National Motorcycle Dealers Association
News
September 2013
‘We represent, you benefit’
Dear Colleague,
This month’s NMDA news
contains all the latest
motorcycle information, plus
other issues facing the
sector.
If you have any queries or
questions concerning any of
the items raised in this
month’s update, please do
not hesitate to contact us
here at the NMDA on the
contact details provided
below.
Finally, a reminder that you
can now access the NFDA
website
directly
via
http://nmda-bike.co.uk/
I hope you enjoy this latest
update.
Steve Latham,
Head of NMDA
Email:
[email protected]
IN THIS
ISSUE:
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MOTORCYCLE SALES CONTINUE TO DISAPPOINT IN AUGUST
NMDA DEALER ATTITUDE SURVEY GOES DIGITAL
MOTORCYCLE THEFT AND RECOVERY 2006 – 2013
GET-ON CAMPAIGN AUGUST ACTIVITY UPDATE
NMDA CONCERNS OVER PART-EXCHANGE AND V5 DOCUMENT SCAM
NFDA TRIP TO NADA CONVENTION – NEW ORLEANS – JANUARY 2014
MOTORCYCLE SALES CONTINUE TO DISAPPOINT IN AUGUST
“As the summer months are usually prime time for motorcycle sales it is extremely disappointing to see
registrations decline in August” said Sue Robinson, Director of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association
(NMDA) which represents motorcycle retailers across the UK.
The latest new motorcycle and scooter figures show sales overall were down 3.4% against August 2012.
Under 50cc scooter sales declined by 23.7%, whilst all larger over 51cc motorcycle sales increased by just
1.1%.
Robinson continued “Sunny summer weather usually has a positive effect on motorcycle sales, however
this was not the case in August. With September seeing the introduction of the new 63-plate it may be that
buyers have chosen to delay their purchase to coincide with the plate change.
“Sales of heavy weight machines over 1000cc improved again during August up 21.8% compared to the
same month last year. The Touring, adventure-sport and custom sectors led the upturn in sales with growth
between 5.6% and 51.4%. Many of these large, high-spec bikes are purchased by established riders who,
after seeing the improvements in the economy, may feel more confident in committing to buying such a big
ticket item.
“KTM, Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Ducati also fell behind Lexmoto, a less established brand, last
month. This hopefully indicates that customers of more traditional and expensive brands have held back
their purchases until the introduction on the new September number plate.”
NMDA DEALER ATTITUDE SURVEY GOES DIGITAL
The NMDA is happy to announce that we have gone digital and our Dealer Attitude Survey is now available
online as well as on paper. The latest survey was sent out to franchised motorcycle dealers last week and
has been well received with over 100 responses already.
Your confidential opinions and feedback of the brands you represent are communicated back to the
manufacturers who will then use this to build on their strengths and weaknesses in the market place.
The results of this latest survey will be published by the NMDA and British-Dealer-News in November.
To have your say, please return the ‘Dealer Attitude Survey’ questionnaire by 16 October. Please go to
www.snapsurveys.com/nmda for an online version of our questionnaire or alternatively email,
[email protected] for a hard copy of the survey form.
MOTORCYCLE THEFT AND RECOVERY 2006 – 2013 YTD
Including motorcycles, scooters and quads - Partially VIN Corrected.
Year
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013 YTD
Stolen
26608
27348
25961
25893
21928
21933
21160
9468
Recovered
12352
12730
11514
10939
8794
8942
8786
3814
Recovery Rate
46.42%
46.55%
44.35%
42.25%
40.10%
40.77%
41.52%
40.28%
2013
January
February
March
April
May
June
Stolen
1412
1385
1495
1594
1660
1922
Recovered
601
556
597
592
651
817
Recovery Rate
42.56%
40.14%
39.93%
37.14%
39.22%
42.51%
Source: Police National Computer (PNC)
GET-ON CAMPAIGN AUGUST ACTIVITY UPDATE

The campaign continues to generate a healthy level of interest and the unique
visitors to the website in August 2013 were 30511 (compares with 29444 in 2012
and 32988 in 2011)
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The campaign working within current funding levels continues to generate on
average 495 individuals trying motorcycles for the first time per month.
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The contact centre tracking of these individuals consistently suggests that only a very
small percentage (8%) do not intend to proceed after their free ride experience.
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The same contact centre activity is tracking on average 35 sales per month and 552
leads into participating dealers.
Specific Get-on dealer support events have operated at:
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Bridge Motorcycles
CJ Ball Motorcycles
Thunder Road Motorcycles
All events benefited from prior local PR activity and over 400 emails were sent to
local companies announcing dealer events, explaining the benefits of using
motorcycles for the commute and ease of parking.
NMDA CONCERNS OVER PART-EXCHANGE AND V5 DOCUMENT SCAM
The NMDA have been notified by the metropolitan police of a growing crime of offering
motorcycles to dealers in part-exchange that are not what they say they are on the V5
document. Many Insurance Companies genuinely write-off accident damaged motorcycles
as category C or D, which means they are either too expensive to repair or they do not want
to repair them for other reasons. The Insurance companies then settle with insured rider
and sells the damage bike off for salvage.
Many of these category C & D’s are then disassembled for spare parts and the frames are
sometimes advertised on sites such as E-Bay and Gumtree along with their V5
documentation which will in turn allows the machine to go back on the road with the
original registration number when repaired and having passed an MOT.
Frames with original V5, are selling on websites for between £2000 to £2500, whereas the
price of a new frame is estimated at £800. Many of these rebuilt machines may have been
put back together using older parts than the frame/registration date, or reassembled from
stolen parts.
Please be aware that you could be retailing a part-exchange bike that is either as not
described in the log book V5 or be made up of stolen parts. This means you or your
customers do not have title to it and it could be seized by the police.
Guidance to our members:
1. Avoid taking in Cat C & D write-off’s in part-exchange
2. Check all bikes offered to you that you do not know the bikes history or customer,
with HPI or Experian
3. Always check both frame number and engine number correspond with those on the
V5.
NFDA TRIP TO NADA CONVENTION – NEW ORLEANS – JANUARY 2014
The NFDA is organising a dealer trip to the NADA Convention and Exposition in January.
For more information and if you are interested in joining the NFDA trip, please contact
Louise Woods on 01788 538332 or email [email protected]