One of the main barriers to purchasing an Enfield is cost. Now Enfields are not that expensive when compared to other bikes. But you see I own 3 cars at this point, one of which is a Toyota Land Cruiser, 80 series. The Cruiser costs money to run and probably is a good idea to offload it. However it needs some TLC and it is not a sellers market at this point. Therefore I am going to loose some serious money if I sell. And truth be told I would like to keep her. She is beautiful to drive and....sorry this is supposed to be about the bike.... DON'T FORGET THE BIKE!!!
Okay back to the bike... Basically I would like to buy the bike cash and without having to sell any cars. Not asking much!
But here's the point. There is an official Royal Enfield importer in South Africa and then there are some not so official importer(s). Obviously prices differ between the two, the one drastically cheaper than the other. You know which one is which right? It seems that the unofficial agent brings in models sold in India. From what I hear this person gets several people together that wish to purchase an Enfield and buys them in India, puts them in a container and ships them to South Africa. The buyers supposedly split the freight costs. Now I know that in South Africa you cannot legally import second hand cars. I am assuming that this does not apply to motorbikes. Just checked, seems not to be a problem, and in fact there are no import duties on motorcycles of this kind.
Let us compare some prices to illustrate the point... I will choose the new Bullet Classic (C5) as a benchmark. The Classic has just been released in India (http://www.royalenfield.com/Motorcycles/classic-500.aspx). In India it costs RS 125 000 to Rs 140 000 which converted to Rands is between R 20 000 and R23 000. Now in South Africa it goes for R69 500. So give or take a couple of grand for the cost of freight, the bike costs you about double at the official importer. As a side note the cost of the same bike in the US is $6395 which is about R 50 000.
Okay the temptation is to buy the bike through the unofficial importer just based on price. However this is not the route for me. I will buy it from the official importer!!!
I don't not think the importer is trying to rip us off. The RoyalEnfield SA (www.royalenfieldsa.co.za) has a showroom with several models, if not all of them. From my recent discussions with the guys there, these bikes are not fastest movers in terms of sales. We will all agree that there is a specific type of person that buys an Enfield and they are not found on every street corner. So they have to cover their costs of having stock standing on the floor, they have to pay rent and they have one or two bikes that are demo's. I am sure the scale of economies will come into play here, the more they sell the more competative their prices can be. So support them, BUY OFFICIAL!!!
There are several other advantages of buying official. Firstly is the after sales service. If I buy a bike and have a problem with it I have a local warranty. However if I buy a parallel import and have problem I probably will have no way of taking advantage of the 2 year warranty given on the new EFI bikes. I am sure that Royal Enfield SA will be understandably less than willing to help an unofficial bike. The other side of the coin is the problems one has trying to register a parallel import. I have heard that several people have had problems concerning this.
I noticed on the Royal Enfield website they mention the cons to privately importing a bike into your country (http://www.royalenfield.com/privateimports.aspx). There is also the point that the models sold in India are different to the rest of the world.
When I buy my Royal Enfield, I would like to build up a relationship with the guys, especially the mechanic. Therefore the Official Royal Enfield is a lifestyle choice. I would like to be able to grab a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning at the showroom, go for a Sunday ride with the Enfield Club and perhaps go on the organised road trips. I would not want to be shunned as an unoffical Enfield owner.
Just in my opinion.....
I have 2 sport bikes and I go for a long
ReplyDeletedrive with my friend on my bikes. I love
to ride bikes and i will be buying a
cruiser bike next month.
motorbike sales
i would say, you did a really good thing by deciding to buying the byke from the official importer. To be a real RE Fan , you need to be loyal to the company. cause of them we are able to have the RE in this age. and we should promote ppl to buy frm the official importer. Buying thru a official importer will motivate them to carry on importing RE;s into SA. All the best with ur buying RE. Ride Safe!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat rubbish ! You are being had over. The reason the Indian Enfield.com site and many other places go on about how it is impossible to import an indian model is because the dealers in countries other than India want to scare you into buying from them. Of course it will cost you at least 3 times the price! As for being 'official' it is the Indian bike you have imported or really old origial UK one's that are the genuine article. That shows dedication to the brand, not getting your wallet out and paying over the odds to a dealer charging western prices. The import can be done, with a bit of work. VIN plates can be applied for if not already on the bike. Headlights, tyres, brakes etc can be changed if needed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. We are all entitled to our opinion. If someone wishes to bring in a bike from India that is their provocative and I don't think that hurts anyone. However I think if you create a business parallel importing bikes in competition to the official importer I am of the opinion that that is crossing the line. This has an effect on the people working hard to build the brand in this country.
DeleteI believe if you wish to import the bikes as a business and believe the consumers are being ripped off then I would suggest one applies to become the official importer and show us how it should be done.
If I recall and my figures will probably be wrong but they are in the correct region. The guy that was parallel importing these bikes when I wrote this post was selling them for about R25 000. He has since become the official importer. The price of his first bikes as the official importer were R39 000 and now 2 years down the line are around R46 000. So why is that? His business model in simple terms had to change from importing when a person ordered a bike to having to have stock on showroom floors at 5 dealerships.
My take is that I would prefer to support the local dealer. Why...because I would like to know that I contributed to the success of the Brand in this country...but that's just me. I don't even own a Royal Enfield....but I will one day.
Sweet. I too will have a RE bike soonish and will too support the local dealer!!!!
ReplyDelete