Central Texas Harley-Davidson

The service and parts departments here are terrible save yourself A LOT of money and headaches and go ANYWHERE ELSE

I went to Central Texas HD on 5/15/13, looking to upgrade from my 1998 XL1200C. The bike I was looking at was a nice looking 2006 Dyna Low Rider that they were selling for $8999.



I was not sure if they could help me at all, since I had a restrictive set of NEEDS in getting a new bike. They were:



$110 or less a month payments

My trade in to cover total down payment (this one was not completely firm, but a want, and was willing to put as much as 1k-1.3k down if needed)

Bike to have forward controls and/or highway pegs (I am 6'4", and need the legroom)

Comfortable seat for pillion rider

Back rest for pillion



The first person I met was Gunny(a sales rep). Gunny was nice, and didn't pressure me. This was the ONLY good thing at CTHD.



They sent a finance guy named Anthony Thompson to look at, and give an estimate on my trade in. His estimate came out to $1600.(more on this later)



I made my needs/wants completely plain, and told them that the payment was the BIGGEST thing I could not negotiate on(I am disabled, and wanted to keep my payments small)



They then spent the next three hours messing around, and coming up with the "financing" for me.



Anthony then came back, acting excited, and told me that he had me APPROVED, and I could ride away on an '08 Lowrider instead, which was 1k more, b/c he could not sell me the '06 for some reason.



The '08 did not have forward controls, highway pegs, comfortable seat, OR a backrest.....



I asked to see the finance sheet, and he showed it to me:



$1600 trade in

$225/mo!!!!!

23.9% interest!!!!

1k in PREP FEES!!! (on a USED bike?????)



I told him that this would not work, as it was over double the payment I required, and I also saw no reason to pay 1k in prep fees for a used bike, that hadn't even hit the showroom yet (they had taken it in the day before)



Anthony then tells me that I should "Go home and discuss it with my wife." And that he would.....wait for it:



HOLD ONTO MY TITLE, while I did so. I asked him why, and he said that it is standard practice, and that it would allow him to keep the Low Rider off the marked for a week while I talked it over with my wife.



I told him that WOULD NOT happen, and spent the next 10 minutes demanding my title back.



That weekend, I went to Cowboy Harley of Austin, and found out a few things.



1. They never even submitted an app to Eaglemark financing, so the 23.9% was just them blowing smoke. My actual interest rate through Eaglemark is around 16%



2. Cowboy, and many other dealerships NEVER charge prep on used bikes.



3. My trade-in is valued by Cowboy at 2k



NEVER GO TO THIS STEALERSHIP, and Anthony is one of the most crooked people I've ever talked to at a dealership!

All I can say from my personal experience with Central is that is has always been good. A good example is that on the morning of the 21st, (after attempting to replace the rear tire of my 2007 Street Bob myself the night before) I arrived early before opening and decided to wait on the bench for them to open. As I was sitting, one of the technicians came and asked if I needed help. I stated I was waiting for them to open and he took me in right away and got all my information and proceeded to have the work done on my tire. While they were working on this they noticed the bearings were shot and I had them go ahead and do the necessary work after they showed me the problem. They were all courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. Thank you CHD!