NPDA BY THE NUMBERS There are 36 State Dealer Associations listed in NADA appraisal guide. I would bet 10% are up to date, but it is a start to get a national association back and viable. Jerry Abboud from Denver could shed some light on the failure of our last organization. I will keep reading about progress and put my 2 cents in as necessary. Thanks for the thought, as it is necessary for our own good!
state to state; some states had a mellow environment, “didn’t need to pay dues to some national group.” Other states had problems and could use the help with retail law, litigation, floor planning, marketing, etc. So no uniformity in a variety of regulations, state-to-state made it a non-starter. Anyway, good idea, and I hope you can make it work. Mark Mederski, Director National Motorcycle Museum www.nationalmcmuseum.org
I’ll be beating the drum in support of this effort. I’ve been on the front lines when one of our industry’s leading OEMs hired 3 lobbyists to change the franchise laws in TX. They carpet bombed the legislature with lies, and it was only through the efforts of the Texas Motorcycle Dealers Association that we caught wind of these efforts and saved the Texas dealers from legislation that would have crippled the powersports industry. It won’t be cheap, it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. If you believe in the future of the powersports industry, then spread the word. Mark Sheffield, Strategic Advisor Woods Indian Motorcycle New Braunfels, TX
Richard G. Riley Fredericktown Yamaha Frederick, MD
HI BOB Hi there Bob, Mederski here. Seems like back in the ’80s there was a national dealer association, but it never seemed to get hold of its market. When I was the membership guy at the American Motorcyclist Association, we had hoped to get to dealers as a marketing approach for AMA membership. But that association was not “happening” and was never responsive to our approaches. I had a hunch that maybe like MIC, it was mostly about dealers other than H-D. And I also recall that they ran into problems
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BEATING THE DRUM The generation that preceded mine did all the hard work. They fought the fight, and got the laws passed that allowed Powersports dealers to grow and thrive. The current generation doesn’t always see the value in those past efforts, and usually only comes to this realization once those protections have been overturned. Then it’s too late. I’m excited to see that Dealernews is taking on the huge lift of creating a National Powersports Dealer Association. The OEM’s have their organization, while dealers are left to fend for themselves. While there are a few functional State Powersports Dealer Associations, most are on life support. We need more!
TEAM WORK Team I was thinking a lot over the weekend about how important the past few weeks have been for our company and our brand. I want to give a shoutout to all of my teammates at Vance & Hines who helped make our announcements from the past two weeks happen. Some companies talk about agility, but our team at Vance & Hines demonstrated how agile and smart this company is through the work they did over the past four months.
