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16/01/2006 - Changes welcome at Kent Motorcycles

The recent price changes and the new Honda Finance scheme have been warmly welcomed by Kent Motorcycles.

"We’re pretty pleased with the price changes which Honda announced recently," said Hadrian Powell, principal of Kent Motorcycles. "It’s good that the price rises have been so small and especially that the Fireblade has only gone up by £100."

Hadrian explained that the recently-launched Honda Finance scheme will also help shift new stock out of the showroom.

He said: "Despite the minimal price changes, Honda seem to think that with the new finance package being announced, this could help sales on some of the newer models and I would agree. Having our own finance company means we can be flexible when it comes to finance schemes for different models and hopefully dealers will work with their local Honda Finance area manager to help promote the various models."

Honda Finance provides two-fold advantages to Honda dealerships. Firstly, it provides wholesale financing for the dealers with an effective way of purchasing and stocking the machines they want, as well as providing finance for the customers who come into the shop to buy bikes.

Meanwhile, a new demo bike programme should also help dealers put machines on their fleet which they might not normally try. Hadrian explained: "As a dealer it’s difficult to put on a wide range of demo bikes as there are big costs involved. Traditionally, you’ll only put on the bikes you know you’re going to be able to generate sales with and then sell-on easiest at the end of its life as a demo machine."

But now, thanks to the new demo programme and Honda Finance’s link-up with dealers, Hadrian believes that the system is much better for the dealerships themselves. He explained: "We can now have a demo bike on for 180 days on the floorplan then at the end of that we can pay for it, receiving the correct discount for it as a demo bike. It’s a much better system all-round, encouraging the dealers to put a wider range of demos on."

The dealership, which is based on the A2 near Canterbury - as well as having a shop in Margate - has been very popular with its customers and RiDE magazine readers. In 2004 the dealership was voted number one in the South-East and was also voted the number one dealership in the whole country. In 2005, Kent Motorcycles was again number one in the South-East and was number three dealership in the UK overall.