Reading this post with both amusement and shaking my head. Heres a bit of food for thought. So many think that harley are ripping us. Wot a croc of s#$t, What other factory supplies such a huge range of accs including off the shelf 120ci engines, stage engine kits and a near unlimited choice of bling if thats your thing, Its all gotta be factored in to the overall companies bottom line. What do you think that accs cost to develop with no guarantee of success. Try this on for size, Go buy a few bmw accs and there pricing will make you think harleys and accs are are cheap as, Dont you think the jap stuff is cheap either, I have a 650 trailbike,
The 5/16 by 1/2 screw that holds the plastics on are 8 bucks each,( no i dont buy em) Try pricing any jap bike oem parts. Few if any people buy a new harley and dont buy a few oem accs. compared to bmw, jap bikes ect, With harley, consider the overall package. Itis a lot cheaper than just about all the other brands when you consider the bike and accs youll almost certainly buy. check, youl see. And heres another thing, Today, I went to hd dealer today to buy service stuff and on the counter is one of them 2012 speedo tach units. Dam nice looking unit, The little lcd screen at bottom tells ya what gear ya in, Praise to the gods of bling, Anyway asked how much, thiking it would be 700 plus, nope its 350, near fell over, Now go price any jap bike speedo or bmw, You wouldnt even get a pic of one for 350, So all the riders complaining about price, Compare the full hd package and accs and spares prices. You might get ya eyes opened up a bit. What do ya think bmw or a jap bike high hp engine option would cost even if they developed and supplied one. One last thing to those that complain about price, please go start a harley dealership and if you want to sell real cheap, feel free. Twice a year i buy 2 bottles of 20 year old pappy van winkle bourbon, 310 each. Is it worth it, probably not, but like my bikes i like it, so i dont give a stuff what they cost. It seems to me that some posters remind me of people who buy a v8 then complain about petrol cost,

and some more, Holdens starting with the fx were priced at one years average wage, An average house was priced at three years wages( thats 15 square 3 bed and one bathroom,) No good complianing about prices, average standard holden is now a lot cheaper( most people earn more an 33000,) houses are dearer cause there 20 plus square with 2 bathrooms and double garage. No one makes em buy a 20plus square home, enough said

All anyone is asking is why?
Why can you purchase a piece of software that in downloaded from the net that is $150.00 cheaper if you select your country as US instead of Australia?

Why can I purchase the entire plastic bit for a trail bike in the US and have them shipped here at around 55% of the cost here? ($732.94 delivered to my door in 5 days)

Why can my brother fly to the US, purchase a Harley, ride it around for 8 week and bring it back for less than it would cost here?

Why is a Harley cheaper to purchase in NZ then Australia?

Why when you take your pride and joy, (something you waited 50 years for) to your local dealer and complain about the lifters rattling their head off and being told, that’s a good one, you should hear some of the others, put louder pipes on it so you can’t hear them.

Whoops, off the subject.

It is because we live in the best bloody country in the world, and unfortunately we have to pay for it. That’s why we have boat loads of people trying to sneak in the back door.

Mongrel, I like your style,He He
Id ask everone to think about this, Tell me im wrong.
Many ozzies are just stupid, and are about as easy to manipulate as a monkey learning to press the red button and gets a jelly bean.
In my area, woolworths started there petrol station, woolworths convinced stupid ozzies that they are getting 4 cents a litre off, provided they buy x amount of shit from there stores.
They filled there servo up with there woolies products and sold them not much more that there supermarket prices. They shut down the mechanics bit on the side of servo, so the servo is now a shop that sells woolies groceries and fuel.
Guess what, the independants went broke, out of fucken buisness.
So what, you say, thats competition.
Like fucken hell it is.
Now the competitions gone, theve raised ther prices in the servo to 25 percent more than the corner convenience store charges. The corner shop always charged more than the supermarkets cause they could not purchase shit for anywhere near the price of the supermarkets.
Guess what, now these stupid ozzies are paying more cause the independants coulnt compete and were forced out.
What the fuck do you think grey importers and everone else who imports shit cheaper than ozzi dealers can sell for will end up doing. The HD dealers will end up out of buisness. The government will shut the cheap importing door eventually and tax the fuck out of everthing thats imported.
I like going into local HD dealers and at least seeing a sample of the accs to give me an idea of what stuff looks like in the flesh, I like the fact that the dealer employs a fair amount of staff, mechanics, work experience kids from school, ect I ike the fact that the dealer purchases a consideral amount of accs to display in shop.
Many private importers employ no fucken one, And look at the shit and crap you go through when they fuck up order. I like to support ozzies locally.
If i purchase a non hd acc, i still buy from an independant local motorcycle accs shop. same deal, there employing ozzies. This crap about private importers doing a great service for the good of the motorcycle fraternity is crap, I know enough riders that have been fucked around and bullshitted to no end about why there cheaper shit is not here yet or crap quality when it got here.
Some ozzie bloke wrote a song about true blue australian. It would be nice if everyone actually lived it.

one more thing, what do you think it costs a dealer in ozz to exist as oposed to a one person self employed private importer that has no stock, no costs ect

why do so many call them stealers?
why do so many of the rest then agree?

when our $ was not parity with the greenback, threads were rampant with MandM cycles, Chicago Harley and others US distributes were hailed hero's.

there was no support for the HDAU dealers from this forum.

each is entitled to their opinion.

Mongrel,

You're posts are such bullshit.

First you say markets with small volumes require larger profit margins, thus HD's need to be more expensive in Aus than USA, (partially true but Gov sanctioned gouging is not valid profit margin) and then you say an even smaller market, NZ, were prices are actually cheaper than Aus are really more expensive because Kiwis don't earn as much.

Very convenient, but pure fabrication to suit your delusion. No one believes it!

Further, you refuse to address the issue Australian Legislation is causing and in other instances when I've destroyed your deluded arguments you have no response. Re-read the older posts. There are a few of mine you have not answered where I've rubbed your nose in the cold hard $ facts. But then you still come back repeatedly with your delusions.

Say goodnight John boy and go play with your whirly gigs.

BTW, with 1200 posts in 2 years how much do you actually ride? And you say you don't ride in the rain, and country dirt roads can't be all the conducive to "riding like a bitch". And you do your own services and customisations, correct me if I'm wrong, so don't actually use any HD Dealers, you know the guys you are sworn to defend and ensure they make a good profit. And where did you import your extras from?

Yup, I call bullshit.

 

 

Now, now, be nice, he,he
Personaly, i support anyones right to purchase where they want. Im no advocate for hd or anyone else, and ive bought my first new hd in 1984, Regardless of the politics, whos screwing who, ect, All i see is many ozzies losing there jobs every other day, Many shops closing cause of the 1000 dollar tax free import rules. I just cant get my head around that this is good for anyone. Ford will be gone soon. So will qantas, all those jobs overseas, Of course we cant compete against workers o/s getting 3 grains of rice a week.4 when they exceed targets. It costs to support ozzi buisnesses, I just simply support people whove invested huge amounts of money in local hd dealerships and employ lots of australians. If the government passes laws that give local buisness some advantage and keeps buisness in oz and that costs a bit more, we all win no matter what you can buy o/s or elsewere for. I personaly support the removal of the 1000 dollar tax free import rule. I wanna see a few shops open up, not close because there products are under 1 grand. No orther country has a genuine free trade policy, and particularly not the USA. except australia. Not all kids on leaving school have an acedemic brain, The local shops give many of those kids jobs, but now many shops cant employ em anymore, not even after school.
The smornin, someone could of said, Mick, dont worry, be happy, I went and bought that new speedo/tach for 350 at a local dealer, that i mentioned in above thread, and now Micks not worrying and being happy, and i like the fact i helped in my own small way support those ozzi jobs.

Ahh, Do enjoy a good debate< must be 50s thing.
Ive already said that i support aussies and believe in abolishing the $1000 duty free rule. But i could be wrong.
So if you think that we should be able to import anything at the same level as other countries residents can, then maybe im looking at this all wrong.
I know, ill start a shop that sells imported used bikes and accs, and all sorts of shit.
Ill open my shop and employ some aussies, but cause you support a level playing field, Ill employ your son or daughter. to clean the display stock, work behind the counter, ect.
You WILL support me in employing your son or daughter and paying them $5dollars an hour, $5.50 after a six months trial period. Naturally, youll support me in NOT paying time and a half or double time cause my shop will be open 10 hours a day, six days aweek, sometimes on sunday. Dont forget that you support me in NOT paying super, or Holiday pay or sickies. Being the generous soul that i am and an all around good bloke, Ill give them 2 public holidays a year, christmas and australia day. I cant pay sick pay as its not my fault they got sick. I cant pay for Easter public holidays, so its not my responsibility to pay my staff to pray.I cant pay holiday pay, as its not my responsibility to pay for there holiday, I cant pay super as there personal financial buisness is not my responsibility.

Of course, if they engage the customers and get a 20 cent tip now and again, ill let them keep it, Remember, im a generous soul and all around good bloke. As to staff training, Ill give them a day of to get training but ill have to charge them, Its not up to me to pay for there qualifications, If my shop is busy and has customers in it, all lunches and smoko will be cancelled on the day, Im here to run a buisness, not feed the world. Of course you support the fact that your son or daughter will have little to no work place protections. So naturally im always right cause im the boss. Of course, if a staff member,IE your son or daughter gets married, ill give em one day off with no pay, Not my responsibility to pay for there love life. If there hubby or wife gets sick, and dont forget, im an all around good boss, ill give em time off without pay, Now come on, its not my fault there partner got crook.

And ill have to charge staff for company uniforms plus a management fee, Hey, my time has to be paid for.

Dont forget, and most importantly, if your kids get hurt at work, Say they triped on an oil spil and busted there head, They cant have workers comp, and as you agree, its not my fault someone spilled oil and someone tripped and busted there heads,

OOOOPS, nearly forgot. as my buisness will suffer from economic downturns from time to time, you support me in staff pay reductions, I can drop there pay to $3.50 an hour, Shit, now come on, you cant expect me to pay high wages,($5.50 an hour) in a downturn.

Well damm. this level playing field is a bit of allright isnt it.

So you know youll do the patriotic thing and advise your sons or daughters to come work for me cause you are absolutely fanatical about about free tade and a level playing field. And of course youll support all other buisnesses in running there buissness under free trade and a  genuine level playing field.

Now you dont have to import cheap parts as ill be selling for same price, and employing your kids, I knew it, Damm, im gunna be a hell of a good boss.

(Last point, I have worked o/s and i wouldnt change our way of life for any reason. And im happy to pay for that way of life.in whatever form it takes)

Mongrel that is true,
I don't think this post started out as a shot at the dealers as such, it was at Harley Davidson Australia or whoever is the importer.
We all know that if you built a Ford or Holden from parts it would cost over a million dollars to build. (some guy did the exercise years ago).
The gripe is why you can I buy a 2012 Road King at the MFSRP of US$17,499.00 in the US and what are they here, AU$32,000.00?
It’s not only Harley, have a look at BMW, a new K1600GT is only US$20,900.00 and about AU$34,000.00 here. (Bit surprised with Honda, prices are a lot closer than the others) http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/2011/bmw/k/1600_gt/prices/72034/05/#ixzz23CPoLf00
I am sure dealers here are paying a lot more for their bikes then they do in the US also.
Then again there is nothing stopping us from flying over to the US, purchase a bike over there, have the dealer register the bike in your name using his bike shop as your address, ride around for a couple of weeks, then ship it back to Australia as a used bike.
That’s about $1,200 return air fare, $1,250 to ship it back, $1,875 GST, Customs and Quarantine $410, say $1,000 for some rego and insurance in the US, Australian Compliance $2,500. (info from Geezers web site) That leaves about $6,600 for a couple of week riding around.
Crap, I have just about talked myself into it. Anyone want a 2011 road King for $23,000.

My final say on this thread

Be carefull what you wish for

Sooner or later some bean counter in the government is guna see a fall in revenue cause of tax free personnel importation.
So the bean counter will advise his minister to increase revenue, not by calling it an import tax, That might be unpalatable, itl come under the guise of,
a port environmental levy, or port movement levy, you get the idea.

Then that levy will be placed on all the motorcycle industry including australian dealers. used parts, ect ect, Then the item cost will be considerably higher for everyone,
Once that legislated, youll never reverse it.

Just a thought

I read the 22 pages of this thread to see what the general consensus was about the Harley Davidson pricing.

A few things I wanted to add.
Pro-rata, to me, prices of Harleys over the past 4 yrs that i have been paying attention to, have come down. Call it Harleys ability in the USA to produce a better product for less because of newer technologies, the aussie dollar versus the usa dollar, asian imports of jap brands being cheaper driving prices down etc, or Harleys worldwide sales slowing due to the euro market and the usa markets slowing considerably etc, but prices seem to have settled and to me prices seem to be apx 10 percent cheaper than they were 3 years ago.
Add in what would normally be a std price increase and one might argue prices are down by 12.5 to 15 percent for rideaway pricing. Yes, we do pay a decent dollar in Australia for luxury items like jet skis or motorbikes, and we do pay top dollar pro-rata compared to other countries, but the only way to really save is to ring 50 dealers and really shop around. I have found that some dealers with superceeded stock can be apx $2500 to $3,000 cheaper than another dealer if they want that bike gone because of overstock, or if they have had the bike too long.
HD Australia knows it has a premium product that it can price very high with a attitude of take it or leave it, but not even billion dollar companies ignore customer feedback.
If alot of people walk into a HD shop and say those xyz models are too expensive (say bikes over $28,000) then feedback is going to dribble back to the importer, and prices are going to be slightly massaged into place. The std reccommended retail price may only come down say $500 (so as not to piss off a previous buyer who paid say 3 grand extra) but the final negotiated price may exceed the $500 sticker price reduction by a few grand more due to being stubborn when negotiating with the HD dealer.
The same attitude has always worked with me for many brand new car sales, many jet ski purchases and many moto x bike purchases. My attitude is ignore the sticker price, ring 50 dealers, play them against each other, negotiate hard and get a better deal.
The bloke who mentioned a petition, or getting the govt involved, has good intentions, but sometimes the stick doesnt work, sometimes honey works better.

Find another 1 or 2 people who are looking to buy new bikes, go into a harley dealership and talk about purchasing 3 bikes at once to get a bettr deal etc.
Join bike clubs, set a date say of the 1st of every month, that u put ya name down to buy a bike, and anyone who is looking for a new HD bike, gets together with other people who have held off til the 1st of the month, all go intogether and try using numbers to get a bettr deal by negotiating a group purchase. Different positive things can help pricing come down. But overall, prices in my mind have come down because the ride away prices i am seeing now seem to be 10 percent, if not 15 percent better than what they have been.
Even HD dealers are still doing it a little tuff in this economic climate so i say negotiate hard, and score a better deal by being pro-active.
The local HD dealer is the guy at the coal face who can work with you, cause after all, no bike sales, means no profit or income. Money doesnt talk, it swears in every language.
Shop around, thats what gets u the best savings, not asking the govt to change its position on anything they make a tax dollar on. Thats been my recent HD purchasing experience. For me personally, current prices seem to be very attractive compared to when i last looked 4 yrs ago and decided the prices were too high.

 I'm with ya Greygo; I'm sick of this ridiculous situation. We've allowed ourselves to be rippeed off for too long.

I congratulate people like Choppaweeza for taking the initiative and giving potential harley owners an alternative to the full ticket prices at the dealers.

You can count on me

 

Greygo, what are your thoughts on the prices of 2013 models?

Have to disagree with you on that one Mick 44, using that reasoning would you pay the same price for a HD made in China, as the same model made in the USA?
I sure as hell wouldn't.
And your forgetting the reason we had tarifs was to protect manufacturing from cheap imports as well as our standard of living.

at the end of the day you're still giving some of you're hard earned cash back to HD whether or not you buy here or o/s so im sure they don't really give a rats..
thats my opinion anyway

 In fairness, most of the folk i know that have imported thenselves are the ones that have had problems, I think I would go through choppweeza, and even if I went over, id still use chopperweezas services, just to save all rigmaroll, Reckon a payment to a importer that knows the game would be worth it, just for the stress of it alone. Just a thought if your doing a one off import and in the new age of social media, I reckon an importer would want positive feedback all the time. 

Not speaking for or against chooper, just think id like that bit of security so to speak. IE: All the paperwork being in order and procedures being done correctly.

Following on from Greg’s original post, I have been interested to know what the total extra amount Harley Davidson overcharged Australians compared to the prices paid in New Zealand. 

Using Greg’s 2011 figures for the higher prices in Australian compared with New Zealand and combining it with the 2011 Australian sales figures for each model, I have calculated the total extra cost.

Harley Davidson overcharged Australians $27.6 million extra in 2011!

The calculations are here.

Australians also get ripped off for new cars. We paid a total of $3.5 billion extra in 2011 compared to overseas consumers.

Let the debate continue …