A less than complete oil change

[Pinkslip]

Call your attorney and/or be prepared to take the owner of the dealership to court (I imagine it is small claims- $5000 or less).



First thing, though, is to let the owner know you'd rather not call your attorney; you'd rather have them buy it from you at market value (they will offer you low blue book, if anything). If you're looking for a new bike, consider guilting them into a sweet deal on a trade-in for one of their new models. The new one is under warranty anyways, so if you have problems with it, you can enact the lemon law. I doubt you would have that luck though.



Good luck.

[seruzawa]

I'll suspend judgement until I've checked out that new dealership (dealer.. get it?) in LA. You know, that new one... "Mscuddy's Motorcycle Repair and Head Shop".

[sarnali]

That's becoming more and more true. The only time my bike is in the shop is for valve adjustments because I don't have the patience or eyesight for it, and that's only while it's under warranty. I think in the future I'll stick to air cooled BMWs, Triumph twins or Harleys.



My Trophy satisfies my performance needs with 108hp, and is a keeper. The next bike or bikes will be simple and straightforward play bikes.



Ok, ok, maybe I'll get a Bandit....they're fun and simple.

[sarnali]

Since the bikes for sale anyway I'd say the shop just bought it off you, That or get a lawyer. In Washington State the Attorney Generals office has a motor vehicle dept. that'll really go to bat for you, if your state has a similar set-up I'd use them if I had to.



Your first step is a sit down with the Service Manager and shop owner, calmly explain what happened, and that you want them to buy the bike for fair market value and see what they have to say. If they try to punk you then start making calls and writing letters.......

[seruzawa]

Only 108hp? Get with the program, man. You know you gotta have at least 150hp to have any fun at all!



Seriously, if you hang around motorcycle sites and read too many m/c magazines you may get "hp envy". The cure for "hp envy" is to actually go riding. Just a quick jaunt on my old "weakling" 100hp air/oil-cooled boat anchor and I'm cured of all "hp envy". Heck, a short buzz on the 70hp Magna cures it too.

[tomk2]

Stories like this are why I do all the regular maintenance on my bikes. It's possible that the guy at the dealership is a better mechanic than I am, no doubt he works faster... but I care more about the final result.

[sachiwilson]

I used to be an Assistant AG in the WA Attorney General's office for 25 years. This was not the sort of claim that the AGO would handle - the "lemon law" dealt with defects in new vehicles, not problems that arose because of flawed maintenance.



That said I agree that the best suggestion is to tell the dealer it just bought itself a bike at fair market price.

[rider_md]

Not to say the dealer isn't wrong, because they ARE at fault, no argument there. but...



doesn't anyone do a pre-ride check b4 they scoot off, especially if someone else has been messing with THEIR bike?



I dunno, maybe i'm the only one... ?

[sportbike_pilot]

Even great service shops make mistakes, but this one made a doozie. Unfortunately this happens more than we'd all like to think. I do all of my own bike maintenance just to avoid things like this but the exact same thing happened to my nearly new F-250 (at the dealer) and I requested and they agreed to rebuild the engine. Must have cost them a fortune, but they were pretty cool about the whole thing.



Best of Luck.



-sbp

[sarnali]

I think the Thruxton and T100 get around 70 HP, should be just fine for noodleing around enjoying the scenery.