Unfortunately, what I see here is an argument about 2 factors that have little or nothing to do with each other. The dealer that I bought the bike from SEEMED to be very customer-oriented, and gave me a decent price (withouth the "trumped up" charges), but when it came time to back that up with service, they had a full size service department, but a lousy attitude about how to run it. I didn't really make that clear about distinguishing between my 2 dealers that I dealt with. I don't know that I would have gotten a better price from Ridge, BUT the selection was better AND the customer-oriented attitude there was genuine. So price really had absolutley NOTHING to do with it! I paid pretty much full price for my wifes VW (a convertible, so no haggling!) and the service department there was lame. Here in CT, I got a HUGE discount on my VW, but the service there is GREAT. First off, car/motorcycle salespeople are exactly that, Salespeople. There primary goal is to get you to part with as much money as they can, PERIOD. How well you haggle, and how much they are willing to haggle (dependant upon overhead costs) vary by buyer and dealer. The quality of the service people is just as variable, and since the Service Department is normally run by a separate manager than Sales, the experience can be completely different within the same dealership. Stop equating price and sales tactics with service. Honestly, you're going to have to either develop a sense from dealing with the people, or if you're gifted with ESP, sense if they're honest or not. I've never met a salesguy, car or motorcycle, that gave me a good feeling, but I have met good service people.
