A MOTORBIKE owner is worried after his local Harley-Davidson dealership shuttered three years before the end of his warranty.
In a Facebook post, the motorbike rider complained about the store closure and said he must make a long ride for scheduled maintenance.
Harley Davidson store and showroom (stock image)[/caption]
A Harley-Davidson Iron 883 motorcycle stands on a slate of pavement (stock image)[/caption]
“What about the warranties on the bikes you sold?” the driver decried in the post.
The bike owner said he recently purchased a bike from Miracle City Harley-Davidson in Titusville, Florida.
The dealership shuttered on September 1, according to Florida Today.
“We would like to thank the local Titusville community and the local riding community for their years of support,” the dealership posted in a social media statement after it closed.
Miracle City was in operation for five years.
However, the Facebook user complained that three more years were left on his warranty.
“[I] should have went to a reputable dealer of long standing,” the Facebook user complained.
There are two other Harley-Davidson dealerships in Brevard County, Florida.
However, both dealerships are at least an hour’s drive from the now-closed store.
Harley-Davidson offers a one-year parts and accessory warranty on its bikes.
The company also adds two years of custom coverage on its vehicles.
If a customer intends to use the warranty, Harley-Davidson requests two weeks to make the fixes.
The brand also offers Extended Service Plans, or ESPs, for owners.
ESPs include specific parts coverage but require riders to bring their bikes to certified Harley-Davidson repair shops.
The U.S. Sun contacted the Harley-Davidson owner and a brand representative for comment on this story. Neither immediately responded to the request.
What to do if a dealership closes
If you recently bought a car or motorcycle from a dealership that suddently closed, you may feel anxious about how that affects you.
When you finance a new car or motorcycle or need warranty repairs done at an authorized dealership, a sudden closure can make some people think they’re out of options or worry their car will be repossessed.
If you’re in a situation that sounds like that, here are a few things you can do after receiving an official notice:
- Notify the bank hosting your loan of the closure to make them aware. If the financing is done through the dealership itself, it’s important to contact the dealership or your salesperson to ask how to keep up your payments. Many dealerships will send the lien (the title and registration that will only be released to the buyer after the debt is paid) to a financial institution to keep.
- If the dealership cannot be contacted through traditional means, most states allow drivers to apply for the title and registration through the DMV.
- If you leased a car from a dealership that went out of business, instructions should be sent as to which dealership to bring your vehicle to when the lease expires. If not, contact the dealership.
- A factory warranty through the manufacturer will be honored at any other authorized dealership. However, an extended warranty through the dealership may not be honored at other repair shops, so it’s important to seek that information from the dealership as soon as possible.
Source: Consumer Law Group
BIKE OUT
Another flagship Harley-Davidson store shut down earlier this year after fireworks of drama between the employees and management.
The dealer in San Francisco shuttered after 110 years in business.
Throughout the store’s history, thousands of bikes were sold in the downtown location.
But new management took over in 2018. After the dealer’s last days of operations, an alleged rift between management and the employees emerged.
“Everything was just kind of chaos,” Carlos Martinez, a salesperson at the dealership with 22 years of experience, said, according to Mission Local.
Another long-time mechanic said the store was “run into the ground.”
