What does the dealer pay for the 2005 F4 1000 Ago? What site will have that info?

-- BIG L (ljohnson@optonline.net), August 11, 2004

Answers

I worked at a Honda dealership for a short period of time and I asked my G.M. what the markup on bikes was. He said for most of them it was about 15%. I also worked in car business and the standard markup is 9%, so 15% for motorcycles sounds about right across the board because they cost less than cars and a dealership still has to make enough profit to operate. Remember to consider everything I've said as a grain of salt. So the invoice for the Ago would be approximately $22,100. Good luck getting one less than MSRP.

-- Brian Ogle (brian928s@cs.com), August 12, 2004.

For many of the "common" bikes, these figures are pretty close. The Italian bikes are generally not as high a mark up since they are dependant on service and extras. Italian bike owners have a high re-purchase rate and tend to stick with Italian machinery. factorys know this and it affects pricing. Web sites can only speculate since actual prices are dependant on purchase volume and variences in factory pricing, as well as production demands and how many are alloted to any given area. If you are looking for the best deal just call everyone that sells them and see if any are available. Or you can wait 6 months to a year and buy the one that someone is bailing out of. It seems important to many people to be the first one on the block to own the latest, but these people are soon bored and let them go. Remember that good things come to those that wait and you get what you pay for. You may pay a little more at the time of purchase, but that is fine is you get good support from the place that you got it.

-- Cali-Kane (mvagusta@sbcglobal.net), August 12, 2004.

This bike is so different from the 750 that I wouldn't be suprised if you see them for sale badly crashed with few clean examples being sold by private parties in 2004!

-- sean crane (myotherridesyourdaughter@hotmail.com), August 12, 2004.