[revrnd]

BRP/Bombi purged a bunch of local dealers here in Ontario back in the 90s, so unfortunately this isn't new. Like someone said likely a bean counter decision from someone that wouldn't know a coupling block from a carbide...

 

[jb091]

100,000 sleds no chance. Danners is good people but the sled count seems way off the mark.


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[G-Doo13]

BRP has decided to cancel our long time dealers contract. They are a smaller dealer in regards to floor space, but have sold hundred of thousands of Skidoos. They are the dealer that gets you going when its
Thursday and you are leaving on Friday for a planned trip. I have purchased 5 Skidoos from them after I came back into the sport in 2012. Never considered another dealer or brand. I'm sure BRP is looking to support the big dealers, but they fail to realize that the local guys are the heart of the brand. The other dealers in our area are multibrand. Danners was all SkiDoo. I'm not going to the big guys....think I'm done.

BTW, BRP called me after I noted this on their consumer survey. I told them that I didn't appreciate the WOKE questions about my gender. My response was that BRP doesn't know their customer. I felt insulted by the brand that I have loved for 50 years.

I was sadden to hear this to. Danner was my go to place. Especially since I drive by every day on my way home.
Dave and Matt are great guys to BS with. Matt has offered to drops parts off at my house on his way home.
Guess I’ll be going to Red Wing for parts. Since I hate Tousley



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[G-Doo13]

You need more snow.

That has nothing to doo with BRP not wanting to have Danner sell their product.

They’re a small time dealer that sold only BRP and cub cadet mowers. Great people to work with you on getting what you need.
I just hope it doesn’t cause them to close their doors in the future.

And we got plenty of snow here to ride. Maybe not 16 ft like in Colorado


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[G-Doo13]

That's a real bummer! I've never bought a sled from them but plenty of parts and some warranty service and always had a good experience. They were also one of the last dealers that would actually carry parts in stock, not "we'll need to order that".

Correct on the parts. Seems they also had what you need


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[G-Doo13]

This says it all.......................Create your dealership | BRP

Yeah that’s not Danner.. stupid BRP


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[G-Doo13]

I don't post often anymore but do a lot of reading on here! I just couldn't hold back not saying anything. I am upset and feel bad for all those involved in any of the smaller family owned BRP dealers. Both Jerry, his family, his team and the customers. I just don't get it. He was as loyal to his brand as anyone and cared for his customers like family. I only purchased my new sleds from Danners unless used. My first sled back in 1995. Then raced snoX and he helped with parts discounts, etc. It is the family atmosphere where they knew you by name when you walked in. You want to give them the business because of their customer service and making you feel like you mattered. For these reasons, even though I live closer to Tousley, I could not stand the car dealership feel that scared me away from actually looking around. I have purchased many parts from Tousley because of their proximity but will not buy a sled there because of my experience with Danners and treatment. I am not here to bash Tousely, its just not the experience I enjoy or is for me. If that's what BRP is after then they clearly are missing what this sport is all about to many and its roots. But they are a big business and these decisions are based on some model and strategy they are trying to acheive. Jerry and the crew always would give me a fair deal and even gave me accessories at a fair price when buying a new sled. When I was needing a sled to test some parts, Jerry said to go up and pick out a used sled from the shed and one of the guys would help load it up. That won't happen at any of the big dealers. No way. It is because Jerry believed in running his business based around the customer experience (loyalty and customer satisfaction) which brings repeat business and it was a model that worked. Just my 2 cents.

Well said


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[G-Doo13]

Another disturbing thing if you follow that link, in the bottom right corner of the page they have a WHISTLEBLOWER HOTLINE! Wtf!!!

Maybe we should all call it and tell them they’re idiots for closing small dealers like this


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[G-Doo13]

Danner was great place to buy at. Very good to work with. Guess it’s going to be Red Wing for me. Since the other two closest place I don’t like


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[iwaREV]

This is terrible news... and yes Tousley is a flaming dumpster of incompetence and the poster child of how not to earn repeat business

 

[DooDown87]

Unfortunately this is how it’s been going for some time now. And it’s not just BRP.

We deal with 100’s of vendors with our business. We are a small family business but do more sales then most big stores combined in our area with many different products. Product companies like to strong arm us as the “little guy” and then they go make contracts with bigger corporation stores. More times then not the big corporations nearly bankrupt these product companies with unrealistic cost and time demands and then the product companies come back crying for our business again. Been dealing with it for 20 years and they always get screwed or rolled over by the bigger companies and come back begging us to buy this or that again.

 

[jb091]

Honestly I don’t understand what BRP and Polaris are trying to do. Small dealers are way better than 3 dealers in the whole state.

Buy online sight unseen, screw that. You think people will ever get into a sport where they don’t even know where to buy a sled? Way to think that through bean counters.


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[DorkMissile]

I live in the Central Lakes Area of MN, (brainerd) and have 15 SkiDoo dealers within 100 miles of me (Not an exaggeration). None of them ever have the parts I need (the exception is Centre / SkiDooOutlet as they sometimes have what I need, but are almost two hours away) and when buying a sled, I buy from a tiny mom and pop dealer in Michigan that sells more units out of a 20x40 pole barn year than the monster dealers in Minneapolis do. They are usually $1000 or more less to buy a sled.

The market here is flooded with dealers - and none of the do a good job.

Undfortantely with so many dealers willing to sell so high on everything they just devour up the machine inventory at a point in which an independent like Danner's can't survive.

From what I understand, the dealers in MN all have a pick of inventory from the same pool that is "on program" - where as in other places in the country the dealer still can run on ordered inventory. BRP would rather have the dealers on the pool program as then they are buying against credit.

 

[halver22]

I live in the Central Lakes Area of MN, (brainerd) and have 15 SkiDoo dealers within 100 miles of me (Not an exaggeration). None of them ever have the parts I need (the exception is Centre / SkiDooOutlet as they sometimes have what I need, but are almost two hours away) and when buying a sled, I buy from a tiny mom and pop dealer in Michigan that sells more units out of a 20x40 pole barn year than the monster dealers in Minneapolis do. They are usually $1000 or more less to buy a sled.

The market here is flooded with dealers - and none of the do a good job.

Undfortantely with so many dealers willing to sell so high on everything they just devour up the machine inventory at a point in which an independent like Danner's can't survive.

From what I understand, the dealers in MN all have a pick of inventory from the same pool that is "on program" - where as in other places in the country the dealer still can run on ordered inventory. BRP would rather have the dealers on the pool program as then they are buying against credit.

I ordered a 23 renegade x 600r, same day a buddy ordered a summit x 850 N/A small gauge... Neither of paid sticker. I get a small discount on any parts for buying a new sled for this season...

Show me a big dealer that will take care of their customers like that.

Neither of us is getting screwed, and we're all happy. It's a true shame BRP can't see the value in that as far as the brand is concerned.

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[Sled Phoenix]

I can’t believe it. Going to have to make stop by there to visit and get the scoop. Those guys have helped me get several sleds refurbished and back riding again. Spent thousands there for BRP parts and products. Worth every penny for their customer service and knowledge. I had a few bad experiences years ago at Tousley and decided I’d never go back once I found out about Danners. Guess I’ll have to consider other options so appreciate the recommendations and reviews on others near St. Paul.

 

[revrnd]

Honestly I don’t understand what BRP and Polaris are trying to do. Small dealers are way better than 3 dealers in the whole state.

Buy online sight unseen, screw that. You think people will ever get into a sport where they don’t even know where to buy a sled? Way to think that through bean counters.


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As we were often told when we questioned a ridiculous decision from upper plant management or corporate, "You're not looking at the big picture..."

 

[DorkMissile]

I ordered a 23 renegade x 600r, same day a buddy ordered a summit x 850 N/A small gauge... Neither of paid sticker. I get a small discount on any parts for buying a new sled for this season...

Show me a big dealer that will take care of their customers like that.

Neither of us is getting screwed, and we're all happy. It's a true shame BRP can't see the value in that as far as the brand is concerned.

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Just for the record - I would love to have a place here that was a mom and pop and would try to steer my business to them, they just don't exist.

As a consumer - I will always try to spend my parts and service money with a dealer that I buy my sled from, they just make it so hard to buy from.

IE - this spring the wife and I decided to finally update her 12 year old sled and decided on a Expedition Sport 600EFI. Since I was willing to try and buy from a local dealer, AND we already missed SnowCheck, we were stuck working with those who had inventory pointed at them. Came down to four dealers. Brothers, Mies St Cloud, Moon and Centre.

Brothers - walk in the door in the spring asking about it, they tell us to come back in September, too busy to give us price (I understood that being this was May). Stop in mid September, they say too busy, come back in October. Wife and I walk in the door last Friday morning of October, ask if we can get a price, they tell us they are too busy to talk sleds (the sales guy didnt even get out of the chair, and we were the only people in the place). In the end we never even got a price from them, they were too busy.

Mies St Cloud - we knew they had the ExpySort coming in, called about it and got a sales guy, got his name, says to stop in (I work a territory for work, drive by them 3-4 days a week). Stop in, they have a left over Expedition SE 600R for a fair price, tell them we are interested, just need the wife to come take a look at it and we arrange to meet at 10am Saturday. We getup early on Saturday, stop for breakfast and drive a hour and a half and walk in the door at 9:30. We walk the sales floor for an hour, she sits on the machine a half dozen times, not one person stops to help us. Never saw Chris the sales guy. Had $14000 cash in my pocket, my truck and trailer in the parking lot. Ended up leaving with no sled. Calls me at 1pm wanting to know when we are coming down, informed him they wasted 5 hours of my time and we are buying something somewhere else.

Moon - I have bought multiple units at Moon over a decade from the same sales guy who is now sales manager. 2 ATVs, a couple of street motorcycles, etc... have a good repor there as I usually trade my stuff in and they know its in tip top shape. We actually started with them first, however I could no longer work with "my" guy as he is now the Sales Manager. Have to work with another guy who doesn't call anyone back. However we actually put $500 down on the sled in the early summer there, but they couldn't give me an OTD price then (another "too busy" scenario I presume). Ask thru the summer and early fall what the OTD price was, could never get an answer. The week the sled is supposed to arrive, they call to tell me its coming in, I ask them what the OTD is. The $9800MSRP sled was being padded with $2400 ($400 doc fee on a sled you aren't financing?, $1300 "setup" and the $700 BRP freight fee) in "fees" that had never been there before. I take a breath and wait to take delivery.

Cente - because of what was happening at Moon, I went shopping around one last time, Centre had the same sled coming in, same starting MSRP price and they were 10,900OTD. Almost $1500 cheaper than Moon. Called them on a Wednesday to get the price, picked it up Friday. In the end they were the place that acted like they wanted my business.

Moon let me transfer my deposit to the parts dept - so we bought some accessories for the the Expedition, none of which were in stock.

The pandemic broke a lot of things for a lot of businesses, most of which is the customer service experience, which is self induced. "Buying" has to be a success for all parties, it has to work for everyone. Trying to find a dealer in MN that wants to make it a win for the customer is hard to do.

 

[dave77]

Imposible minimum orders from Textron caused my local Mom and Pop (actually Dad and Son) shop to give up their long time Arctic Cat dealership, so this isn't just BRP. This has gotten me to consider something else. I have been a very satisfied AC rider for around 50 years and would probably still buy a Riot 8000 if I could get one but am considering a '23 Backcountry.

 

[Alatalo]

Also over here, it appears BRP is making a big push towards mega stores selling the entire BRP program. Rumors say couple smaller Swedish dealerships have already been axed for next season and with one of them (that is actually not so small) it has all gone official. They used to sell Ski-Doo at the same time as another dealer in their town used to sell Lynx and Polaris. Now BRP has suddenly decided that Ski-Doo moves in with the dealer that used to be Lynx and Polaris...The dealer that get's left without...? Too bad...but not BRP's problem...

This caused a lot of raised eyebrows around here, because of many reasons. First, the dealership that get's axed is actually not that small, but used to sell couple hundred Ski-Doo's every season. Second, the guy that once started the dealership used to be one of Ski-Doo's factory racers during the 70's and 80's and he knows all of the old guys in and around Valcourt. Third, only the other year they got some kind of "dealer of the year trophy". Fourth, they have a customer base that is very loyal, but more to the dealership than Ski-Doo...

Polaris was apparently not impressed with BRP putting a second brand into "their" dealership in town, so they decided to pull out and instead offer their entire program to the dealership that lost Ski-Doo...So in the end, Ski-Doo and Polaris are moving between the two dealerships and the dealership that ends up with Lynx and Ski-Doo is now expected to turn into one of them mega stores with black interior and an impressive front with giant windows...The dealer that lost Ski-Doo and got Polaris is expecting to keep the majority of the customers as most of the customers seem to be of the opinion that BRP can go eff themselves...

I think some jackasses at BRP corporate is under estimating the power of a small dealership with a loyal customer base. They need to understand the importance of personal service rather than just relying on a mega store with an impressive front. After all, they are dealing with powersport equipment, not Teslas...

 

[Dman800]

It is interesting to see all the new mega stores for powersports. Someone is making major cash selling this stuff if they can build multi-million $ superstores. Gone are the days a dealer “cares” about the customer. It’s a one and done sale, and move to the next buyer. Deal with repeat customers when it comes up. Make them feel special with a whole repeat customer speech and get their money. All about volume sales, not customer service. Gone are the days of the parts guy giving a “deal” as they are less able to discount parts because they are out to make money, not friends . Nobody is special no matter how many sleds you have bought from them. With staff turnover, the odds of getting the same guy over and over is slim. Selling one $200k ski boat brings in more than selling a lot of sleds.

When I was offered a job at a local large powersports store, they said selling sleds is hardly worth their time and money. It’s the clothing and accessories they make an absolute killing on. It’s a gamble since we all know how poor winters can actually be. With other vehicles, they can be used year round so it makes sense to focus on those.

Admittedly, I don’t have the financial power at the moment to walk into these stores with a wad of cash. In the past, yes. Plus, I have to fix my own stuff to avoid the dealer.