[FONT=Courier] ??? I encounterd something yesterday that I thought would make a good topic to discuss.
I was at the Yamaha Dealer in Rapid City SD looking at the new RX-1 and asked the sales manager how the sled handles the deep snow. He proceeded to hand me an article from some snowmobile magazine that someone had written on the sled. I told him that I really wanted to know if the sled would work in the deep snow and had he had a chance to ride it or had he heard first hand how it worked, his answer was that he does not ride sleds in the mountains. I asked him if he had any sales people that could help me NO! was the answer. I may be way off base here but to my way of thinking the dealer should have a first hand knowledge of his product before he tries to sell it to someone that way he could honestly answer the buyers questions.
The same day I went to the Artic Cat dealer since the Yamaha dealer obviously would not be of much help; At the Cat dealer I was looking at the new F7 and since it was fairly clear that the sled had not been designed with the mountain rider I mind I asked if they had any experience long tracking them; Of course you can and they work great! Really when did you guys get to ride them? well we haven't really ridden them but we hear they work great.
I was amazed that a dealer would sell a sled and also tell someone to spend $900 to long track it and not have the slightest idea that the thing would do the job.
I have been riding sleds for 26 years and this is the first time this has happened; I guess the dealers are getting desperate since we have had no snow for the past three years.
I might mention here that I contacted the Cat dealer in Laramine Wy and asked them about the F7 in the mountains; and they had the chance to test them last year in the powder and the sled is a dog or rather it trenches real bad and does the same with or without a long track. I was told they did not even order any F7's since they are mountain sled dealers and did not feel comfortalbe selling them for mountain use.
Guys am off base here or should these dealer at least know a little more about their product?

Your not way off base, I have never had an acceptable experience with a dealer. I might cut them a little slack on the rx-1 though, since it is the first year it's been out. No one has had a chance to ride it yet.

I agree with tegs most dealers have not really had a chance to ride them yet and the most they are going to be able to tell you is what there pr people tell them. i have always had a problem with buying new sleds because in most cases they do not allow test rides. I think with a 9000 dollar sled there should be some demo models to ride before they ask us to spend our money!!!

Wish I had the money, I'd have a dealership with a year round indoor test area. Can't be too hard, they have hockey now in FL and TX. :)

One more point to make here kenny if you want to buy a sled to drive in the mountains. Buy the one made for the mountains all the brands make them why buy the lake racer or ditch banger for the mountains. I mean Polaris has the SKS and Skidoo has the Renegade which will give you the best of both worlds. This is what you should be looking to buy if you want a sled can do both. Since it sounds like you don't want the mountain sled like the RMK, Summit and Mountain max or Cat.

I went to an Arctic Cat dealer here in NH and was looking at the firecats and asked the dealer where the tool kit was, and he told me that they did not come with one. :( and that he was going to contact AC to find out what the deal was. A week or so later I went to a different AC dealer. and asked him why the firecats did not have tool kits? And he says. What are you talking about, sure they do. and proceded to pull the front part of the seat back and expose the kit to me. :) This makes me wonder alot about some of these dealers. I mean Cmon. He sells these sleds and didnt even know where the tool kit was :doh: I am really glad I turn the wrenches on my own sled. :cussing:

Knowlegdable sales and service is a big issue and problem in many industries. The reason I am with cat is because of the dealer here in Hillsboro, NH. They are the largest cat dealer in the world. Sold double the no. of sleds last year over the 2nd largest dealer. These guys are great. They all ride, the 11 mechanics, the owners, their wives and kids and they support 2 race teams as well. They give a fair trade when upgrading, even warranty their used sleds for a year. On top of all that they let you demo any sled you are interested in. Maybe that explains why they are the top dealer. 560 new sleds, and 275 used sleds in 2002. To bad other dealers couldn't learn from them. :D

If they are the largest cat dealer in the WORLD, That explains why Cat is so far behind ,,, Polaris has many dealers that sell over 600 new per year..Just thinking out loud.... not slaming dealer.

I guess I should have qualified my comment. Largest cat dealer. This info by the way is straight from the dealer who has the plaque to prove it. :0:

If you can find a copy of AltcityII on DVD, there is a special section on the RX1 mountain.

Hotshot you must mean those great guys at Livingstons,only people that always seemto have the part you need,in stock priced right :D :D

:withstupid: i'm in the same boat ..i live in southeastern saskatchewan,i find the dealers have no knowledge of what they are selling but there sled is always the best.but i'm not sure they know why,except because thats the brand they sell.and most of the time the service and parts departement aren't much better.i have been eating ,breathing and sleeping sleds since i was old enough to know what they where,and it amazes me that i know more about the product than the people trying to sell em.i must admit there are a few dealers out there that are knowledgable about the product and are snowmobilers like us.one dealer that seems to know there sleds is moosemountain leisure in carlyle sask.they are a cat dealer and even though i don't ride cat the yknow there sleds and give you the straight up on them.

Its mostly because the dealers are too cheap to send the mechanics to the school. Like Arctic cat school, skidoo school, or any of those. They have a new thing every year, so the mechanics are SUPPOSED to know the new technology.

Knowledge is power.

it is a tough sell when you don't know your own product and also a great thing is to know the competition. if the dealer doesn't know product he's selling it can the best and he will be giving it away for no profit.

I got a good one ! I went to a large dealership in Milwaukee called Sportland 2 " dont tell my cousin" and I walked in nobody helped me for about 45 min,and I was wearing a suit :0: I was thinking about a ski-doo :doh: at least I was open minded hey MACHZZZ1! :D Well a woman came up to me and ask if i needed help so I said yes and ask her th usual ?'s: and mind you she was a snowmo sales person: she said she would get sombody else .30 min later a salesman came , I asked him the same ?'s after 20 min of comparing SKI-DOO'S and ARTIC CATS HE TOLD ME TO BUY A YAMAHA. They dont sell yamahas. note: the salesman worked at a yamaha dealer before: After walking out confused !!! I saw my cuz and bought another true blue :thumbsup:

I definetly agree. I have two dealers close to me. I've done business with both and will never do business with one again if I can help it. The one owner has no clue whats up and never rides sleds. The one day i was in there looking at sleds and asked a price and he said it would be a good deal but had to wait for this other guy to get back. The one guy is the only one that knows anything out of 7 employees. My other dealer the owner is the president of the snowmobile club and also works in the shop when needed. He can never beat the other guys price but everyone still comes to him.

bone daddy,
wearing a suit and they asked if they could help you, that's pretty good because i'm it sure looked like you were a charity case wearing a suit.LOL.

the problem when two people meet is the first few seconds and if the proprietor can get past that then he has it beat right off the bat. think about it ? when someone walks up to you and asks "do you need any help" or "who needs help" your first thought is "no". for some of these proprietors they need a little basic training in meeting people. when i meet people for the first time like that i say "how may i help you ?" or "welcome to such and such sales, my name is paul yarek and yours ?". it takes the negative thoughts right out of the air immediately. with all negatives out of the air the customer becomes relaxed and wants to see what the proprietor has to offer.

Originally posted by Rusty@Nov 16 2002, 11:25 PM
If they are the largest cat dealer in the WORLD, That explains why Cat is so far behind ,,, Polaris has many dealers that sell over 600 new per year..Just thinking out loud.... not slaming dealer.
Your post cracks me up.........cat so far behind ......when was the last time you saw a cat with angle iron welded to the front of a trailing arm..C'mon we all know who is behind.

You've got it right NHSCALEGATOR40. See you are from Concord. Maybe we can meet up on the trail someday this season.

Kenny,

I've brought this topic up before. I'm like you, I can't believe the lack of knowledge some dealers and their salespeople show toward their product and the industry as a whole.

I guess some people look at it only as a business, but having somebody talking to customers, who is enthusiastic about snowmobiling, would be good for business.

And then theres setup: How many sledders out there were completely happy with their setup when they got their sled?

I think laziness has something to do with it. I don't think it's too much for customers -- who lay out $7-10,000 for a new sled -- to expect their dealer to be something of an expert on the industry/sport and on their particular brand.

Dealers could work harder and the ones who really can't get enthused about sledding and sled sales should get out of the business.

And we customers need to do our part. That is, we shouldn't grind a dealer down to the lowest OTD price possible and expect service when the guy can't afford to hire good people at key positions.

I'd rather pay MSR to a good reliable dealer, who I know I can count on should something be needed.

Originally posted by BC HYDRO@Nov 19 2002, 08:56 PM


And we customers need to do our part. That is, we shouldn't grind a dealer down to the lowest OTD price possible and expect service when the guy can't afford to hire good people at key positions.

I'd rather pay MSR to a good reliable dealer, who I know I can count on should something be needed.
I know guys that will run around getting the cheapest price. Then go to the closest dealer for service. Then they complain when the sled isn't ready for the weekend. The dealer is going to service his "customers' " sleds first then the others :D :withstupid:

My bro (jeepster) works at a doo dealership and he's the only one with good service for at least 100 miles around. If you have a question, he will go out of his way to answer or get the answer. I think he actually has the speed dial to bombardier at home, seriously. He's only a part time parts guy (except in summer, full time) but he probably sold more Rev's this year than the dealers. He tried the prototype last year so he could actually answer the question's about the Revs and he tries out the sleds comming in (he asks permission though) so he has more insight about what he is selling. He has a pile of performance parts Mag's under the counter and referes people to other companies if their product are cheaper, better or both, he even gives a 15 % discount for everybody, lots of that comes out of his comission but he has more customers and people keep comming back. And most importantly, he doesn't treat people as if they knew nothing about snowmobiles (or other rec. vehicules) if somebody want a cluch kit, he won't discourage em as most dealers do, but he'll give the info and let the customer decide.

:cussing:

My Dealer.... whew.. what a bunch of .... :cussing:

well it's mainly the shop and parts department in general... They sell John Deere also, get this.. very dangerous...

I brought a garden trackor in there for service, not mine an organization I volunteer for. It was purchased from them,had the sticker on it, and after some time I get it back. They put new bearings in the mower deck and new blades, I pick it up and hook it up to the machine and fire it up.... you should'da seen the sparks.. it was like a redneck after robbing a fireworks store! They mounted the wrong size blades on it!... how could you not check that they rotated before sending it out the door...

But, I still will buy oil from them in a pinch and other little stuff, but not too much. And I always get an attitude at the parts counter, sort of a "like what you want a part? you really should have us work on it"... Sorry Guys NO WAY do you EVER touch MY STUFF again. And this is not the only horror story form the place, buddies of mine have had simular situations, with bikes, sleds, anything they sell and service.

Captn.... I do it all my self for a reason.. these guys are danagerous.

:devil:

When I bought my sled (used sled, from a dealer) I got a lot of spare sparkplugs. Unfortunately they were B9ES instead of BR9ES. I didn't know this (just assumed they were the right ones) and my sled behaved quite weird when taking it out for a first test ride this season. It would ride perfectly normal at first, but as soon as I stopped and started again, it ran on only 1 or 2 cylinders.. Then I noticed that the ones that were dead were different from the one that was still going...
Nice to have a dealer that gives away free WRONG sparkplugs with his sleds....
Fortunately, a call to the local dealer (that actually knows his stuff really well) solved everything.
I almost got scared there... ;)

I had one tell me that I should put 48 studs in my 600 :doh:

Just think if someone came in that didn't know any better.

I must be real lucky! My SkiDoo dealer sends his Mechanic to school every year on the new sleds. He also goes
( and his Wife ) to a conference once a year and test rides all Doo sleds. He told me when I bought my 2003 HighMark that they did make a few changed on them after he test rode one and before they went to the Dealers he got all the info on what they did. This is a real up beat, on top of things Dealer. That is the main reason I purchased a Doo....

I was somewhat unhappy with my dealership when I took delivery of my new Ski-Doo.

First of all, when I arrived check in hand, I had to wait for 20 minutes while my salesman was trying to sell a sled he didn't have in stock to someone over the phone. That handled, we did the paperwork, and played with the phone some more for my spin on the roulet wheel. Winning $1050, my salesman takes me to the accessories, and proceedes to point out all the things I need (All Top Shelf, he wants me to spend all my money NOW).

Well I did purchace a cover, helmet, sparkplugs and extra drivebelt (Nobody mentioned the $34 dollars a gallon Bombi oil). But,,, since I've bought the machine, I find that I need heavier springs as I weigh 260. :angry: Duh! wouldn't that be a good suggestion to have been made in the beginning? I assumed the man could see?

It may not appear to be a very big complaint, but it has made me question my dealership's integrity.

:hallo1: man!!!!! I thought it was just my dealer..
Any mods I requested My dealer was not interested like studding, gearing a few other mods nothing special They said It's not a good Idea.
I've reserched more from magazines and the internet than went and asked them what they thought??... They said You don't need any of that...
Not in them words but I got the drift..
How ever I did talk to one of there Very young employee's once, He seemed to know his stuff. Kind of the under the table info....
Just looking for Information ya know!! :cussing:

Originally posted by paul yarek@Nov 17 2002, 11:17 AM
bone daddy,
wearing a suit and they asked if they could help you, that's pretty good because i'm it sure looked like you were a charity case wearing a suit.LOL.


[quote]

Paul I was looking quite fly :sly:
If you want paul I hook you up!!