Looking around for a new bike, having owned several bikes in the past 10 years, from Honda click when it was 110cc to Big Kawasaki Ninja, I know the level of service at dealerships can be variable, 'big bikes' or lifestyle exclusive dealer can be more expensive for simple things like oil but is more pleasant to deal with.

 

Having seen up country dealer screw in spark plugs using air tools, I'd prefer they have the least amount to deal with my bikes as possible, on smaller bikes like Honda wave, air cooled engine and the like, things hardly go wrong, so never seeing the dealer again after delivery is an option, but bigger bikes from CRF250, CB300 to the Forza 300 and Yamaha X-Max are being sold in 'small bikes' dealer and I've heard horror stories of things needing warranty work. 

 

Trying to buy these bikes for cash out the door for MSRP is pretty hard as it is, most dealer put a mark up on since they're losing out on juicy financing, and good luck getting service or time of day at the local dealer if you buy it online or cheaper from somewhere else.

 

Kawasaki and Suzuki are better i this regard as they sell their smaller bikes from around 200cc with their 'big bikes' showroom

 

 

Servicing should be a nice earner for the dealer in theory right? maybe the price that they're charging for oils that their typical customers can afford is too little to make money. For 30-50,000 baht bike it's okay, but for multiple 100,000 of baht for PCX-ADV and big scooters like Forza and X-Max with multiple things that could go wrong and a good dealership that honors warranty is a must... treating customers like <deleted> shouldn't be on the menu.

 

So if you're looking for big-ish bikes, maybe it's better to move on up to proper 'big' bikes, like instead of the Forza 300, the X-ADV750 instead. Big ticket price deserve proper customer service

 

Have you found any decent dealer that service small bikes? I found that if any dealer does good work, they're pretty well booked up

1 hour ago, digbeth said:

Servicing should be a nice earner for the dealer in theory right?

 

Have you found any decent dealer that service small bikes?

Not from me I do my big bike myself.

 

Our local APS dealer is good, and also have a guy in our village who fixes punctures and services my Airblade scoot.

Doing oils and filters up to valves shimming is fine, but the appeals of new bike is the waranty, if you don't get it serviced in centers during the warranty period, anything that goes wrong can't be claimed. 

 

Even if you know a good mechanic,

In that case if servicing outside of dealers is preferred, it's better to buy 2nd hand bikes that may had the issues ironed out and anything that will go wrong you'll have to pay out of pocket anyway confirming that the dealers are indeed useless.

18 hours ago, digbeth said:

Have you found any decent dealer that service small bikes? I found that if any dealer does good work, they're pretty well booked up

Bingo.

 

[So many words;

lined up in sentences and paragraphs;

punctuation.!

papa dizzy.!

Using 'Grammarly'?].

The dealer only change the oil anyway, so just go there so that your service book gets a stamp. 

 

I also service my own motorcycles now, but when my PCX is new i always go to the dealer for the stamp. Not sure of that matters for the warranty actually. None of the other services was done, only change oil everytime anyway.

 

I don't get this either, by offering other services and giving better work, isn't that they can make more money, no?

 

Now that my bikes are out of warranty, I just service them myself, or go to a trusted mech a know if the job is beyond my skill level. 

 

Good reason not to buy new bikes,  go for low mileage used ones, even out of warranty, pay a lot less and put the savings towards fixing any issues  - away from useless dealers... !

 

 

On 5/20/2020 at 9:52 AM, alx123 said:

 

I don't get this either, by offering other services and giving better work, isn't that they can make more money, no?

 

Now that my bikes are out of warranty, I just service them myself, or go to a trusted mech a know if the job is beyond my skill level. 

 

To be fair, Honda is trying, having their own overpriced 'lifestyle' dealer for exclusive bikes like the super cub 125 and Monkey, same engine as the Waves but oil change is 1000 baht instead of 3-400, also with expensive cafe and clothing a la Harley

 

I researched further and found out that Honda factory in Samut Prakarn has a service department that does claims for warranty work. If your local dealer sucks, you can take your bike there.... but that's hardly the point if normal shophouse dealer are decent to begin with