Ian Bungy;280564 wrote: Very interesting thread LivinLOS. Seems none of Us have heard of this Jamie Dealer? Maybe You can enlighten Us? I personally would not Buy any Grey import as I am pretty Sure it is only a Matter of Time before they will be shut down and then the Authorities may well go after all the Vehicles that had been sold? That wouldn't be pretty! And are they getting "Legal Plates" for all these Grey Bikes or are the Plates also Grey? How are We to know?
Legal import.. Legal taxes paid, import and excise, 'legal' greenbook on the basis its pushed through emissions. Hes been doing loads and his estimate prices / quotes for 'to the door' with a legit plate, came in each time.
To me thats as legal as I need to be.. (If you want to grey book them thats the end users choice, jamie wont, its of course even cheaper then but thats a big gamble with a multi 100k bike).. And hes still cheaper yet KTM have hardly any of his costs (they dont have to pay 80k per bike once its passed testing per model) They ship bikes in bulk.. Etc etc etc.. So where does all that extra cost go ??
Look at Jamies price from a KTM 500EXC, a hair over 400k.. KTMs is ??
Similar price differentials on the freeride 350, which should be a low tax band bike anyway at only 350ccc. Here its going to be 485k, for a 350cc.
Legitimate Dealers had to go through a lot of Time, Investment and Bureaucracy Red Tape to attain Their Dealerships including Training Staff, Mechanics etc. A Grey Importer has and Does None of that? If they have to Chose between Servicing a Legitimate Bike Sold by them or a Grey Import it would be Common Sense to Chose their own?
They wont sell you parts !! I mean really ?? What kind of a dealer system is that ?? Thats spite not supporting the bike development scene.
Given the ongoing mystery problems a buddy has had with his 690, sold here, getting warranty support but no actual resolution, only back in bangkok. I dont see much difference between KTMs standards and say Khun Eak or the BMW private place in bangkok (we all know how premium those service levels are from 'legit' BMW)..
Yes the big bike scene is booming, and thats great.. But the manufacturers here are doing their best to stifle it, to keep it high margin, and to remain luxury only brands. They are lobbying for law changes and additional import regulation to stop people, thats not free market.. Thats how they want to play it fine. But I personally wont spend that price premium to support a dealer who wont sell an end user parts for the bikes that manufacturer sells.