Modern Vespa

I have a 2016 BV350 purchased new in 2018 that I have mostly serviced myself. It started to bog down, got a flat tire, and needed the brakes flushed, and the valves adjusted. It has about 31K miles on it. I had it towed to a dealer since it was not drivable at the time.

They were too busy to even look at it for ten days. Okay, I don't like that, but that's probably normal. I guess two weeks would even be normal. The shop sat on it for a full two weeks, asked the mileage. Then, they ignored what I told them I wanted worked on. They gave me a $2700 invoice for everything under the sun. Your bulb is dim, you need a new one. It isn't. You front tire is cupping and needs replaced. It has 80 to 90% of the tread life left on it and was not cupping. The valve adjustment was quoted as "full valves" for about $950 with six hours of labor. I don't even know what "full valves" is, but I've seen Robot from SW do this in less than an hour. Replace belt and rollers. Not needed, since I had just done that. Lots of other things listed with no guarantee that the bogging down was going to be fixed. I picked up my scooter and took it to an independent shop. They got on it right away. Returned it in five days. It would have been less, but they had to order the rear tire and it was over a weekend.

I looked around at the dealer's shop while waiting to pick up my scooter while wondering what the heck. I realized, the shop is way larger than most other shops that have scooters packed in like sardines and on the outside too, except when closed. There were only two employees at the shop, the manager and one mechanic. They have been open for a year, but only started doing repairs two months ago. Everything goes through the manager. The manager will tell you what work you are going to get done. Shop was empty except for me. There was only six clip bords for scooters being worked on by the mechanic. It seemed to me that the place was losing money. I'm never going back to this place. I would bet the rent is too high to justify revenue coming in. That appears likely to continue for a long time into the future.

I searched for reviews of other dealers in Los Angeles county, Orange County, and Northern San Diego county and in general they were not good. Lots of comments like rude and disrespectful. Was told, they don't have time to work on my scooter since you didn't buy it from me (for $1,000 more than anyone else was selling at the time).

I compared notes with my independent mechanic. He confirmed that his clients told him the same thing and then brought their scooters to his shop. He recommended one dealer, which was Scooter West in San Diego. I'm going to have to go there since I have one item that needs a dealer.

Wow! I didn't know it was like this going to a dealer! I am left questioning my choice to buy a Piaggio. I love my scooter and don't want to sell it. I have two independent mechanics I can go to for repairs. I have SW in San Diego I can use, if I really need to. What would I do if I didn't have these guys?!

I never had issues like this when I used a Honda dealership for a prior motorcycle.

Does Piaggio know that this is going on? Do they care?

My Piaggio dealer has a revolving door of mechanics. It seems every other week the site is welcoming a new mechanic. That being said, I've seen this at other dealerships from cars to ebikes. Sometimes a shop will give you a dumb quote because they don't really want to work on it. Other times they want to make nice overhead profit. If you get a bad vibe just stay away.

I have a Honda now and I can look at the service time blocks and get an idea on how much said service will cost before dropping it off. I trust MY local Honda service department, not the other slightly farther Honda dealership as much. Not all dealerships are created equal it seems, no matter what brand they represent. Basically, a good service center is worth supporting.

bean counter
Dealers in general are called S-t-e-a-l-e-r-s-h-i-p for a reason

My local Honda dealer went out of business due to the shop. They wanted $350 plus cost of tire to change the rear of my Forza.

My local Vespa dealer is great, just a bit pricey, but refuses any mods for customer that requires altering the bike. Like drilling the horn cover for luggage rack.

Almost 60 years riding & it's about 3 to 1 bad dealers.

Mechanics about the same.

They probably don't know unless you tell them. I'm sure they care, as they are in the business to sell scooters and parts for their own and want to keep doing it. I think the priced was jacked at the dealership by the manager based on work needing done by the mileage alone without having looked at it, but that's a guess on my part. And they are going to need all money they can get with manager and just one mechanic. A bad business plan, for sure.

Agreed, 100%

The BV is easy to work on. The valves are especially easy to check/ correct as you don't need to pull the cams , just remove rocker cover, pull spacer off rocker shaft, slide rocker arm to the side. ( after you turn crank to TDC). U-tube video of Robot like you said shows procedure on a major service of BV 350 or 400, same engine basically. Sorry you got ripped off. If you feel you can't or don't want to learn how to do the work yourself, then you need to go to a highly rated shop like Scooter west. Of course not everyone lives close to San Diego CA. Every big city probably has (1 or2) good MC or scooter shops (maybe). Bigger dealer doesn't automatically mean mechanics are better there. Do all my own work so only parts for me. What's really bad is if you buy a HD you better be able to do your own work or you're gonna spend really big $$$ for any maintenance or work.

I think you meant to mention this bean counter!

Ouch! Yeah, definitely abusive. Price is bad enough, but not even listening to your needs is a huge strike out.

I've managed to avoid shops, partly because they're few and far between, and an hour or more away. Came close to needing one when I couldn't get air out of my brake lines ( and the local "generic" shop was a flat "no." Somehow that encouraged me enought to try once again, and succeed.

I know enough to be dangerous, but have managed to get things right. Will likely try my valves when they're due. I like my BV enough that I'd go several hours away for service when needed, however.

Thanks. Corrected.

I tried using the now long closed dealer for Rocket's first service in 2006.

It went poorly.

I have had three non-dealer mechanics work on my scooters since, all with very good results.

I do oil, belts, tires and other little things that are needed, but if I get stumped, I take it to them, and always get the scooters back running well.

Bill

For the record, I told the dealer that my scooter and been regularly serviced. The service manager nazi choose to ignore what I told him.

I could do the valves myself, but I don't won't to, given how few times over the life of my scooter this needs done. I have air in the ABS system for my rear brake that my independent could not get out. So, I'm going to have to go down to Scooters West. I have a nephew that lives in San Diego who will let me sleep on his sofa. I'll go down the night before with a morning appointment the next day.

I used Massimo's Italian Scooter Repair Shop in Costa Mesa. If you are in Orange County, CA or nearby, he's the one to go to. When he gets really busy, he has someone (Daniel) that he can call to help him. This keeps his turn around time low. Daniel speaks with a think Italian accent which is fun to listen to. " I gonna have-a you-a scoota ready for you-a next week."

I have also used Scooter Doc in Pasadena, CA before. There's two guys at this shop. Their shop is a little tiny garage in an industrial area. Their shop is not impressive from the outside (or inside for that matter), but they are honest and do good work. However, they can get busy and take a long time to get your scooter back to you. Ask what their back log is before you go there, if that matters to you.

I have come to the conclusion that in general alternate transportation is needed when you own a scooter due to rain and repairs. Maybe a second scooter or public transportation. I bought a used car while getting the run around. I eventually plan to give it to a relative or sell it to her at a greatly reduced price. I can't work at home any more due to the new federal return to work rules, so that's out too.

No shame in that! I do get satisfaction out of doing stuff myself, but at what cost? A lot of time and frequently, frustration. I blame my dad though. When I was a teenager (and knew more than I do now ) I'd suggest that he could pay himself a dollar an hour or so for his efforts. OTOH, I think he had poverty nipping at his heels from the Depression).
You're lucky to have good options! My Vespa dealer went out of business years ago...small shop, did mostly import cars, but the Vespa mechanic was a great guy, you could pull up a stool and watch him work, taking notes.... My car mechanic also is gone, German immigrant to Venezuela, had two Mexican mechanics that took good care of my cars at a good price. Obvious choice for the Hispanic immigrant community. Not at all fancy, but he knew his stuff. My old SAAB dealer would wash your car and leave salted cashews on the dash, but who cares? Pretty much. I've been fortunate to have a number of options, my wife with her car for backup transportation, a pair of scooters.....


The loss of work-at-home has to suck.....