Vespa stores have closed why?

So I just got word today there is really only about 280 active Piaggio dealers in the USA. I don't think this is such a bad thing when all the factors are considered. I really think the aggressive nature of the business plan Piaggio Group had didn't take many issues into consideration besides that expanding into Arctic Cat dealers was like a totally insane idea. The boutique concept never really worked, but the one thing Piaggio has failed to do is explain to its dealer base how to make money in a bad economy. The truth is the Vespa store needs to repair more than just Vespa. THE SAME WAY THEY DO IN ITALY. In Rome a shop makes only 6 to 7% on new vehicles yet they make over 50% of the store profits on repairs and clothing.

MRP is here to help you. Say you have a shop, ok someone comes in with an unknown brand like TNG Scooters. We have the parts, as a matter of fact we have more parts than any other distributor in the USA right now, over 12,000 scooter parts from CF MOTO to LINHAI. NO OTHER DISTRIBUTOR CAN OFFER YOU THIS SERVICE. So still interested? Do You want to be the one guy in town that can fix a Benelli or a Malaguti, good.... now follow our advice because we want you to stay in business. Our goal is that you continue to sell Vespas for many years to come, but the way to make money is to stock, sell, and repair all the bikes out there.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO ON ALL THESE BRANDS SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE MONEY
Manuals
http://www.martinracingdealer.com/WSWrapper.jsp?mypage=Manuals.htm

Stocking Dealer locator
http://www.martinracingdealer.com/locator/index.php

MRP distributes OEM parts for TNG (CMSI) select models of CF Moto Daelim Motors Korea ( parts should appear on website by mid July) Malaguti of Italy (www.Malaguti.com) Keeway Southeast (Keeway Vento QJ Andretti Yamati models) CPI Taiwan Powersports Factory Brands PSF Diamo Cubik (matches OEM Vento part numbers) as well as QJ and ZNEN (who manufacture bikes for a variety of scooter importers) such as FlyScooters Lance BMS Qlink models that were ZNEN corresponding to matching TNG parts.
We've seen several hundred dealerships close in the past year and in many cases when I look at the name I know the history of the store. I've personally have visited several hundred shops in the last ten years and I know many Vespa shops and Honda shops that both refused to repair or service anything made in China. Well guess what many of those Hondas and Vespas have Chinese components or are made in CHINA. That's right. All the new Zongshen Piaggio scooters and Aprilia Jincheng Scooters come from China and I hate having to point this out to mechanics and dealers when they say "we don't repair Chinese." They already do they just aren't sufficiently educated with the product they sell.

The more sophisticated shop owner will know that the key to staying in business is advertising the right BUZZ words. So if the local CPI shop closed you should put that in your ads. YOU REPAIR MZ, CPI, ITALJET, MALAGUTI. Pick any brand that left the market in your local community that you can get parts for. Redstreak yes we have QMB and GY6 parts, LIFAN? LINHAI? yes we can get those parts. VENTO? We have an MRP account we can find Vento parts when the other dealers can't. That needs to be your response and add that to every single aspect of your company from Facebook to Myspace to the local paper ad.

Scooter riders expect dealers to help them. They might not be fully aware of Powersports Factory closing or not having a parts warehouse all they know is the dealer down the street sold them a scooter and now they need QJ parts. All they know is you have a repair shop and either you want to help them or you don't. We have to adapt to this new economy and rise and say YES I need to change my tactics and advertise I repair Andretti scooters. By doing this you can get every single rider of that brand in your area to come to your dealership. Think about how many local CPI, Andretti, QJ, Vento, CPI, Cubik, Diamo, Italjet, TNG Scooter dealers closed? Reach out to the hundreds of riders on the roads with these brands and you will get them as your clients.

MRP is here to help you and the dealers that are taking advantage of this are making money on repairs. All the industry projects point to this being the biggest side of the business in 2011. The question is will your dealership adapt? or will it continue with the same formula of 2008?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcxQGD2szTY