No more BMW Motorrad in Phuket?

[eisfeld]

Today while going down Bypass road, I noticed that the BMW Motorrad showroom was empty and cars of several brands (second hand?) for sale were shown in the parking space in front. It seems like Siam Motorrad has closed down the dealership. The official BMW Motorrad Thailand page also doesn't show any dealer in Phuket anymore.

 

Does anyone have more information as to what happened? I guess they just went bankrupt because sales were low. BMW dealers in Phuket never had a great reputation. The old long gone one (Barcelona) was horrible. Siam Motorrad seemed to have mixed reviews (Google maps 3.7 stars). I nearly bought a S1000R from them but had to delay the purchase for various reasons. Always was worried that they might not be able to keep going due to low sales volume. I wonder what will happen next. Maybe another dealer gives it a shot? Or maybe the BMW car dealer on the other side of the road takes over the motorcyle part? I hope existing BMW owners have a good place for servicing. It really bugs me when owning a vehicle from a premium brand and paying premium prices results in issues that should not exist. It puts me off of buying one of their bikes even if I really like them.

[Kwasaki]

You find many guys workshops who can look after BM's probably better than a BM dealer, what do you think they are rocket science, there just a motorbike.

[eisfeld]

And void the warranty because not serviced by an authorized mechanic? Great. Can they handle warranty claims? Can they do all service things like resetting and updating ECU that an official dealer can?

 

Especially when it comes to warrant or electronics you better have an official dealer at hand.

[eisfeld]

Confirmed, Siam Motorrad closed. I chatted with a few big bike riders today, two of which own each a S1000RR. They said the mechanics were not good and they even went so far as to go to Hat Yai, 450km from Phuket to get service done. It is said that a new owner will take over but nothing specific yet. In the meantime BMW bike owners are now indeed forced to go to Hat Yai or BKK for service which is at least a full days round-trip if not 2 days. What a shame!

[BMW Overlander]

wow ... had no idea they closed. Probably forced by BMW Motorrad Germany due to poor customer service. Writing was on the wall for a while now.

[BMW Overlander]

Made a few calls, they are not closed.

They moved across the street to BMW car dealership.

[eisfeld]

Thanks for the update BMW Overlander! I'll stop by there and see what's what when I get a bit of time. Maybe they couldn't justify the big showroom and share costs with the car showroom? I hoped a bit another company would take over.

[Youlike]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:15 PM, Kwasaki said:

You find many guys workshops who can look after BM's probably better than a BM dealer, what do you think they are rocket science, there just a motorbike.

Well then why is it that my thai cousin had a bmw x3, bought new 2 years ago but the thing kept shaking on the highway and the dealer couldn't fix it/do anything....so she now is a happy honda driver without a shaking car.

 

BMW is known for it's excellent service but not in Thailand...i don't understand why they came here at all actually.

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, Youlike said:

Well then why is it that my Thai cousin had a BMW x3, bought new 2 years ago but the thing kept shaking on the highway and the dealer couldn't fix it/do anything...

If your cousin has taken the trouble to ask about other people who fix cars he would of found out a Cockpit outlet could of fixed it, many people here think main dealer are the end all of everything.

I understand because many people are not mechanically minded. 

[JonnyF]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:15 PM, Kwasaki said:

You find many guys workshops who can look after BM's probably better than a BM dealer, what do you think they are rocket science, there just a motorbike.

I wouldn't spend a million Baht on a technologically advanced bike like a S1000RR without dealer support. I almost bought a S1000RR back in 2015 but the dealer here in Bangkok acted like he was doing me a favour selling me one, and offered me a test ride on another customers bike that was in for service! I can imagine that customer would have been thrilled for me to be ripping around Bangkok on his bike without his knowledge.

 

I've heard other stories about parts being changed out for old ones during the service. If I buy an expensive bike I want decent service which is why I opted for a Ducati as the dealer here in Bangkok is excellent and I heard good things about the Korat dealer as well which is handy for me as a backup as I have a house not far from there. Apparently the Ducati dealer in Phuket is terrible but I to be honest I found most customer service in Phuket to be pretty woeful in the 2 years I lived there. 

 

In the UK I would just buy whatever bike I wanted as all the dealerships are average to good. But in Thailand you really need to check your local dealership (not just the brand) to see how good they are. I just ordered a KX250F instead of a YZ250F purely because I've have better experiences with Kawasaki Bangkok and Korat than I have had with Yamaha dealers. All things being equal I would have probably got the YZ but when the dealer (who I already bought a MT09 from) refuses to sell me a bike because "must have racing licence" and then I find out they've sold them all onto an independent trader who is quite happy to sell me one of those same bikes, I lose faith in them.

[eisfeld]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Apparently the Ducati dealer in Phuket is terrible but I to be honest I found most customer service in Phuket to be pretty woeful in the 2 years I lived there. 

I think they have improved a lot since the new one took over. I haven't had any issues with them since and heard nothing bad about them yet. Of course it's still Ducati so wont get japanese reliability ????

 

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I just ordered a KX250F instead of a YZ250F purely because I've have better experiences with Kawasaki Bangkok and Korat than I have had with Yamaha dealers. All things being equal I would have probably got the YZ but when the dealer (who I already bought a MT09 from) refuses to sell me a bike because "must have racing licence" and then I find out they've sold them all onto an independent trader who is quite happy to sell me one of those same bikes, I lose faith in them.

Interesting datapoint. Are there any Yamaha dealers with good reputation? The one in Phuket does not have a good one which is why I'm likely going to have to ignore their bikes when looking for a new citi ride. A bit of a shame that there's always just one dealer for a brand so no competition. I guess my choices will be Honda, Ducati, Kawasaki or Triumph as currently those have a decent reputation I think.

 

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I found most customer service in Phuket to be pretty woeful in the 2 years I lived there.  

That is very true. Most companies here are terrible and couldn't give a fark about quality of service. The only good thing is that for most things there are many companies and you can find good ones, it just takes a lot of trial and error. I believe that's because the vast majority of people in Phuket are not from Phuket and just come to make money. They don't care one bit about the place so it's a race to the bottom.

 

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I wouldn't spend a million Baht on a technologically advanced bike like a S1000RR without dealer support. I almost bought a S1000RR back in 2015 but the dealer here in Bangkok acted like he was doing me a favour selling me one, and offered me a test ride on another customers bike that was in for service! I can imagine that customer would have been thrilled for me to be ripping around Bangkok on his bike without his knowledge.

MF Motorrad on Rama 2 has a good reputation I think. BMW Overlander who posted on this tread is probably THE go-to guy when it comes to BMWs in Thailand and I saw he just wrote me a message praising that dealer. I hope he wont mind if I copy paste it here. So maybe next time if you are looking, check this dealer out.

 

Quote

MF is the best selling Motorrad branch in Thailand. Owners are 2 brothers, they have another branch in Bangkok. Helluva knowledgable and professional guys. I posted at facebook numerous times about them, serviced 2 of my bikes there.

 

[JonnyF]

Thanks Eisfeld, that's good info on BMW as I'm considering the 2019 S1000RR if it ever gets here although I'm riding more offroad these days so I need to make sure I'd get enough use out of it before I decide to buy.

 

The Yamaha story was really annoying. I'm an existing customer with a decent relationship with them so when I saw a post on FaceBook with about 30 YZF's lined up outside the shop only 3 kms from my condo I contacted them to place a deposit. That's when I was told "Sorry, closed course competition bike must have racing licence" by the girl who sold me the MT09. Another employee told me they were already all reserved the day they came in. So after a bit more digging I found out from another employee that they'd all been sold to a trader and he gave me the contact details, the trader was quite happy to sell me one. But then buying from the trader I wasn't sure about aftersales support and frankly the whole runaround/BS left a sour taste so I ordered the KXF from Kawasaki Korat instead. I'm really not sure why they can't just sell them from the showroom as the trader was asking the same official price of 299k.

 

Phuket is a weird one, I got tired of being treated like a tourist even though I lived there. Even local businesses that I used every day wanted to rip me off so I ended up shopping solely at supermarkets instead of supporting the local mom and pop shops and markets. In Bangkok you tend to get treated more like a expat/resident so there's less nonsense with overpricing etc. Not to mention the taxis and Tuk Tuks. I do miss the beaches though, especially the quieter ones up towards the airport. And Koh Yao Noi is fantastic.

 

 

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I just ordered a KX250F

Good bike a step up from a S1000rr. ????

My son wants to get a BM S1000rr don't know why he said he just wants a change while he can afford it, he has all singing and dancing R1 at the moment.

 

I guess all you younger guys have different views to an old fart like me, never relied on dealers in UK or Thailand.

Unless it was warranty work in UK I did all servicing work myself and for friends too, mainly because of the prices charged by dealers.

 

I do servicing in Thailand to although cost are cheap, I only go to a dealer for computer check something I don't want to bother with.

 

Once in Thailand because I don't have a complete tool kit here I had Kawasaki carry out an almost complete strip down engine check and replacement of certain parts, some were recall parts, I was there in the workshop watching and helping a bit with the rebuild.

Was impressed by the young mans mechanical and computer skills.  ????

[ParadiseLost]

21 hours ago, Youlike said:

BMW is known for it's excellent service but not in Thailand...i don't understand why they came here at all actually.

They believed TAT's numbers? ????

 

[Dormant]

23 hours ago, BMW Overlander said:

Made a few calls, they are not closed.

They moved across the street to BMW car dealership.

That's what I know as well - change of ownership - Millenium BMW takes over which owns the branch in Hatyai - opening mid-May 2019 on 2nd floor - Siam Motorrad - very poor service quality and management - MF Rama 2 top service and well organized.

Edited April 23, 2019 by Dormant

[BMW Overlander]

Very true about Phuket: customer service is awful, from buying in 7-11 to purchasing vehicles, condos etc

[eisfeld]

1 hour ago, Dormant said:

That's what I know as well - change of ownership - Millenium BMW takes over which owns the branch in Hatyai - opening mid-May 2019 on 2nd floor - Siam Motorrad - very poor service quality and management - MF Rama 2 top service and well organized.

Thanks for the further info. Fingers crossed that this time (third try) Phuket will get a decent BMW Motorrad dealer.

 

Does anyone have first hand experience with the Hat Yai branch or with Millenium in Phuket?

[JonnyF]

6 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Good bike a step up from a S1000rr. ????

My son wants to get a BM S1000rr don't know why he said he just wants a change while he can afford it, he has all singing and dancing R1 at the moment.

 

I guess all you younger guys have different views to an old fart like me, never relied on dealers in UK or Thailand.

Unless it was warranty work in UK I did all servicing work myself and for friends too, mainly because of the prices charged by dealers.

 

I do servicing in Thailand to although cost are cheap, I only go to a dealer for computer check something I don't want to bother with.

 

Once in Thailand because I don't have a complete tool kit here I had Kawasaki carry out an almost complete strip down engine check and replacement of certain parts, some were recall parts, I was there in the workshop watching and helping a bit with the rebuild.

Was impressed by the young mans mechanical and computer skills.  ????

I work a lot. Long hours, lots of travel and not that many days off. My spare time is better spent riding than wrenching, plus I'm a crap mechanic. If I was retired then maybe I would do some work myself but I'm not. 

 

The S1000RR looks a great bike but probably not best suited to my motocross track ????

[papa al]

On 4/23/2019 at 7:05 PM, JonnyF said:

I work a lot. Long hours, lots of travel and not that many days off. My spare time is better spent riding than wrenching, plus I'm a crap mechanic. If I was retired then maybe I would do some work myself but I'm not. 

 

The S1000RR looks a great bike but probably not best suited to my motocross track ????

good to know

[BMW Overlander]

On 4/23/2019 at 3:10 PM, eisfeld said:

Thanks for the further info. Fingers crossed that this time (third try) Phuket will get a decent BMW Motorrad dealer.

 

Does anyone have first hand experience with the Hat Yai branch or with Millenium in Phuket?

Actually 4th time ????

First was Performance Motors, then Barcelona, Siam and now Millenium.

I've got K1200S back in 2006 from Performance.

 

 

[eisfeld]

13 minutes ago, BMW Overlander said:

Actually 4th time ????

First was Performance Motors, then Barcelona, Siam and now Millenium.

I've got K1200S back in 2006 from Performance.

Wow ok I had no idea. That actually makes me worry how BMW Thailand/Germany is unable to bring dealers up to a proper level of quality. Failing three times is a bit much imho. At this point it would be probably much better if BMW itself owned the building and replaced managers or franchise owners much quicker if bad reports are piling up. Also should have an overseer there for a while. It really hurts their brand.

 

Just found an old news article from 2002 about their opening https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/Glittering-opening-car-showroom

 

And seems like 5 years later they closed. Interestingly they still have dealerships in other locations with decent google maps reviews. Also interesting to see that there actually was one before Performance Motors called Muang Mai Motors. So it's the 5th time if that one had bikes (maybe not).

 

I have a feeling that Phuket for whatever reason does not have enough BMW Motorrad customers to really run a bike focused dealership. Maybe the only way to survive is to have shared costs with the car branch. At least I don't see a lot of BMW bikes on the road or people going to the showrooms. But then again it has the opportunity for not giving the bikes the attention they deserve as happened with Barcelona (apart from other issues). I had a quite funny conversation with the sales person there who apart from not even knowing what models there are also told me I had to buy the bike before I could test ride.

[eisfeld]

On 4/23/2019 at 6:41 AM, Dormant said:

That's what I know as well - change of ownership - Millenium BMW takes over which owns the branch in Hatyai - opening mid-May 2019 on 2nd floor - Siam Motorrad - very poor service quality and management - MF Rama 2 top service and well organized.

Well, I drove past Millenium today and there was no sign of motorcycles anywhere. I saw a car on the second level. Didn't go inside though. I also noticed they cleared out the right side where they sold Aston Martins I think?

[eisfeld]

Seeing still no trace of motorbikes at BMW Millenium Phuket so I decided to call them up. Was a bit of a rough start to get someone to speak a few words of english. The third person understood roughly what I wanted but couldn't answer the question if they were selling motorcycles or not (...), they said they would ask someone from BMW Motorrad to call me back. A few hours later someone did call back, again someone who spoke barely any english but enough to tell me that in 2 months they plan to have a showroom for motorbikes. It'll be 6 months then since the old one closed and customers were left in the dry.

[MatteoBassini]

2 hours ago, eisfeld said:

Seeing still no trace of motorbikes at BMW Millenium Phuket so I decided to call them up. Was a bit of a rough start to get someone to speak a few words of english. The third person understood roughly what I wanted but couldn't answer the question if they were selling motorcycles or not (...), they said they would ask someone from BMW Motorrad to call me back. A few hours later someone did call back, again someone who spoke barely any english but enough to tell me that in 2 months they plan to have a showroom for motorbikes. It'll be 6 months then since the old one closed and customers were left in the dry.

BMW sells more bikes than Ducati yet less dealers. Quite confusing.

[liddelljohn]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:10 PM, MatteoBassini said:

BMW sells more bikes than Ducati yet less dealers. Quite confusing.

No Ducati Thailand out sells BMW Thailnd ,,by a huge number of bikes

 

 also BMW have the worst service record in Thailand for cars and bikes of all the franchises

 

 

[eisfeld]

7 hours ago, liddelljohn said:

No Ducati Thailand out sells BMW Thailnd ,,by a huge number of bikes

 

 also BMW have the worst service record in Thailand for cars and bikes of all the franchises

I would also be surprised if BMW sold more than Ducati in Thailand just based on the amount of bikes I see on the roads. I found numbers for BMW, they sold a bit over 2.1k bikes in 2018. But I was unable to find numbers for Ducati Thailand.

 

https://www.bmw.co.th/en/topics/fascination-bmw/all-news/2019/28-02-19-bmw-group-thailand-sets-new-deliveries-record.html

[hithere]

Hi

 

Any sell used BMW bike on Phuket? looking for a GS model

Thx guys 

[eisfeld]

2 hours ago, hithere said:

Hi

 

Any sell used BMW bike on Phuket? looking for a GS model

Thx guys 

Depending on how new it should be. Rin Motorrad on Thepkrasatri Road near the Monument Circle has some older models for sale. Not sure but maybe newer ones too. He's a BMW Mechanic.

[eisfeld]

I saw a brand new R 1250 GS on Bypass Road with a black temporary "number plate" saying Millenium Auto which is the car dealer. I assume it was a demo bike but from the outside I couldn't see any bikes in the showroom.

[hithere]

Little update

Been in contact with Millenium Auto, they told me BMW MC will come back to Phuket soon (don't hold your breath)

I told them i would never buy a BMW if i can't get service where i buy it, period, told them you can get service on most big bike in Phuket, Ducati, Triumph, Kawa, Suzuki, Yamaha, ETC, but not on BMW, i see many GS here and they can’t get service around here, i mean newer BMW's