Modern Buddy

I have been looking at buddies but the wife just mentioned getting a stella so I decided to write the local shop, he just got back to me.

Stella
rear backrest / rack with spare tire
sidecar
helmets

Your out the door price would be $7000.00

That includes TTL, destination charge, assembly setup fee, shipping fee for sidecar, and labor for installing the extras.

Should I go for it, or is that price excessive?

New or used? Did you specifically request the sidecar and extras?

New

yes, I asked for them

He will have to order and install them

Seems high to me.

My local dealer, Sportique, is selling brand new Stellas for $3,000 out the door(Plus tax, no dealer prep or other fees). http://www.sportiquescooters.com/

The deal is advertised on their website (in the center scrolling pictures).

I just bought it at that price two weeks ago, so its not like it is some come on deal.

Scooterworks sells the sidecar for $1,899. SHIPPING IS FREE ON ANY ORDER OVER $150.

I think your rack is $150.

So, the scoot (at Sportiques price), sidecar, and rack get you to $5,050.

This means you are paying your dealer almost $2,000 in dealer prep and installing the sidecar. That's too much.

Sportique is the largest volume Genuine dealer in America, so it's possible that the local shop can't touch that price. However, I would say that "deal" is leaving about $1,000 on the table, if not more.

Also, are you sure you want to go the sidecar route? I've heard it makes the scooter about 50CC fast with one.

Anachronism wrote: Scooterworks sells the sidecar for $1,899. SHIPPING IS FREE ON ANY ORDER OVER $150.

Not on bulk items like sidecars and scooters.

Yes it is a small dealership, so I am sure your place gets bulk deals. I went to scooterworks and added up the cost of the items (including shipping cost of the sidecar). it came out to roughly $900 less than OTD quote.

considering that the $900 includes installation of the accessories, TTL, prep fee, etc, it might not be that bad a deal. I want my local shop to stay in business so I have nothing against them making a profit. I just want to make sure its a fair profit. I did put the scooter at suggested msrp in my calculation. What do you guys think?

As far as speed goes, I am sure it is not an issue. I don't intend to race it. I may cruise around St Pete. and Clearwater to the beaches, and we all know I cant enjoy the view at 50 miles an hour. Also if I find it slow or weak I can always mod it a bit.

nateandcourt wrote:Yes it is a small dealership, so I am sure your place gets bulk deals. I went to scooterworks and added up the cost of the items (including shipping cost of the sidecar). it came out to roughly $900 less than OTD quote.

considering that the $900 includes installation of the accessories, TTL, prep fee, etc, it might not be that bad a deal. I want my local shop to stay in business so I have nothing against them making a profit. I just want to make sure its a fair profit. I did put the scooter at suggested msrp in my calculation. What do you guys think?

As far as speed goes, I am sure it is not an issue. I don't intend to race it. I may cruise around St Pete. and Clearwater to the beaches, and we all know I cant enjoy the view at 50 miles an hour. Also if I find it slow or weak I can always mod it a bit.

If just cruising around town and the beaches is your goal, modding should not enter the equation. If it serves its purpose but you want a different style of riding or more speed consider that as a buying opportunity for a "different tool for a different job" as presented in the iron butt thread. Approached properly almost anything can be turned to a positive buying opportunity.

I am roughly 35 miles inland from Clearwater beach (about a block from Busch Gardens). So if I found that I needed to mod it would be for the short drive there.

That is, if I find that I need them after a proper break-in period. From what I have seen / read here I probably wont need to mod it.

Now if I decide, at the spur of the moment, that I am taking this thing across the country because I can that will be another story.

TTL can run well over $300

polianarchy wrote:TTL can run well over $300

No one has said anything about sales tax. Since I just called the DMV to find out about my new purchase, you might not be spending too much at all. Tag, title, sales tax came to $358.00 and my sales tax was only on $2800. Welcome to Florida, its better than California I imagine.
Ask for a break down of the costs. Some of them could well be out of the control of the dealer. You might not be getting gouged and don't forget that Florida now has new improved higher registration fees. Can increased sales taxes be far behind?

laxer wrote:

Anachronism wrote: Scooterworks sells the sidecar for $1,899. SHIPPING IS FREE ON ANY ORDER OVER $150.

Not on bulk items like sidecars and scooters.

Really? I'll take your word for it, but when I got on to check the price, I also added it to cart and asked for a shipping quote. It told me free...

Edit: Yeah, I see it on the page.

Anachronism wrote:Also, are you sure you want to go the sidecar route? I've heard it makes the scooter about 50CC fast with one.

Definitely ride a sidecar rig BEFORE you buy. It is a whole different (translate: wacky) experience and not for the faint of heart.

Not that it'll be identical, but a Stella with sidecar rig is $5600 last I checked at my dealer.

F*** that. Sidecards alone should be under 2k.
7K is them trying to take your money. I would say 5k OTD tops

I remember trying to get tires from a Jeep dealership for like almost 600.
Went to a local tire shop got the same ones for 380.

Dealership = Stealership

Before you buy a new one, check out scoot.net classified for used models - always a way to save some bennys.

Installing a sidecar is a timely process, and shop time is expensive. I would say make an offer on it and see if you can talk them down a little. Cheers to you for caring about your local shop and keeping them in business.

This post is from last September.