[eyeheartny]

What kind of dealer fees have you guys been able to get waived when buying the 300? I visited a dealer more for an exploratory visit (wasn't yet ready to sit down and make a deal), and he quoted me some pretty outrageous fees. On the base model Ninja 300, they wanted MSRP of $4799 + tax, title, license fee (no problem paying those) plus setup and freight fees. Came to $6300 out the door.

Have any of you been successful getting dealers to waive those freight/setup fees? I am happy to pay MSRP with no haggling and to also pay tax/title/license, but those other fees seem ridiculous. The California DMV site indicates that the total fees and registration for a 2013 motorcycle amount to $484, which would bring the total to $5283.

I'd appreciate any advice. Am I being unrealistic to think they would waive those fees on a hot bike that is selling like crazy in the area?

Thanks!

 

[ghost3772]

I had no such luck with mine... but also thats because they knew they had the only one in the area...and they are a bunch of crooks haha..

Mine had hidden fees to that I was considering bring them to court over... They told me the bike comes with a 4 year warrantee, and a thing that the dealer offers that they cover oil changes and manufacturer recommended maintenance and tune ups,

I was like SWEET! then I got my loan, and was like WTF!! this is way too high!!! My first dealing s with crooks I suppose... she was having me sign papers before I knew my total.. She was good at being a crook...

I live in NH so I didnt have tax, but I paid around what your gonan pay because of this addon ****...

but as far as tax alone I see why your price is so high

 

[eyeheartny]

I live in NH so I didnt have tax, but I paid around what your gonan pay because of this addon ****...

but as far as tax alone I see why your price is so high

Well, I'm pretty committed to not paying the extra fees, even if it means waiting a while. But we'll see. I'm planning on walking in with actual cash...that has a way of convincing people when they see it in front of them.

I'd still love to hear about other people's success/failure with getting dealers to waive fees!

 

[wetwork999]

I bought the SE model with ABS, the MSR was $5499, plus $600 for tax, licence and registration, and the only dealer fee was the shipping (the price the dealer pays to have it shipped from Kawasaki) was just under $400. My out the door price was $6490. I went to Mid-Cities in Paramount, they are about 30 miles from my place (in Santa Monica) but they are totally cool. Jim the sales guy is strait up and they don't have any B.S. charges. Plus they took 15% off any accessories that I wanted for the bike. I talked with a few other dealers in the L.A. area, and they all had huge shipping and "set-up" fees. Set up fees are basically for the dealer taking the bike out of the crate and bolting on the mirrors and a few other little things. I went to a dealer in Marina Del Rey and they wanted to charge $900 for shipping and $600 for set-up. I looked on Yelp, and Mid-Cities was the only dealer with a 5 star rating, the rest were all about 1 or 2 star. After talking with a handful of dealers, I now know why.

 

[eyeheartny]

I bought the SE model with ABS, the MSR was $5499, plus $600 for tax, licence and registration, and the only dealer fee was the shipping (the price the dealer pays to have it shipped from Kawasaki) was just under $400. My out the door price was $6490. I went to Mid-Cities in Paramount, they are about 30 miles from my place (in Santa Monica) but they are totally cool. Jim the sales guy is strait up and they don't have any B.S. charges. Plus they took 15% off any accessories that I wanted for the bike. I talked with a few other dealers in the L.A. area, and they all had huge shipping and "set-up" fees. Set up fees are basically for the dealer taking the bike out of the crate and bolting on the mirrors and a few other little things. I went to a dealer in Marina Del Rey and they wanted to charge $900 for shipping and $600 for set-up. I looked on Yelp, and Mid-Cities was the only dealer with a 5 star rating, the rest were all about 1 or 2 star. After talking with a handful of dealers, I now know why.

Have you investigated whether it's true that dealers pay a separate charge for shipping? I've read in numerous places that Kawasaki includes shipping in the dealer price. I've yet to see a Ninja 300 invoice so I can't say for sure.

 

[Baja]

I bought the SE model with ABS, the MSR was $5499, plus $600 for tax, license and registration, and the only dealer fee was the shipping (the price the dealer pays to have it shipped from Kawasaki) was just under $400. My out the door price was $6490. I went to Mid-Cities in Paramount, they are about 30 miles from my place (in Santa Monica) but they are totally cool. Jim the sales guy is strait up and they don't have any B.S. charges. Plus they took 15% off any accessories that I wanted for the bike. I talked with a few other dealers in the L.A. area, and they all had huge shipping and "set-up" fees. Set up fees are basically for the dealer taking the bike out of the crate and bolting on the mirrors and a few other little things. I went to a dealer in Marina Del Rey and they wanted to charge $900 for shipping and $600 for set-up. I looked on Yelp, and Mid-Cities was the only dealer with a 5 star rating, the rest were all about 1 or 2 star. After talking with a handful of dealers, I now know why.

Just curious, did you order it or did the dealer have it in stock? I'm being told by most dealers here in the mid-west in order to get the SE Green with ABS your going to have to order it. At $700 extra they don't want to order one and have it sitting on the floor if it doesn't sell. I'd like to see the SE green next to the pearl white one in person, before I decide what to get.

Have you investigated whether it's true that dealers pay a separate charge for shipping? I've read in numerous places that Kawasaki includes shipping in the dealer price. I've yet to see a Ninja 300 invoice so I can't say for sure.

I have no proof, but I agree with you. They are using it as a way to make extra fee income.

 

[wetwork999]

Just curious, did you order it or did the dealer have it in stock? I'm being told by most dealers here in the mid-west in order to get the SE Green with ABS your going to have to order it. At $700 extra they don't want to order one and have it sitting on the floor if it doesn't sell. I'd like to see the SE green next to the pearl white one in person, before I decide what to get.

I didn't order it, but I called them and told them that I wanted an ABS model. They got one in a week later and called me, I worked out the details (price) over the phone, gave them a deposit deposit over the phone, then drove out the next day to pay the balance and pick up a few accessories. They delivered it a couple of days later.



I have no proof, but I agree with you. They are using it as a way to make extra fee income.

When I went to get my bike I told him that other dealers were jacking up the shipping charges and that they had set up fees (they have no set up fees) and he showed me the invoice for the shipping that the dealer was charged. In all my research I found that there are always shipping fee with new motorcycles and cars also, I don't know anyone who hasn't paid for this. (although they are often inflated by some dealer) Their also called destination fees.

 

[eyeheartny]

When I went to get my bike I told him that other dealers were jacking up the shipping charges and that they had set up fees (they have no set up fees) and he showed me the invoice for the shipping that the dealer was charged. In all my research I found that there are always shipping fee with new motorcycles and cars also, I don't know anyone who hasn't paid for this. (although they are often inflated by some dealer) Their also called destination fees.

Hmm. Strange, since that Australian price list made no mention of shipping fees, and that list was pretty clear about the invoice, tax, and dealer margin. Can't imagine things would be that different or that the Aussies wouldn't get charged for shipping.

 

[wetwork999]

Hmm. Strange, since that Australian price list made no mention of shipping fees, and that list was pretty clear about the invoice, tax, and dealer margin. Can't imagine things would be that different or that the Aussies wouldn't get charged for shipping.

I don't know anything regarding Australia, but here in California everyone I know has paid shipping (or destination) fees for a new motorcycle. I have heard of dealers reducing the price on some models, but it's always taken off the retail price, and not any shipping or set-up fees. Although with the 300 being a new and very popular model, you might have a tough time with that. If your southern California, I highly recommend you call Jim at Mid-Cities Kawasaki, tell him what your looking for, and he'll give you a good price.

 

[eyeheartny]

I don't know anything regarding Australia, but here in California everyone I know has paid shipping (or destination) fees for a new motorcycle. I have heard of dealers reducing the price on some models, but it's always taken off the retail price, and not any shipping or set-up fees. Although with the 300 being a new and very popular model, you might have a tough time with that. If your southern California, I highly recommend you call Jim at Mid-Cities Kawasaki, tell him what your looking for, and he'll give you a good price.

Yeah, fair enough. I talked to a dealer yesterday who mentioned that they do pay $395 for shipping. It's the setup fee that is bogus. Thanks for the tip on Mid-Cities. They're about two hours from my house but for the right price I could make that trip.

Here's my current thinking on fair pricing. Does this sound reasonable?

• Based on the Australia price list, there's a 13.6% margin for dealers over the invoice price. I'm assuming the margin is the same worldwide since it comes from Kawasaki.
• That calculates to $652.66, which leads to a "true" dealer invoice of $4160.
• Adding $395 for shipping and $484 for CA tax/title/license, we're looking at a "minimum" price (no dealer profit) of $5039.
• Adding a $300 profit on top of those non-negotiable fees puts us just over $5300, which is (coincidentally) just over the "MSRP + tax" price people have gotten. That's a 7% profit for a dealer, which sounds low, but we all know the margin on motor vehicles of all kinds are quite small.

Thoughts? Poke holes in my math/thinking?

 

[Revol]

Yeah, fair enough. I talked to a dealer yesterday who mentioned that they do pay $395 for shipping. It's the setup fee that is bogus. Thanks for the tip on Mid-Cities. They're about two hours from my house but for the right price I could make that trip.

Here's my current thinking on fair pricing. Does this sound reasonable?

• Based on the Australia price list, there's a 13.6% margin for dealers over the invoice price. I'm assuming the margin is the same worldwide since it comes from Kawasaki.
• That calculates to $652.66, which leads to a "true" dealer invoice of $4160.
• Adding $395 for shipping and $484 for CA tax/title/license, we're looking at a "minimum" price (no dealer profit) of $5039.
• Adding a $300 profit on top of those non-negotiable fees puts us just over $5300, which is (coincidentally) just over the "MSRP + tax" price people have gotten. That's a 7% profit for a dealer, which sounds low, but we all know the margin on motor vehicles of all kinds are quite small.

Thoughts? Poke holes in my math/thinking?

Don't rely on the Australian list. Trust me.

 

[eyeheartny]

Don't rely on the Australian list. Trust me.

Why? Curious.

 

[159]

I went to a dealer in Marina Del Rey and they wanted to charge $900 for shipping and $600 for set-up.

Wow, I was only charged $320 for shipping and $62 for setup, which is already pretty reasonable. Plus, I was given the 4 years protection plan for $400. With tax and registration, everything totaled to an OTD price of $6699.05 for a SE ABS model.

 

[GreenRocket]

If you don't buy the extended warranty when you buy the bike you should receive several offers in the mail to buy it before your manufacturer's warranty expires.

Try to NOT finance the Ext Warranty, as many riders tend to do.

I'm very familiar with those stories about the dealers in SoCal jacking up the price with the huge shipping and setup fees. That's why I loved buying my bike at a place that only listed the OTD price you actually pay. Too bad they no longer sell Kawi's :-(

 

[shinjo86]

From michigan: Ninja 300 ABS- $6,370.92 and the guy at the dealer said he could save some money off. so.. probably $6200 OTD?

 

[josvet26]

I really think you guys are all good in America!!..I've got my new 300 about 6 weeks ago now. It was the first special edition delivered in the country (Australia and non ABS), and have to tell you that we pay about 2000 dollars extra for exactly the same bike in here. I ended paying AUD 7400 just for the bike, even with some discounts and obviously will pay more cause i have a loan. Anyway i don't think about that anymore or i'll be close to blow my brains out, instead i go to my shed, have a look at that beautiful green machine and go for a ride and it just makes my day. So relax you Americans!!!..we are the ones being ripped off here, but again it was so worth it.

 

[cbzdel]

The problem with dealerships is people DO pay their outrageous prices.. It might not be you but someone will, they are willing to hang onto it for an extra couple weeks to make a couple extra hundred dollars..

 

[TwistedWrist]

I negotiated straight sticker 4799 + tax 203.96. 5,002.96 OTD. I'm stoked! Pick her up on Wednesday. Actually found a small dealer willing to do 4,500 with no other fees, but they are a 2 hour drive from me. That bike is listed on eBay if anyone interested.

 

[Mawren]

Dealer fees are always ridiculous. I talked them down a little in Temecula but still walked out at 6k for non abs. The market here has way too much demand to drop the "setup" or crate fee that is complete b.s.


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[ferrari12]

live in pennsylvania 4,800 bike 288.00 tax 120.00title and plate fees 292.00 shipping and set up 5500.00 total o.t.d.