How Far Would You Travel to Buy a Can-Am Spyder?

[Knarfoh]

I live in Canal Winchester (Columbus suburb), Ohio and have 3 Can-Am Spyder dealers within 15 miles of my home. Two of them within 8 miles.

I noticed that many of my fellow Spyderlovers have driven great lengths to procure their favorite Spyders. Once you purchase the vehicle, you will need to get dealer service at some time (600 mile break-in inspection and service, etc.)

To be honest, I would never be comfortable if I had to drive too far for service. Obviously, many of you have. How far did you drive to buy? How far away is the closest dealer for service?

FOR MYSELF: 312 miles to buy. 8 miles for service.

*screenshot from BRP website Click HERE to find your area dealers.

 

[kkcdcdc]

Far enough to save some cash

Im not far from you, Im in Pataskala. I drove 12 hrs round trip to get mine, Well worth the trip. Local dealers / dealer has the supply market cornered. They still do my repairs and dont complain about where I bought it from. Leaders Marine. Kalamazoo Michigan...

 

[Ga Blue Knight]

The MOST INPORTANT factor is the quality of the dealership and it's technical staff. Second the price you pay for a new Spyder. That is why you see some folks traveling great distances for their Spyders so that the bike are set up correctly. I am considering selling my 09 SE 5 RS and I am even considering Cowtown in MO! I live in Georgia. My local dealer has a great tech and friendly folks but they are a small dealer with limited inventory and cannot take a trade in or discount the new bike very much. There are two dealers of the same size about 75 miles away and a larger "make a deal" dealer about 125 miles away. It's a hard decision to go for price over distance if it means not getting local service. For me the issue is the trade in. I really don't like selling to strangers locally as they are mostly just curious about Spyders and are hoping for a joy ride rather than serious buyers. But I probably will list the old bike here on the forum first and if it sells I'll buy locally and pay a little extra just to have service 5 miles from my house. If no sell here I'll make a road trip to whomever has the best price on the bike I want and deal with the long faces at the local dealer. The local guys have to do the warrantee work and the service work to keep their BRP relationship anyway.

 

[Tigger]

Traveled 100+ miles round trip for my wife's Spyder. But when I bought it and had the 4" risers added, they took me back to service area for fitment and I was appauled. They had some 18 year kid working on it and the shop was a mess. I will be taking mine to a local shop from now on.

 

[antd929]

same for me far enough to save

I drove 138 miles to dealer i purchased. The dealer for service is only 54 miles i know fifty miles sucks. I saved almost 3 grand by making the trip.

 

[daveinva]

I service my Spyder 5 miles from my house. I *bought* my Spyder up in Philadelphia (and had it trailered down) because it was a great deal.

If I ever buy an RT, I've given serious consideration to buying it out at Cowtown, then spending a couple days in town putting the first 600 miles to shake out any bugs, get my first service there, then ride on home to D.C.

Yes, dealer setup *is* that important!

 

[harrypottar]

I have 3 local dealers, two off them seem great, one I would never use (not saying which).

I travled 6 hours round trip to Stamford MotorSports in CT, to buy my Spyder, mainly due to trade in offered on my old bike and they where extremely well set up. Not only being a huge Sea-doo,Ski-doo which most Spyder dealers carry, they are also huge dealers for Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki. They have a huge inventory and get most things next day. Large service department with a good mixture of mature experienced and younger forward thinking techs, IMHO you need both.

Been there and back a few times, test rides, trade in allowance/chatting , pick up the spyder etc. I even went back for my 600 mile service with them, its a long way just for a service but these guys know what there doing and I get that warm fuzzy feeling that I know its done right. Extremely pleased with pre-sales, post sales, service the whole shebang and I'm vary hard to please, just ask my wife.

I spoke with Bob's Skidoo here in MA (face to face), my closest dealer and explained why I went all the way to stamford (mainly on trade in value), bought some items from him. He seemed ok with it, of course he would have liked the sale but would not match the trade in. We will be doing my 3000 miles service with him locally, we will see how it goes, if I have to travel to Stamford every 4000 miles I will but hopefully my local dealer experience will be great.

The Spyder is a large enough purchase that it worth traveling, I would have no issue flying and ridding back for the right deal anywhere in North America.

harry

 

[joe schmoe]

The MOST INPORTANT factor is the quality of the dealership and it's technical staff. Second the price you pay for a new Spyder. That is why you see some folks traveling great distances for their Spyders so that the bike are set up correctly. I am considering selling my 09 SE 5 RS and I am even considering Cowtown in MO! I live in Georgia. My local dealer has a great tech and friendly folks but they are a small dealer with limited inventory and cannot take a trade in or discount the new bike very much. There are two dealers of the same size about 75 miles away and a larger "make a deal" dealer about 125 miles away. It's a hard decision to go for price over distance if it means not getting local service. For me the issue is the trade in. I really don't like selling to strangers locally as they are mostly just curious about Spyders and are hoping for a joy ride rather than serious buyers. But I probably will list the old bike here on the forum first and if it sells I'll buy locally and pay a little extra just to have service 5 miles from my house. If no sell here I'll make a road trip to whomever has the best price on the bike I want and deal with the long faces at the local dealer. The local guys have to do the warrantee work and the service work to keep their BRP relationship anyway.

What he said!

We (wife and I ) drove 600+ miles to Cowtown to buy her Spyder...We live in TN, but after hearing and speaking to Len at Cowtown....We couldn't pass up not going there...They had the best price, best set up and a LARGE Majority of Spyder ryders recommended him....So it was ROAD TRIP TIME!!!

Haven't looked back since!! Have service done at a local dealer 40 miles away...There's one that is 15 miles from the house, but their arrogance, OVER PRICED SERVICE, and RUDE attitude has kept us from doing business with them...

 

[Bob Denman]

You go far enough to find a dealer who will provide you with quality service... :2thumbs:

 

[Knarfoh]

For me the issue is the trade in. I really don't like selling to strangers locally as they are mostly just curious about Spyders and are hoping for a joy ride rather than serious buyers. But I probably will list the old bike here on the forum first and if it sells I'll buy locally and pay a little extra just to have service 5 miles from my house. If no sell here I'll make a road trip to whomever has the best price on the bike I want and deal with the long faces at the local dealer. The local guys have to do the warrantee work and the service work to keep their BRP relationship anyway.

I sold my Goldwing after I purchased my Spyder RT-S SM5 on craigslist. What a strange mix of humanity I got when I did that. I did sell, but so many "potential" buyers with little or no motorcycle experience thought I would let them just hop on my Wing for a test drive even those who had not obtained their motorcycle endorsement. Add to this all the SPAM and it was an annoying experience, but what the heck, craigslist is free. Coordinating the actual sale(title transfer, exchange of money, etc.) was not difficult since I sold local and we just went to the buyer's bank where they handled all the paperwork for us.

 

[mxz600]

The distance I would travel would depend on the amount saved. And honestly it would have to be quite a savings over my current dealer for me to buy from someone different.

I buy and have my service done at Leader's Marine in Kalamazoo, MI. It's about 17 miles from my house. They give me good prices and service and they all use my first name when I come through the door. Lance in the service department goes out of his way to always get my Spyder back to me in a timely manner when it goes in for service. I wouldn't want to do anything to screw that relationship up.

 

[Jbiancolli]

2 dealers in my area. Both are 50 miles one way. Price was the deciding factor and so far initial service went well

 

[Jeriatric]

How far?

Spyder purchase -1500+ miles one way.

Closest dealer of choice for repair/warranty - 80 miles.

 

[Sarge707]

I could have bought 15 miles away BUT bought 50 miles away and saved $2,000 Plus they delivered it and when it was out off service 40 days they picked it up and delivered it. I will try to buy local but $ is $.

 

[smporter420]

80 sum miles for me. Its not that bad of a drive.

Sent from my SCH-R760 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bob Denman]

Maybe I worry too much about getting good service than the sale price...pps:
But how much can poor service ruin the experience?

 

[rcantrell52]

Travel to Buy

Purchased the RS-S off of Craigslist 100+ and the RT-S from eBay 90+ miles from home. Local dealer did not have any used units in their inventory at the time of our purchases. Use local dealer for service.
Reese

 

[Kinderhook]

Distance

My closest dealer is 100 miles and I purchased from them and use them for all service. It is a pretty ride to the dealership if I stay off the interstate, so no big deal. I should add my dealer is one of the most lauded on this forum, so will continue to use them even if a new dealership is opened closer to me.

 

[tofriendscreek]

The closest dealer is 12 miles. I bought my current Spyder from a dealer 230 miles from home.
Reasons = 1) outstanding reputation, 2) extensive experience with setup, 3) super product service, 4) great customer relations and 5) the best price ... by a significant amount.
The name is Cowtown.:firstplace: :thumbup:

 

[spyder3]

Purchase: NJ-Cowtown 1100 miles
Service DE 45 miles
Closest dealers 8 mi. & 30 miles.