Question about existing bikes

[SX_Bueller]

I have been away for some time and I see there are many threads on various sites about the buyout of EBR. The new owners are keeping the company whole and just had an open house. First, that awesome that they are back!!!

I have a question regarding all the current owners out there, have you heard anything about restoring any type of warranty? I understand that essentially this is a new company with the same name, but would be nice to reinstate the original warranties for these awesome machines.

Thanks for any replies or links to other articles about this topic. Trying to get back up to speed since my absence.

Jeremy

[Hughlysses]

I've seen comments in a couple of articles saying something to the effect of they can't honor warranties but they're looking into what they can do.

[d_adams]

We will have answers tomorrow re the warranty. There will be numerous EBR owners showing up at the factory asking exactly that question.

[Scott]

I would assume that it's not that they 'can't' honor warranties. I would assume a third party could offer a warranty for a price if they chose to, so EBR could if they wanted to, but they almost certainly aren't required to honor the old warranties.

I would assume it would be a cost/benefit analysis. Would the cost of offering a warranty be worth the goodwill they would get from dealers and customers? How important is it to move exiting bikes off dealer showrooms so there's room for the new bikes?

It's easy for me to spend someone else's money, but if I were EBR, I would consider offering warranties and maybe even cash to dealers if they move old bikes to:

1. Build goodwill with dealers and customers.
2. Offer an incentive for dealers to sign up (the warranties and cash could be contingent on signing up to rep the new bikes).
3. Make room for the new bikes.

Like I say, it's not my money and EBR probably is just scraping by and not flush with cash right now, but I think a sound long-term strategy would include offering some support for the relatively small number of existing bikes.

[Hughlysses]

I wonder if the new pricing wasn't picked with the leftover bikes in mind? Seems like the average going price for a 2014/15 SX is about $10k. So right now you can buy one with no warranty for $10k, or one with a warranty for $13k. If the new bikes had been priced at say $11k, it'd be a lot harder for dealers to sell the leftover bikes. The ~$3k difference would seem to make it a tougher buying choice, which is good for the dealers.

[Scott]

I wonder if the new pricing wasn't picked with the leftover bikes in mind? Seems like the average going price for a 2014/15 SX is about $10k. So right now you can buy one with no warranty for $10k, or one with a warranty for $13k. If the new bikes had been priced at say $11k, it'd be a lot harder for dealers to sell the leftover bikes. The ~$3k difference would seem to make it a tougher buying choice, which is good for the dealers.

The existing bikes certainly make things difficult for them. If the old bikes weren't out there and had never existed, they could probably market these as low production exotics and sell them for something closer to the original MSRP. I think they made the mistake of setting the initial MSRP too high and then over-produced before customers had a chance to hear about and start asking for the bikes. And now with those bike out there with depressed pricing because of the uncertainty, it makes it very difficult. If they can demonstrate they're a solid company that will be around for the foreseeable future, I'd expect those existing bikes to move (I would be a lot more willing to pay $10K for a 2014 than I would have been 6 months ago).

As for warranties, it would be interesting if EBR could sell warranties on existing bikes. If they can calculate that the average cost for warranty work would be $500, for example, they could sell a warranty for $1000 and that would help move bikes and actually give them a profit.

I'm much less concerned with a warranty than parts availability. If a manufacturer offers a warranty, I assume they believe the odds of things breaking within the warranty are slim enough that they're not risking much by offering it. In my hypothetical above, I wouldn't spend the $1000, I'd just take my chances and fix whatever I need to fix. As long as the parts are available it should be possible to fix whatever goes wrong - typically at a relatively low price for a new bike that hasn't been in any crashes. It's not likely, for example, that you'd have to replace the entire engine within the warranty period, but you might need to do some basic repairs.

[SX_Bueller]

Scott, I completely understand your reasoning that its better to have parts available than it is to offer a warranty on the existing bikes. I think it would be more of a "peace of mind" rather than a "must have." I do agree that parts are more important to be able to fix the issues that could arise, due to the fact that many people do their own maintenance whether its preventative or corrective. I for one don't have much free time as is (working 6 12's typically) let alone time to tear the bike down and fix it myself (which I really enjoy doing), but the time saving ability to drop it off for repairs and pick it up later would be my personal choice.

[noone1569]

We inquired at the factory. No real answer.

[Hughlysses]

Noone1569- Did you learn anything else of interest at the factory?

[Classax]

They aren't going to warranty the 2014's. As owners we are in a pickle. With the advent of the internet, the old adage about not picking a fight with a guy who buys his ink by the barrel has never been more true. The ability for owners to make major waves for the company about customer service and hurt sales is HUGE. The trouble is doing so is essentially slitting one's own throat in that if the company goes under yet again, we a will be even worse off than we are now.

I truly think in addition to selling great bikes, the only way for EBR to increase its market share and survive another year is to create and sell a viral customer experience. If you find a way to get customers excited about what its like to be an EBR customer in addition to having a decent product at comparable price points then they've got a shot. I will not except the statement that superbikes aren't selling when Ducati sold a record braking number of more expensive Panigales two years in a row.