Originally Posted by
ObjectAgnosia
The thing to keep in mind is to stay away from trek/specialized dealerships. Those bike companies demand so much from the shop owners that there's not much room to bargain when buying a new bike. Find a place that accepts trade-ins and will take the time to talk to you about what bike is best for you.
I am astounded everytime I hear this one.
While Trek and Specialized do
ask for a lot out of thier dealers, many dealers tell them to take a flying leap. Trek and Spec are more interested in being in the premier dealers in a given area. They will ask, but dealers will, and have, do what they want to do.
I have sold both Trek and Specialized. I also had both in the shop at one time. The reason they are not "bargained" as much as other bikes is simple. They don't need to be! They are great values, partly because of the size and market share of both companies. They did not become #1 and #2 in the industry by accident. Why should I discount something that does not need to be discounted?
As far as trade ins go, good luck. Many (not all) shops stopped doing trade ins years ago because there is simply no money in it. Simple economics. If a bike was originally, say, $500, and is a few years old, most people won't want to pay more than 50% of the original price, and that is if it is in REALLY good shape. The shop will have to at lest give it a good tune up, maybe throw on some tape and a seat. So they are going to put up a bike for $250, which they will have to "bargain" on. Let's say 10%. We are down to $225, and they have invested about $50 worth of work/parts ito it. It's now down to $175. If they wanted to make normal "bike" margin, which is the lowest margin item in a bike shop, the most they could give the original owner would be about $100 to $125. That is why most people would rather just dump it on ebay, get the $250 out of it, and everyone is happier.
Oh yeah, let's not forget that the first "trade in" that is found in the possesion of the shop that turn out to be stolen. They get the bike impounded, get fined for possession of stolen property, and lose even more $$.
Instead, ask the shop for any "abandoned" bikes. We occasionally have bikes that have repairs done to them, and never get picked up. After a certain amount of time, and notifying the customer of storage charges on top of the repair charges, we will sell off the repair in order to recoup the cost of the repairs. You may get lucky that way.