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UVC Fee?

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Pezzy

Member
Hi all; I'm new here at these forums.

The item I want to ask about? I actually posted it elsewhere also, and then I stumbled across your site here and wanted to get your take on it, too.

I recently purchased a previously-owned, 2011, Fat Boy Lo. Overall, I am very pleased!

I say "overall", because when filling out the final bill of sale paperwork/ contract, there was a "fee" on there that caught my eye.

There was something called a "UVC" fee. I asked what that was, and I was told that since the bike was previously owned, it needed to be "checked out" by their mechanics for safety, etc.

UVC: The "U" stands for "Used", the "V" stands for "Vehicle", and the "C" stands for "Certification", but, basically, since the bike is not one of the dealers' new or leftovers, it needs to be gone over to make sure everything "checks out".

I actually have no problem with that......but this "fee" wasn't exactly some little $20 fee......we're talking some big bucks here; over $500 dollars.

Any of you ever heard of this "UVC" fee? Whether you've heard of it or not (and I hope the dealer just didn't invent it for me!!!!), does it sound like a cost that should be passed onto the customer?

When I peruse message forums, I know there's many out there that think that dealers can come up with quite a few (EDIT) fees, especially when purchasing a new bike. Fees like "assembly" and "shipping/ freight"; like you're going to assemble your own bike, right? And of course they're going to ship the freight to the dealer! But by all means, let's pass these fees onto the customer!!

Anyway.....please let me know what you think about this UVC fee. Legit? Is it something that's basically added as a line item to pad out the bill?

If it was - like I mentioned - some little $20 fee, it wouldn't bother me that much, but, we're talking a pretty hefty sum here.

Look forward to hearing from all of you!
Pez

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A Friendly Reminder - Harley Davidson Community

 
Welcome to The Forum, This should be negotiable IMO, The dealer some where charged the MOCO PDI pre delivery inspection, sounds like double dipping to me. I would have questioned it and tried to negotiate it JMO:s
 
A few questions for you. Since they performed a UVC and CHARGED for it I would assume the bike should have some kind of additional warranty to go along with this "Certification"? Certainly they supplied you with some kind of certificate (papers) proving that the bike did indeed pass the certification testing procedure? Did they mention anything about the need to be certified in order to keep the original warranty in effect? Just curious as I have not heard of this UVC charge before.
 
It truly sounds like the dealer is trying to rip you off. The inspection should be on them to certify that the bike is in good running order at the time of sale with no safety hazards etc. and not at a charge to the customer.
Make it plain to them that you refuse to pay the additional $500 cost and start to leave the store and see what they do, tell them it's a deal breaker for you. How about the charge for the paperwork to sell you the bike too?
If they don't call you back, LEAVE and go elsewhere to buy a bike.

Too many of these dealers add charges that they are reimbursed from the MOCO just to make a bigger profit like the PDI (set up) and even shipping too.
 
We have a dealer in SW Ontario that lost his HD dealership. They sell a lot of used imported Harleys. They charge a fee similer to the UVC. They also itemize all options on the bike and charge for them. Just like buying a new bike and paying for the PDI and the options. I think they are ripping their customers off with these charges but they seem to sell a lot of bikes, but they will never sell me a bike.
Ken
 
Ken

I think that is because some buyers are uninformed when it comes to the antics the dealers pull. Accessories on a bike are never a consideration when someone trades the bike in. They get a wholesale price for the bike and the dealer that is charging for the extras on resale is just ripping the unsuspecting buyer off .
Very rarely will a dealer give more than a wholesale price for the extras.
 
After re reading this this bike still has factory warranty, I would have said NO, at least I would have tried to negotiate an extended warranty JMO
 
I'm sure the dealer already made a "pretty penny" from previous owner on claiming this bike & selling to you for much more than they should. I'd challenge this fee...1K service cost is ~$300 and I wouldn't think checking a used ride would be much more in-depth. They need to eat the $500, or I'd walk...
 
I've never seen a dealer that did not have this type of fee but it goes under various names and is negotiable. I know cause I did not pay mine. Almost lost the chance to own my bike over it though. Just got up and told them the bike was not worth that to me and started to walk out, before they waived it.

I was lucky there since the dealer I bought at had hundreds of used bikes that he had to move. It's all dependent on conditions. But yes that fee is not unusual at all. But the value of it is a bit high, most are in the $300 range (at least in my area). Most all bikes at any dealer (that I would buy at) have a 60 day limited warranty. Mine still had the warranty even though I did not pay the fee. That's not the only fee I did not pay either, but those are other stories.

Dealers are in business to make money and hopefully enough to stay in business. I bought my bike for less than the previous owner got trade in on it (I know the previous owner). But then that again depends on how much discount they offered him on his new RK etc. But some times dealers don't always make pretty pennies, it depends.
 
I know we are talking about Harley's here but this really reminds me of my last car buying experience. My wife and I bought a new Fusion a couple of months ago. I knew from shopping around exactly what the retail price was on the car. When we got into the office and started to negotiate the sales guy quoted me a price $1,200 over the sticker! I asked what that was for and he said they added that to all of their new cars and was the fee to prep the car after it gets off the truck and get it ready to sell. I said $1,200 for that!!! It's a brand new car what could be wrong with it! The funny thing was after I threw a fit and started to leave they backed off of it real quick and ended up giving me a very fair deal. It just goes to show that you have to pay attention to the numbers in the sales game. They will try to throw in extra fees anywhere they can.
 
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