(add your own slurred voice and spill something too)

“You gettin’ a scoot/bike next year??”

The answer probably would have been no. But a lot of you did decide to ride in ‘08. And that occurred to a lot of you when gas passed $4/gallon. Not a bad reason. You know I agree with that. We sold a bunch of scooters and bikes in ‘08. A lot of dealerships did. We documented that here

In October of 2008, we have a ton of reasons not to buy anything. The stock market is heading south, credit is tight, people are nervous - rightly so. But, people still need to get to work. Kids need to get around campus. Get groceries, the mail, have FUN. Yes, I said it, the FUN word - I still want to have FUN! If you need a vehicle, consider a motorcycle or scooter.

The FTC said in 2006 that the average price of a new car was $28,400. That’s a tough price to digest today and the car dealerships are feeling that pinch. Maybe you just need another vehicle. Maybe that car you’ve been milking along finally let go. I passed a dealer driving an ‘02 Buick today with $8,995 on the window. I don’t particularly like Buick’s but since that car provided the inspiration for this entry, we’re going to run with a Buick as an example. That price is just a third the price of the average new car.

That car is now six years old. It can probably carry 5 or 6 people (of course, it only had one person in it). Figure 20 mpg real world. Expensive enough that you would want to still carry collision insurance. No factory warranty although it’s still new enough that you could pay a couple of hundred dollars extra for an aftermarket warranty. Probably it was being sold “As-is” even though I imagine that it is in ok shape. Don’t know about the accident history, you never are completely sure.

Do you go for the Buick because things are so iffy now? $28K is a lot for the new car. A third of that sounds a lot better.

Well, you could buy 3 brand new Genuine Buddy 125cc scooters and keep the change (use the change to gear up). Or, you could buy just one for a third the price of our example Buick.

Why three? Well the math worked out really well versus the $9000 Buick. Plus, I allowed that the Buick had a bench seat up front and could carry six people. So can three Buddy scooters ;^). Take your family out on all three of them and you automatically have your own scooter rally. You can get riding a new vehicle, even now, for much less than even a used car would cost. The Buddy is fast enough to ride on most of our roads (except the PA Turnpike - I recommend our 250cc scooters/bikes for the turnpike - ours are fast enough).

There is more than just cost. All our products have 2 year warranties. If you need it, the Genuine’s also have roadside assistance (you don’t get that with the Buick either). You keep a lot more of your money if you pay cash or you can potentially finance your bike for a really inexpensive monthly payment. Gas costs are way down vs. the Buick and you will be able to ride it in SE Pennsylvania … a lot. The weather here doesn’t preclude riding all that much. It does get cold. Ever go skiing or ride a snowmobile? That’s considered fun. On my bike, I just need to drive 25 minutes to work. I can put up with “really cold” for twenty minutes to save $6 a day instead of driving “Beastie” (my F250 snowplowing, extended cab, really big, bike-hauling truck). And it’s not just Buddy scooters either. Our most expensive bike, the Hyosung GV650 a numbered limited edition, fuel injected 2009 product, costs just $7,499. It still gets 50 MPG, and will also blow the doors off of the Buick.

Oh, you can get 9.5 Buddy scooters for the price of the new car. Just in case you were wondering.

Folks we know that things are tough. People are being personally affected. We all are being affected. We’re just trying to point out that there are transporation options if you need them. We always want to have options.

Ride and drive safe folks!

It started later in Pennsylvania than other states. The price of gasoline was climbing but it didn’t seem to get people’s attention here. It had to start sometime.

“Ride When You Can and Drive When You Have To” made too much sense.

We were loaded, we thought, for bear! We had so many scooters and bikes that we had to worry about the dreaded motorcycle dealership domino effect (trip, “oops”, boom, boom, boom…). Getting the doors closed at night was a real logistical problem.

Our sales picked up a day or two after the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. Gas prices started their daily rise. 250cc motorcycles and scooters started selling one a day, then two and even three per day. In a couple of weeks, we set a store record - 6 in a day! We (our vendors and MPG Motors) sold out of the Hyosung GV250 Aquila first. That was a surprise, it went from very available to sold out in days! Next we went through all of the Buddy scooters we had stocked. We had a bunch but we blew them out.

Our Hyosung products just matched the requirements:

Tim (of Tim and Sara) said, “I just purchased my new Hyosung GV 250 a little while a go and absolutely love it! I am consistantly getting over 65 miles to the gallon and have no problems at all carrying myself and my wife. The bike is awesome and I would recomend it to anyone!”

Scott said of his GT250R used for a 130 mile daily turnpike commute, “I think I can get closer to 80 MPG feel free to use my quote. This bike is peforming just great….I love it.”

John said of his MS3-250 FI scooter, “This thing is a rocket!”

Customers across the nation figured out that the Buddy is the perfect match for their driving. It’s a perfect match in the Southeast PA area. 90 mpg, two year warranty, one year of roadside assistance for the price of a really used car. Consequently Genuine Scooters is having a blowout year (Philip McCaleb video)

After the Aquila and the scooters blew out, the Hyosung GT250R went next. It was getting exciting to be alive then! We got the last naked (standard) GT250 in the US, some of the last solid-color GT250R’s and two-tone GT250R’s left. They came and went! It was a “small-displacement” summer. Larger models from other manufacturers didn’t and haven’t sold. Even though our “large” 650’s get over 50 mpg, it was tough to convince buyers to spend the extra money even when we showed them it would ultimately save them money. It was an upside-down powersports summer.

Other scooter dealers reported the same - we contacted Genuine Scooter Company and Hyosung and started what seems to be a summer of calling to see if and when we could get more product. They begged all of us to stop the daily calling and went to a strict allocation program that was fair but tough for an industry used to excess product. Our vendors cranked it up. But allowing for the weeks to build additional product and the six weeks that it takes just to transit the Pacific from Taiwan or South Korea to the port in Los Angeles put powersports dealers like us at the end of July before we saw any additional product.

Credit remained an issue for many would-be buyers. The relatively tight credit markets escalated the required credit scores further limiting the larger bike purchases. Our customers responded by snapping up our used inventory. Every bike. That never happened before either.

The previously unknown Hyosung MS3-250 fuel-injected scooter started making serious inroads, we sold nine and have almost run out of the new Maxi-Luxo scooter.

We had often talked about “two-fers” - two sales at once to next door neighbors, to spouses. Yes, we had those too. It was a summer of firsts.

We appreciate all the patience our customers have shown us this year in a market where letting a customer walk out the door means a lost sale. Some terrific individuals have been hanging in with us for almost two months now waiting for their Buddy’s.

Thank-you.

As I write this, the riding year is almost over so things are slowing down.

Bull. Scratch that. This is the year that continues to confound.

I don’t think this year is done yet. Despite a drop in the price of gas, we had a steady stream of customers today. Gas isn’t back below a dollar yet. Remember why it dropped - US gasoline consumption decreased amazing the pundits. You don’t have to hit us in the head with a brick two times - we got it in April!

The Hyosung GV250 I rode in today still gets 65 mpg and my F-250 still gets 12 mpg. Insurance still is relatively cheap for our products and the cost of the MPG Motors bikes and scooters and our low equipment prices let people ride and gear-up with great products at good prices. I’ve been saying that all summer that a survey of a New Year’s Eve party last December would have found very few people thinking of riding vs. driving in the new year. A lot of them are now riding. A lot.

The year isn’t over. We’re still strictly allocated, we have one Buddy 50 Lil’ Italia on the floor, able to sell at the time I write this. We are anxiously awaiting more product from our vendors - the product is coming from now on. We’re going to push right into 2009 and we’re not slowing down. Hey, come along for the ride!

To all the new riders, be safe. Take the MSF, wear your equipment, don’t ride when it’s icy/snowy. But, keep riding if you really want to be Fun, Fast and Efficient!