of the loss of the KTM franchise, a large downturn in HP and PCP driven sales of new bikes, and no buyer being found for the business.
 
So if you've ordered parts and paid for them, how do you stand, or are you f***ed ?
 
Jim said:
So if you've ordered parts and paid for them, how do you stand, or are you f***ed ?
Click to expand...

Probably need to e mail them and ask for clarification as to what they are doing with orders that haven’t been fulfilled. They weren’t answering the phones yesterday, so don’t be surprised if its not possible to speak to them on the phone.

This is what you get when trying to access their online shops, but there is a contact number on the screenshots.

IMG_6948.jpeg


IMG_6947.jpeg
 
Its worth considering the driver for these changes. When I visit the showrooms I get mixed messages.. certainly the sales team try to give the impression that if you don’t buy the bike you like it may be gone next week, but when you look round you see considerable quantities of stock, the impression is that sales are slow. Other dealers who have had a focus of customer satisfaction seem to be doing quite well.

To add to this the remodelling of stores in the USA 🇺🇸 implies its not a local phenomenon.

The introduction of a completely new engine and models further points to a change in the overall philosophy from MoCo.

Jochen Zeitz the MD of H-D has been talking about this for years, and it seems the implication of such is now apparent.

The talk is of a new dawn a new era.. MoCo is alive and kicking, looking forward but ensuring that those who support the brand are not left behind by continuing to improve the big twins.

Sure dealers are closing because they wont or can’t adapt to the new environment, or its just not a profitable enough.

Because thats what it is .. Harley Davidson are evolving to live for the future and not be live in the past. Let by their MD Jochen and his team. It’s a huge Corporation and we are just a tiny bit. The main focus is on the US market.

Hopefully 🤞 😊

If we want to keep your local Franchise going…we could buy a new/sh bike or have our service done there… they cant live off hoggies alone.

We love our bikes but do we actually support the brand?
 
The dealerships have been making their profits from sales of new bikes that are funded by HP and PCP finance contracts, for which they also get a commission from the finance company. A cost of living crisis that has been going on for some time and shows no signs of abating in the near future, will be having an impact on their typical customers ability and willingness to continue to keep changing their bike and lock themselves into a further long term financial commitment.

A drop in new bike sales also has a knock on effect on the number of customers that need to use the service department, and the cost of living crisis must be hitting the sales of clothing, parts and accessories.

Take away a good chunk of a typical dealership’s revenue from new/used bike sales and the commission from the associated finance contract, and for most dealerships it’s probably the difference between making sufficient profits to stay in business, or simply shutting shop before financial disaster becomes a problem to be dealt with.

Lets face it, most typical HD dealerships in the UK haven’t been very focused on providing good parts back up or customer service, so once the through flow of customers looking to buy a new or nearly new bike starts to dry up, those dealerships start to become reminiscent of a typical Triumph dealership in the late 70’s and early 80’s when their usual customers started to look towards the cheaper, more reliable, faster machines from Japan, where good customer service was practiced by the dealers selling those reliable, value for money machines.
 
Last edited:
The basic economics for H-D are sales are down considerably world wide and have been for a while. H-D had hopes of expansion pinned on rising sales in China and India which have taken a massive hit, this along with rising credit costs and other economic factors, leads onto increasing bike retail prices has made it very hard and something has to give!

It's easy when you are on rising sales & markets, but difficult when faced with consecutive decline!

https://www.motorcyclesdata.com/2023/10/06/harley-davidson/

1706866190083.png


H-D.com

1706866279451.png
 
dealers are their own worst enemy refusing to px bikes over 5 years old or high mileage i took my old dyna brought new into surrey hd years ago it was my only transport at time went everywhere rallys work all over europe as a member of a french club 37000 miles on clock nearly 2 years old wanted to px for a fxdxt to be told we cant take it in px too many miles up and they had serviced the bike and was asked by the salesman where have you been to put so many miles up 🤷🏻‍♂️ and had the same story at riders when i tried there
couple this with refusing to carry service items for evos shovels ect and now twin cams you can see with built in obsolescence poor r and d and needing dealer software for most services and long waits for parts not held in europe with the non availability of some parts on older bikes and i dont mean evos shovels ect but bikes in the post 2003 bracket they have slowly backed themselves into a corner with poor back up and support for the market as a whole they only have themselves to blame
Thank god for indys and the after market
 
It’s not just Bike Dealers. A friend of mine had a Fleet of 80+ London Taxi’s all bought from the one Main Dealer. He tegularily traded in 2 year old Cabs for new ones so was a highly valued customer. One day he took an 18 month old Cab in very good condition but with 80,000+ miles on the clock to the Dealer but was told they wouldn’t take it in part exchange due to the high mileage!
He had spent between £3,000,000 and £4,000,000 with this Dealer over the years and they refused to take the Cab in part exchange! Shocking. A total lack of respect for a valued customer. 😳
 
watchman said:
Thank god for indys and the after market
Click to expand...
There's clearly always been a divergence in the aftersales 'sales' market. HD themselves, in my limited experience, have always been about the newest bikes and their needs. As your bike got older, they got less and less interested to the point that your business couldn't be accomodated. I remember many years ago I stopped by a dealer to ask a carbing question. The technician had quite literally no idea what I was talking about (I did and solved the problem myself, later) and said "we plug them into the computer nowadays"(?).

That was an Evo, and Twin Cams were only about their 6th year of production.

On the other hand, OEM spares for older bikes have been difficult to source from dealerships for a long time. And as time progressed, those options contracted further. I've never bought an original HD part from a dealer, ever, and source them as NOS or secondhand, or dare I say it, from some nice Chinese chap of communist or nationalist persuasion as a repro.

And my oldest bikes have always come with a 'service, maintain and rebuild yourself' sticker attached, as it should be.
 
Jim said:
So if you've ordered parts and paid for them, how do you stand, or are you f***ed ?
Click to expand...

Have see elsewhere on social media that folks that are awaiting delivery of paid for parts, have been receiving refunds, so might be worth checking to see if a refund has been made to whatever account or card was used to pay for the parts.
 
Just checked my credit card no refund, they sent me a link to fill in to dispute about payment for goods not received.
 
I know of bad experiences when Dealers fold...not these obviously....HD UK completely wash their hands of all responsibility, and the receivers try to keep the public out whilst they catalog stock etc. I remember going with Taz to reclaim his 3 month old Glide from an unco-operative Dealer who had taken it in for Stage 2 upgrades a few days earlier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top