Modern Vespa

As a newbie, I could use some guidance. When I price out a GTS on the USA website, I get about a 40% lower price on freight and dealer prep than what the dealer I would take delivery through is quoting when I visited his store. He claims the website isn't keeping up with the times. That could be the case but I remember a video Robot did which claimed the consumer can sometimes save money by ordering online. He made it sound like the dealer is obligated to sell it for what the website quotes. I see a bunch of asterisks on the website pricing but I don't see what they are for. What's your opinion?

You can't order a scooter online from the Vespa USA website. The show MSRP which does not include freight $500, dealer prep and set up another $400 or so, sales tax, and registration, etc. You can only buy from a dealer. There is not a lot of difference between dealer prices on new models. You can order a scooter online from Scooter West / Motorsport and there is a youtube video for that, but you have to pick it up at their store or arrange to have it shipped to your location. I doubt it is worth the cost to have it shipped to your location vs buying from a local dealer. Just check with local dealers in your area.

If you want a deal, ask about their "new old stock" and what's available in the Vespa warehouse as new old stock. These are scooters that are brand new but didn't sell in the model year. They usually drop the freight and prep to get them to sell if they are old enough.

you might want to watch this video where he shows going through to the checkout which does show freight and taxes etc after choosing a dealer. jump to 6:26

Advertised price and out the door price are vastly different. This is why you see privately sold used bikes selling for list price and sometimes more.

I emailed Vespa USA and they never responded so I called them and got my answer right away. The rep said that the website pricing for shipping and dealer prep are only estimates. They've asked the dealers to communicate with them about price increases but most dealers don't take the time to do it so the numbers can be off quite a bit.

I cannot find the post but in the last three months someone on this fine list commented about buying from Scooter West using both their sales dept and the web store. His comment was that the additional shipping from San Diego to the bay area of CA undercut local prices several hundred dollars.

I'm in a similar situation and find the local dealers gouging on "delivery" and Freight.

When I was researching buying a Vespa I called the closest dealer and asked him the difference between buying online and buying from the dealership. He told me that if I ordered online, Vespa would just forward the order to him as the closest dealership and he would finalize the sale and deliver the bike.