Okay, back to dealer anatomy...The Dealer Agreement

Powersports dealerships appear on the surface to be like franchises, but they are actually much less binding. The right to use the name, logo, and have access to factory parts at reduced prices and factory information and special tools, and participate in coop advertising and similar programs is about it. These things are conferred upon private businesspeople who solely and completely own and control their operations. The owners of the businesses deterimine location, building type, business plan and structure, pricing, participation in factory programs, all of it. Their host manufacturers have very little control over how these dealers run their businesses. In some cases they can force them to do certain things like attend training, but more often they can't, much of this depending on the contract that is put together at the time the dealer takes on the brand. This can seem odd to those who assume their Honda dealer is like their local McDonald's, but the two business types are actually quite different. Franchises such as McDonald's are bound by agreement to use only McDonald's ingredients, prepared in a picture-perfect McDonald's way, with no non-approved augmentations or changes, etc. Dealerships don't work that way. They can charge whatever they want, present the product however they want, and sell or not sell factory and aftermarket product in whatever combination they want. Further confusing the issue is that some brands such as Harley-Davidson, BMW, Ducati, Polaris, Suzuki, Honda, Bombardier and Yamaha retain very strict control, at least by industry standards, over dealer participation in training and other programs, while companies such as Kawasaki, Eton and Kymco have the least amount of control and have little or no mechanisms in place to ensure compliance with desired directives. It all goes back to the dealer agreeement, the contract between the two parties established at the time of the dealer's setting up, and what the parties feel is adequate at that time.