anyone have experiance with houston area dealers??

[cyclesnoopy]

specificly british usa and polaris west. how were they to buy from, but more importantly, how are they on service and warranty issues? thanks for any advice.

[houston05s3]

I'll take this one.

I posted the following review at the two wheeled texans site in the dealer review section but you have to be member to read it so I've reposted it here. The site's pretty good, though (less hooliganism, more info), check t out if you get a chance.

British USA, South Houston
Who:
British USA (I think they may also be called Gulf Coast BMW)
1210 College Avenue
South Houston, TX 77587
Ph: 713-944-7951
http://www.british-usa.com/home.asp

What:
They sell new Triumphs, BMWs and Moto Guzzis. They also have an extremely impressive collection of used bikes.

Where:
Take 45 South out of Houston past UH and turn left on College Avenue. They are a cuople of blocks down on the right.

Comments:
They have some sweet used bikes and by sweet I mean old, rare and very well restored. I imagine they must have some really good guys working in their service shop. However, the sales staff is a bunch of incompetent a'holes. I had to get in an argument with the owner in front of his customers and staff in order to test drive a bike that I had every intention of buying - if it rode well (and it did). I had been promised a ride if I brought my helmet and motorcycle endorsement (the same test drive requirements I had met a week earlier at the Ducati, BMW and Buell dealerships) but they forgot to tell me to bring insurance...until I arrived to test it for the second time...after waiting two weeks for them to replace a bad oil sensor. They also told me up front the first time I tried to test drive it and several times later while I was waiting for them to fix it that they would sell it to me for MSRP. When they finally let me know that it was fixed I rushed straight out there, rode it, loved it and was told that the price had just gone up almost $1000. They told me that they had to raise the price because there was so much interest and because it was the only one in the Houston area. BS on both counts. They still have the same bike on their website back at MSRP more than two months later (I also saw it on cycletrader at MSRP) and it wasn't the only one in the area. I know because I bought the other one at MSRP (and got a $530 helmet for free to boot)...and the dealer that sold it to me has sold one more since. The salesman suggested that I tell my wife that it retails for $13,500 and that I talked the dealer down to $10,800 so I'd look like some kind of hero. That dumb*** met my wife a week earlier and told her he'd sell it to me for $9999. I hate being lied to, insulted and cheated. This probably was an isolated incident but they will never get any of my business. BTW, I wound up buying from Polaris West. They are a pretty typical big bike store but the owners are really nice and they took good care of me before and after the sale.

In summary, BUSA told me they'd sell me a bike for msrp when I first tried to test drive it (but it wasn't ridable) and then they jacked the price about 10% after I rode it and decided I wanted it. I'm getting ticked off just writing this. Polaris West on the other hand sold me the bake at MSRP (just like they told me they would before they even had one in the shop - I bought the first one in Houston) and the threw in a free helmet. My only problems with Polaris are that they are in Katy and I'm in Bellaire and that's a heck of a long way to go, their shop rate is something like $90 which I suppose would be fine if their service was exceptional but as is usually the case, the parts guy and the service guy (not the mechanic but the guy that does the scheduling, orders parts and handles warranty) are both incompetent. I get my warranty work done there and I had my first service done there but I'll use someone else for everything else that I don't do myself.

[littlefield]

I live south of town and normally deal with BUSA. They didn't have a S3 when I was looking and ended up getting it for MSRP, $9999, from Polaris. After that I noticed BUSA had $10,800 on theirs. The service and parts guys/gals at BUSA have always seemed knowledgeable but there is quite a bit of turnover.

[cyclesnoopy]

thanks for the info guys! esp the website tip, i will for sure be checking it out.

i went to british usa back last august when i decided to get a bike, but they had no s3's. was just in there again last week, they had 2 new ones and a demo. every bike in the shop had a "do not sit on this bike" card hanging on it. that was not the case back in august. dont know if they had someone drop one or not but i dont like that policy.

if/when i decide to take the plunge, i will not pay a penny over msrp, thats nothing but a bendover tax.

Bought a black '06 S3 from Cliff's shop (British-USA) in late February. Of course there weren't any S3's on the floor at the time, but '06 S3's tend not to sit around on the showroom floor for very long (especially black ones, for good reason :-D ). I got it for MSRP and also got a very nice discount on the extended warranty. Put down a deposit and they ordered it from the Triumph importer in South Carolina. Arrived about 9 days later, and they did a very fast and thorough prep job. I went down the next day, handed them a check for the balance and rode it home. All in all a very good experience. The service folks are also great to deal with - they called me after my 500 mile break-in service to make sure everything was good.

Haven't been by Polaris West, which might seem strange given that I live in the far Northwest and British-USA is the other side of the universe from me in South Houston. No knocks on Polaris West, as I'm sure they're a very good shop, but I guess I just couldn't see myself buying a Triumph from a shop with Polaris in the name.