Background: I've never purchased a motorcycle from a dealer before. All the ones I've purchased have been through private sales. My only dealership experience has been related to vehicles (i.e. cars). I have dealt with a few MC dealers as far as window shopping, but that has been it.
While window shopping on CycleTrader, I came across a gem of a KLR650. It was a red '07 with ~4500 miles on it. I saw it was at a motorcycle dealer, T.J.'s Cycle in Austin, so I brought it up to the wife. While usually dismissive, she gave me the okay. I called my credit union, and made all the finance arrangements with them. My credit union told me the dealer would need to submit a copy of my driver's license, insurance card, and a copy of the purchase order (a.k.a. bill of sale) to the credit union and they could take it from there.
I am working night shift at the moment, and decided to email them to see if it was in stock and to get any particulars. I received a prompt email back with all the answers to my questions. Even though I listed my phone number, they opted to continue our conversation via email since that was our primary mode of communication.
I called T.J.'s on Tuesday (10/15/2019), and asked to make an appointment to check it out. I spoke to one of the salesman, and got everything set up.
I arrived at the dealership today (10/16/2019), and saw the KLR in the parking lot with several other used bikes. I did a quick walk around, then went inside. I was met by an employee, and explained I was there to test ride a motorcycle, the KLR. She said the salesman was busy, but Tom could help me out. I signed the paperwork for a test ride, chatted with Tom for a little bit, suited up (ATGATT), and off we went. He lead and I followed. I was expecting a little quick around the block ride, but was surprised when it turned into a 10 minute test ride, including city streets and highway. Once we got back, Tom told me what he knew about the bike, he was selling it for one of his really good customers, they had recently serviced it, and it came with both factory keys. I saw there were bolts missing on one of the radiator shroud pieces, a crack on the cowling, and the right rear turn signal was burned out.
Asking price was $2999. We negotiated for a little bit, and settled on a price. I explained I had financing through my credit union, and what the credit union needed. At that point, I realized Tom was the owner of the business and not the usual salesman. Tom said his techs would go over the KLR one final time and fix the problems before I set off with it, since I was going to ride it home.
What I original thought was going to be an hour tops, turned into not quite two hours of phone calls with my credit union and faxes. I found out later from my credit union, the first set of faxes went to the wrong fax number (my mistake). The second set of faxes went to the correct number, but it only had the purchase order which was missing the mileage and not my driver's license or the insurance card. The third set of faxes had my driver's license and the purchase order with mileage but not my insurance card. The fourth set of faxes had my insurance card and another corrected purchase order because the VIN was wrong on the purchase order with the mileage listed.
Meanwhile, I am having to hunt down Tom to get questions answered and information confirmed. I understand that Tom is the owner and most likely a busy man, so I would be perfectly okay with being passed off to a salesman or assistant manager or someone that can be readily available for me when I need them. Several times I had to either ask an employee to speak with him or knock on the window to his office.
We get all the paperwork done (finally). While the paperwork was being finished, they fixed the turn signal and replaced the bolts on the radiator shroud. Factory bolts weren't used, but seeing as they are a KTM/multi-line dirt bike dealer, but it was enough to keep it secure. The right pitched bolts were used, so I can easily go back and buy the replacement bolts if I so choose.
After getting everything done, paper tag put on, I get to leave. I make it about a mile or so from the dealership, when the KLR starts to surge, sputter, and dies, while I am in the middle lane of I-35. Long story short, it ran out of gas on the main and I had to switch it to the reserve. It was pretty heartbreaking, I am not going to lie. What was supposed to be a period of excitement and elation over the purchase of a new motorcycle, wasn't. I spent the next 80 miles on the ride home worrying if something else was going to go wrong.
All in all, A-/B+ from me. I liked the email communication, so many dealers want to get you on the phone ASAP. I liked how smooth everything went right up until the point of the snafu with the constant faxes and waiting. I wasn't wanting this to take up my whole day, but it did. As I said before, part of my issue was having to hunt down Tom to get the information I needed. Another sore point for me was having the KLR die on me while the dealership was still in sight. I never called them to see what they were willing to do about it since I was able to figure out what the issue was, and I probably won't, since part of it was an assumption on my part. I don't know if it is a motorcycle dealer thing or what, but every time I've purchased a vehicle from a car dealer, I've always gotten a full tank of fuel to go with it.
Update: I wanted to let everyone know, I received my plate/registration sticker and receipt in the mail on 10/21. Jessica went to the DMV on Friday, got my registration in order, and sent it out in the mail same day.
I also realized I didn't answer an important question in my original review. Would I do business with them again? I would. It sounded like they are still working the kinks out (I wasn't aware they had moved to a new location) from moving, which any business experiences some kind of glitch when it moves like that.
While window shopping on CycleTrader, I came across a gem of a KLR650. It was a red '07 with ~4500 miles on it. I saw it was at a motorcycle dealer, T.J.'s Cycle in Austin, so I brought it up to the wife. While usually dismissive, she gave me the okay. I called my credit union, and made all the finance arrangements with them. My credit union told me the dealer would need to submit a copy of my driver's license, insurance card, and a copy of the purchase order (a.k.a. bill of sale) to the credit union and they could take it from there.
I am working night shift at the moment, and decided to email them to see if it was in stock and to get any particulars. I received a prompt email back with all the answers to my questions. Even though I listed my phone number, they opted to continue our conversation via email since that was our primary mode of communication.
I called T.J.'s on Tuesday (10/15/2019), and asked to make an appointment to check it out. I spoke to one of the salesman, and got everything set up.
I arrived at the dealership today (10/16/2019), and saw the KLR in the parking lot with several other used bikes. I did a quick walk around, then went inside. I was met by an employee, and explained I was there to test ride a motorcycle, the KLR. She said the salesman was busy, but Tom could help me out. I signed the paperwork for a test ride, chatted with Tom for a little bit, suited up (ATGATT), and off we went. He lead and I followed. I was expecting a little quick around the block ride, but was surprised when it turned into a 10 minute test ride, including city streets and highway. Once we got back, Tom told me what he knew about the bike, he was selling it for one of his really good customers, they had recently serviced it, and it came with both factory keys. I saw there were bolts missing on one of the radiator shroud pieces, a crack on the cowling, and the right rear turn signal was burned out.
Asking price was $2999. We negotiated for a little bit, and settled on a price. I explained I had financing through my credit union, and what the credit union needed. At that point, I realized Tom was the owner of the business and not the usual salesman. Tom said his techs would go over the KLR one final time and fix the problems before I set off with it, since I was going to ride it home.
What I original thought was going to be an hour tops, turned into not quite two hours of phone calls with my credit union and faxes. I found out later from my credit union, the first set of faxes went to the wrong fax number (my mistake). The second set of faxes went to the correct number, but it only had the purchase order which was missing the mileage and not my driver's license or the insurance card. The third set of faxes had my driver's license and the purchase order with mileage but not my insurance card. The fourth set of faxes had my insurance card and another corrected purchase order because the VIN was wrong on the purchase order with the mileage listed.
Meanwhile, I am having to hunt down Tom to get questions answered and information confirmed. I understand that Tom is the owner and most likely a busy man, so I would be perfectly okay with being passed off to a salesman or assistant manager or someone that can be readily available for me when I need them. Several times I had to either ask an employee to speak with him or knock on the window to his office.
We get all the paperwork done (finally). While the paperwork was being finished, they fixed the turn signal and replaced the bolts on the radiator shroud. Factory bolts weren't used, but seeing as they are a KTM/multi-line dirt bike dealer, but it was enough to keep it secure. The right pitched bolts were used, so I can easily go back and buy the replacement bolts if I so choose.
After getting everything done, paper tag put on, I get to leave. I make it about a mile or so from the dealership, when the KLR starts to surge, sputter, and dies, while I am in the middle lane of I-35. Long story short, it ran out of gas on the main and I had to switch it to the reserve. It was pretty heartbreaking, I am not going to lie. What was supposed to be a period of excitement and elation over the purchase of a new motorcycle, wasn't. I spent the next 80 miles on the ride home worrying if something else was going to go wrong.
All in all, A-/B+ from me. I liked the email communication, so many dealers want to get you on the phone ASAP. I liked how smooth everything went right up until the point of the snafu with the constant faxes and waiting. I wasn't wanting this to take up my whole day, but it did. As I said before, part of my issue was having to hunt down Tom to get the information I needed. Another sore point for me was having the KLR die on me while the dealership was still in sight. I never called them to see what they were willing to do about it since I was able to figure out what the issue was, and I probably won't, since part of it was an assumption on my part. I don't know if it is a motorcycle dealer thing or what, but every time I've purchased a vehicle from a car dealer, I've always gotten a full tank of fuel to go with it.
Update: I wanted to let everyone know, I received my plate/registration sticker and receipt in the mail on 10/21. Jessica went to the DMV on Friday, got my registration in order, and sent it out in the mail same day.
I also realized I didn't answer an important question in my original review. Would I do business with them again? I would. It sounded like they are still working the kinks out (I wasn't aware they had moved to a new location) from moving, which any business experiences some kind of glitch when it moves like that.
Last edited: