How to become a Ducati Franchised dealer?

Re: How to become a Ducati Franchised dealer? (onealpha)

yeah call jason on that one! im sure he can give u some good insight on that idea.

Re: (Red Enough)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Red Enough »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah. What Brad said. The quickest way to make a small fortune in any dealership is to start with a large one.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Amen brother.

There is another saying related to that:

"How do you make 2 million dollars racing?"...........Start with 4

Re: How to become a Ducati Franchised dealer? (onealpha)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by onealpha »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was curious if anyone could shed some light on what is involved in becoming a Ducati Franchised Dealer. Who to contact, what is required, positives and negatives. My girlfriend and I were talking about it tonight and I thought maybe Section8, BCM, or others might be able to point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can call 408-253-0499. I don't know exactly who you will need to talk to because tehre is no longer a National Sales Manager, but I am sure the person answering the phone can point you in the right diredction.

Here a re a few quick points to think about:

*You will need a $250,000 line of credit from GE Capitol for your floorplan.
*GE will reqire that you have about $250,000 in cash to start
*Finding a location that is zoned correctly is almost impossible
*What ever you think the building will cost to build out and the time it will take........................multiply it by 4.
*Don't hire many people
*Work you ass off
*There are about a million more, but this should get you started.

Haheheh. That's a good one. Call up BMWusa and talk to them first. Once you realize what a franchise that WANTS its dealers to succeed does, talking to Ducati afterwards will turn your stomach. Ask Ducati to provide the number of registered Ducatis in the region. You'll get __________ as an answer. That or the sound of a gaping jaw. A serious Ducati enthusiast with a lot of money decided he wanted to be a Ducati dealer. This is in California ... and he was really strung along. After a handshake, he BOUGHT the frikken building where the franchise was to be. Had everything set up. Then DNA threw him under the bus. A dealer that was like 60 miles away complained. But that didn't stop DNA from authorizing no less than TWO new franchises to others that were closer well after the fact.

The REAL problem with a Ducati franchise is that it's not profitable to sell them. The aforementioned fella ended up with BMW in one of his buildings... BMW has an awesome prospective dealer package. Their foresight is obviously upfront. They're serious about helping dealers work and stay in business, while DNA seems to let dealers flounder until their franchise gets pulled. In the San Diego area, I have never seen a big 4 or BMW dealer lose a line, but have seen 3 different Ducati dealers.

BMW are the most profitable for the brand per bike, while Honda or Suzuki are license to print money. Even Yammie and Kwak are so far ahead of Ducati, M-G, Triumph, etc, that the sales and profitability charts are on the scale where Ducati and et al are down in the single digits, while the big 4 + BMW are near the top in the 70~100 range.

If you're serious about your venture/expenditure, in addition to BCM and Section8, talk to Dave Roosevelt at Ducati Seattle. He is an upfront man and willing to share his time with enthusiasts.

Good luck. While I love the thought of an enthusiast running a dealer, it seems to be cruel to wish that on someone.

Re: (onealpha)

I havent heard all of it. But I have gone in there three times looking for bikes and every time they nothing in new bikes. Then when i bought my 749 i went in there again no bikes but he would order me one and i could pay full retail. But I would get priority scheduling when i had service done there
So I then went to ducati of miami which was the next closest dealer to me. They had almost all the 05 models there on the floor. They were very nice and help full and i also paid less the retail and took the bike home with me.

I have heard there mechanic is good at palm beach though. where you do have service done? Or is there someone you could recommend in palm beach?

Re: (onealpha)

onealpha, I read into what Chris K is saying and from a civys side of the fence DNA have been the most useless people to deal with ever in my entire life, they feature heavily in the most expensive f#%kup in my life.

Take a person with a huge lust for Ducati, take that same person and crumple his dreams after purchasing a dream motorcycle, the service from DNA it not worth putting on toilet paper, if this is how they treat dedicated customers they ALL need to be fired and made to walk the plank, now think how they will treat you as the your slave to them, a simple word of advice that you can take or leave, keep you "Passione" separate from your work, your passione will be lost and your lust for your bike will diminish, I have seen it before and have had the direct results come frrom the Ducati Cuntstomer Service.

I admire you want to do so and I considered it myself here in NZ.....I am glad I kept it separate now.

My drama with my MH continues and I haven't riden it for over six months now, thanks DNA and DMH ya pack of W^#$#*#@rs

Re: (chris_k)

Chris,
You are right on about the BMW franchise. I have been working at a BMW store now for 11 months. I used to sell BMW cars before that. Now for the motorcycle department I've made more money last year than selling cars. The product is great,
BMW NA stands behind there customers and dealers, and there coming out with great new bikes. At first I didn't want to do but, Since I was the only car salesperson with a motorcycle license they jammed me in and thank God for this opportunity. I even bought a BMW motorcycle and been very very happy. This is just my .

Re: (Monstaman)

Monsta,

Bmw dealership is very profitable franchise. Man if I lived on that island I would be on that like a lion on a pork chop.

And yes they are excellent bikes!