Modern Vespa

Hey everyone, it's been a long long time since I've posted. My 2011 LX50 is still alive and kicking. However, my commute is getting ready to change next week and is requiring some highway 55mph zones. I've decided to go ahead and step up to the GTS Super Sport.

I spoke with a dealer today and here's where he's at on price....

6799 price
shipping/handling -- 600
dealer services -- 298
tag/title/doc fees -- 220
shipping from Ft Lauderdale to Key West -- 500

7.5% tax
total out the door is 9,037.88

for some reason that just seems high, even if I wasn't having it delivered to me.

Thoughts?

Can't comment on current pricing, but for $500 I'd consider riding it back....that's saving $2/mile and having a blast at the same time.

Things do kind of add up, unfortunately.

yeah, but doing that presents a whole different set of issues. I have to get there somehow, so I'd either have to have someone drive me or I'd have to rent a car ($). It's also an 8 hour round trip, not counting time spent at the dealer or time spent stuck in traffic. That's an entire day. For all of that, the 500 bucks for it to show up in my driveway is worth it.

I do find it interesting that it cost 600 to ship it from Italy to Florida, but it costs 500 to ship it four hours away.

Seems about right to me.

From the back of the envelope, that doesn't sound way out of line, but there's always fuzzy math involved here. But somehow that extra $500 or so to get to your door seems worth it.

See if they'll drop the cost to deliver it to you if you buy a container of them...
You could probably uber up and ride it back for less than $500, or hitchhike for even less, but do you want to?

first off is the dealer local or in Ft L?
if in Ft L yes they have to get it to you in key west so that 500 is an extra, the original shipping and handling is a fee piaggio charges to get the scoot to the dealer

everything is is on par.

Bus from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale. $27. Just sayin...

You didn't say what you will do with your old scooter. It might be worth something in trade.

The only thing I can see there to play with is the dealer services, which includes unpacking, assembly, checkout and test, at least it should. Perhaps they would split it with you, but after you asked to get rid of that $37.88. Now you would be in the high $8's. If you want to get rid of the old ride, maybe offer him $8K flat and go from there. "The Art of the Deal"

I'm lost: since when does a retailer charge for an item to be shipped to the store?

Oh, wait, no: they're charging you twice to ship it.

Yeah, you're being bamboozled. That might be the standard Piaggio dealership practice, but it's still absurd.

I had the same dilemma as you. I wanted the product and I thought it was kinda pricey. I bought a nice used one with low miles for about half. I had time on my side. If I didn't find a used one, I would have paid the price. If you need it today, go ahead and buy it.

I spent the last year commuting from mile marker 23 on a 150 so I understand why you'd want to move up to take in Highway One traffic. I didn't want to replace my Triumph drowned by Irma with another motorcycle ( too many tickets and traffic stops when a squirt of the gas gets you 70mph) so I decided to get something bigger.
I found a Burgman 200 in Tampa on Cycletrader for $3000. For $200 more they prepped it tagged it and transferred title.
I rented a car, dropped it off and Took a cab to the dealer and rode the Baby Burgman home making a weekend of it.
That's life in the Keys pretty much.
Of course the Burgman isn't a GTS but it sure does go. And riding home was fun.

And Conchscooter, you took the long way home.

I wrote a check for just over $6,000 to buy Rocket, brand new, 12.5 years ago.

To this day, the best money spent ever.

Bill

The initial price is about $500 too high as well.

Walk away.

Every new automobile or truck has shipping right on the window sticker. It is a legitimate cost that the dealer has to pay.

PIAGGIO charges the dealer to ship the scooter to them, that is the first shipping cost, that is the price PIAGGIO BILLS the dealer, are they suppose to EAT shipoing cost????

The second shipping cost is DEALER delivering to customer 187 miles away on a mostly 2 lane road.

I'd be looking for a used GTS around the Miami metro area.

Like this:

https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/mcy/d/vespa-gts-300cc/6576798527.html

w.

Doesn't strike me as outrageous, it's pretty much a list price deal. Look at the items, the cost to ship to the dealer from Piaggio is pretty much fixed, as are the title, tag and doc fees. (Note, when I got my LX 150 in 2007, the dealer just gave me the import papers and I had to do the full Monty at the local DMV --- that's about half a day for an individual.) So, the areas where there might be some wiggle room are selling price, dealer prep and the delivery. Of those, the delivery to you probably is the least flexible. You are paying for having someone essentially take all day to deliver a fully prepped scoot to you, so you have that person's hourly wage, expenses for the vehicle, and some form of lost opportunity costs where that person and vehicle could have performed some more "efficient" duties that spend all day delivering one scoot. In other words, there is a bit of wiggle room here, but not that much.

We did a factory delivery on our BMW and you still pay the freight, same as if it was shipped, not picked up next door to the factory. RV's are (mostly) the same deal when bought in IN. We bought one that the dealer paid his old retired guy to go after in the nearby town for $35 but...
Dealer trades usually involve yet another charge added to the Teamsters Union contract that makes car freight kind of high. MY BIL hauled Fords from Louisville,KY around the country for years. He made far more than did I in education, even when I was an admin at the end of my career.
Maybe Jimmie Hoffa wasn't so stupid after all?
Do they have airplanes in KW, FL?
Many dealers advertise fly & drives or rides. I've done it a bunch of times. If ya want stuff brought to you pay the price, if not go after a better deal which is out there for you to find. Might even have fun doing the search and fetch a scooter activity more than a spoon fed deal? I've met some interesting people and been far & wide buying stuff, never much of a chore excepting close to home, mundane tow it home deals.
I refuse to pay high document fees, period! In my rural county it takes a few minutes and never a line. I know it's take a number elsewhere @ DMV's but not in my case. When I was buying wrecks I kept the forms at my home & took them with me or mailed them to sellers. It's not rocket science, it's pure clerical form filling that my county clerk can explain away peculiarities of a buy easily. It's an old argument on doc fees and one thats grown to be a huge expense for consumers as a few minutes of forms that's the dealers overhead has become a $1,000 plus add-on to vehicle buys. Seems very similar to the real estate deal parasites that run up those sales.

Bald Wasp nailed it.

All those numbers are "pre-negotiation" numbers. First, simply find out if they can do any better.

But the second you take delivery all the $$$ spent on dealer prep and delivery are forfeit. So there really is a strong case for buying used. And unless you are someone that really requires knowing you burnt a couple grand for that new scooter smell, a perfect condition barely used ride can be had ( with a little patience).

If you don't buy from Vespa Miami you go to Ft Myers or the Orlando/Melbourne area. Florida is a very long state so "walking away" may involve a very long hike indeed. And who's to say the others won't tack on high prices?
I saw a very reasonable $3000 new old stock Burgman 200 in Clearwater. By the time he had finished the salesman, over the phone, raised the price from 3,000 to 5,000...
As much as the US is one country it is very much a collection of different locations. I read of some people's experiences and wonder how they do it (whatever it is) so cheap. Then I rented it's February and I'm in a t-shirt so I don't pay for chains or winter clothes etc...
It's all about paying your money and making your choice - not right or wrong.

I can get a buddy pass to Miami or Lauderdale and back from Key West. Tempted to drive it down for you for free, a ride that I've always wanted to do. PM me if you want to look into that.

w.

thanks for all of the feedback. I'll try to address some of the comments.

Flying from KW to Ft Lauderdale is an option. However, the cost of that combined with the time spent easily equals 500$. Honestly, I don't really have an issue with the delivery fee to get it to me. As someone mentioned, I live in the southernmost city in the US, at the very end of 120 miles of mostly 45-55mph two lane highway. Delivering a large item here costs money. I get it. My time and the convenience have a dollar factor, too.

For some reason, I'm not keen on buying a used one that has 14,000 miles on the odometer already. I'm also not big into any of the other "big scooters". It's basically either the GTS or I'll just get a motorcycle.

I've never seen the price of a 2018 GTS 300 Super Sport down around 62-6300. MSRP is 6999 and he's selling it to me for 6799. I've looked on Cycle Trader and other sites, all around the country, for months and I'm pretty confident that 6799 isn't 500 bucks too high.

My main questions were regarding the delivery fee of 600 that apparently he pays to get the scooter and then passes on to me and also the price of the dealer fees. I still think the 300$ in dealer prep and what not is a little high, but I think that's where their profit is. After researching this more, it seems pretty clear that there's very little margin on Vespas and that the delivery fee is standard practice with all dealers. Do they all charge 600 bucks? No, I don't think so. I saw somewhere on a few year old thread where ScooterWest chimed in and said they charge 150 for that and 150 for the prep fees. So, am I getting taken for a ride on those prices? perhaps.

But at the end of the day, it is what it is. My geographic location plays a big part in all of this. If I don't go with a Miami or Lauderdale dealer, then my next stop is quite a bit further away. Hell, ScooterWest did tell me they'd ship me a scooter from California. But that would take how long? Whereas this guy could probably have it to me this weekend.

It's all a give and take. I definitely learned something from y'all's replies, though. Thanks!

The second shipping cost makes sense; I'd missed something there.

However...

I still call idiocy on the first cost: a successful business model folds the shipping cost of an item into the price of that item.

And here's where Piaggio is really killing itself: auto dealerships are, along with homes, one of the only two places American shoppers know they can considerably haggle and bargain for a lower price.

But here's Piaggio charging a considerably higher price for that item we're expecting to get for less.

No wonder their market is shrinking here rather than growing.

And $9,000 just seems absurdly high for a GTS. It's a price point that essentially encourages potential buyers to choose a "real" motorcycle with three or four times the power.

Don't get me wrong -- lord knows I'd love to see Vespa flourish here, but this isn't the way.

can't say I disagree.

New scooters for Less in gainesville hss a demo bv350 for $5400 if i remember correctly. Give them a call. Ns4l in gainesville. Its a long drive from key west. Call to be sure i have the price correct. Might be 6400.

We have a dealership in Jacksonville, and one in Daytona Beach too.

Check these, but not sure if you would find a lower cost.

Should you find a good price, I would gladly ride it down and fly back, at my expense, if timing works.

But the next month finds me out of town.

Bill

Lordy Bill, you could pick the scoot up at Scooterwest or Sherman Oaks and ride it down! It would only have what, ~4300 miles on it when you delivered?

Perhaps you could throw in a new rear tire and belt service....

Back in '07 i paid just under $5000 for my LX 150 Best money i spent. Still going strong 11 yrs and 48,400 miles later 8) Typo. I wish i only paid $500 for it. Forgot to say that CC number won't work any more!

It only cost me $600 to have my Moto Guzzi delivered to Phoenix from Seattle and I had several bids for around $400. I ultimately chose to have the dealer ship it because they had a regular company they liked to use and I figured they new good when they saw it.

My GTS only cost $3000, second hand, and a 2018 goes for about what they are asking (before fees). I'm sure you can negotiate for a top case and maybe a matching helmet thrown in for "free". I'd also suggest crash bars ASAP, they are worth every penny!

I bought my 2009 GTS with 16000 on the clock. Sitting is worse than riding.

miami area is ft lauderdale area, he lives in KEY WEST.

Thats only about 200 miles or less.

1 way. dealer has to do a round trip

Naples has a Vespa dealer. I can ride it down and take the ferry back. Or rent a car for cheaper.

Riding out of Miami is not for the faint of heart. I do it regularly but I grew up in Italy which the traffic strongly resembles in winter.
Most people take three hours to ride the 150 miles to Miami from Key West. Highway one is not fast.

Sorry, but $9000 for a Vespa is ridiculous.
You can buy a lot of motorcycle for 6 grand.
That is why many many of us choose to buy a late model Vespa in perfect condition with 2K or less miles for less than half the MSRP. And I'm referring to half the $6700, not the $9000 figure. Yeah, I know someone is going to say that the warranty is worth $3,000 to them, but not to me.

My second hand GTS purchased from a dealer with barely 2K on it in showroom new condition cost me $2700 and no additional fees. It had been bought at that same dealer by an older lady who traded it back in and bought something lighter.

I also completely agree

Send your drone. Or better yet ask them why they don't have drones dropping off scooters. Behind the times!

. The dealer is not going to deliver. One way for the buyer to get it home.