Every rider remembers the first time they felt fly-by-wire. You twist the throttle, and it just… responds. Smarter, smoother, more intuitive than anything with a cable could ever be.
Behind that twist, there’s a whole symphony happening. Mass airflow sensors, fuel injectors, O2 readings, wheel speed, pitch and yaw, all talking to each other in milliseconds to deliver exactly the ride you asked for. You suggest with your wrist. The bike figures out the rest.
Now look at your store. We’re still running throttle cables. Stretched and frayed. Service advisors logging into the DMS, then the OEM portal, then the flat rate system, then the warranty page, then the parts lookup, then back to the DMS to update the RO. Every department, every transaction, every interaction routed through a stack of disconnected software your team has to manually translate between. Every new OEM portal, every new vendor login, every new compliance step asks more from a cable that was already maxed out.
That’s not an experience. That’s a legacy solution at the end of its useful lifespan.
A buddy of mine once walked into my store during its prime and said, “Everyone’s always staring at computer screens.” I wanted to defend the team. They were slammed. If they looked up too long, the work piled up.
But he was right. And the screens weren’t the disease. They were the symptom. Look at what we actually ask a service advisor to do all day:
RO creation. Flat rate lookups. Scheduling. Parts tracking. RO notes. Billing. Warranty admin. Approvals. Status updates. Now ask the harder question. Which one of those tasks is the reason a customer loves their advisor? None of them.
Customers love advisors who look them in the eye, listen, explain, and follow through. Trust is built in face time, not screen time. Every minute we hand to administration is a minute we steal from the relationship.
Imagine a team of AI agents sitting on top of every tool we already use. The DMS, the CRM, the OEM portals, the vendor logins, the labor guides, the inventory feeds, all of it sitting in the background, talking to each other on your team’s behalf. These are the inputs and the outputs that begin to allow us to digitize the process.
Your advisor doesn’t log into seven systems, they have one intelligent interface that handles most of the load. They have time to have a conversation with the customer. The system handles the rest.
Here’s the part most operators miss. Fly-by-wire didn’t just smooth out the throttle. It made entirely new kinds of riding possible. Cornering ABS. Wheelie control. Launch control. Power maps that flip the personality of the bike at the press of a button. None of that existed on a cable bike. Not because nobody wanted it. The hardware physically couldn’t deliver it.
The same shift is sitting in front of us right now. Once the connection between input and output goes digital in a dealership, you can build experiences that simply couldn’t exist before. A salesperson who hands the customer to no one. A service status the customer can actually see in real time, from their phone. A single relationship that follows the rider from first delivery to trade-in, without anyone having to remember to update a field.
That’s not the current dealership running faster. That’s a different kind of dealership entirely. If the admin work disappears, the job changes. If anyone with empathy and product knowledge can write service, do they still have to be a service advisor? Could the salesperson who built the relationship at delivery also schedule that first service, check the customer in, and approve the next job?
Suddenly the experience isn’t a hand-off from department to department. It’s “I got a guy.” The customer never experienced your dealership as departments anyway. They experienced it as one relationship. The seams between sales, service, parts, and F&I were never theirs to navigate. We just made them feel every one of them.
That’s the dealership of the future. Not more software stacks each team member must learn and interact with. Fewer handoffs.
When I sold my old store in 2019, we ran it with 16 people. Today, the same store runs with 8. They sell about the same number of units. Repair orders are way down. Fixed ops profit is way down. But the net? About the same, because payroll is lower.
That’s the conundrum a lot of stores are sitting in right now. We’ve cut so deep we can’t deliver an experience anymore. We’re not building the next trade, the next service, or the next referral. We’re just clerking through the day, giving bad experiences to our customers and worse ones to our team.
The traditional answer is to hire up. Pay more. Train harder. Hope it pays back. That’s a hell of a bet to place during a downturn.
Here’s what I’ve learned watching AI move through other industries. It’s not coming for the relationships. It’s coming for the commodity work. The lookups. The data entry. The routing. The reconciliation. The stuff your team hates anyway.
And here’s the part I keep coming back to. The real cost of all that admin work isn’t the hours. It’s the relationships that never get built. The first-service follow-up nobody made. The accessory conversation that never happened. The trade-in that walked into someone else’s showroom because nobody owned the customer after delivery.
Every minute we lose to a screen is a piece of customer lifetime value quietly leaking out the back door.
Run the math. If a team of AI agents quietly handles even a third of the admin in your store, that’s like adding another half a team without touching payroll. You can pay your good people more. You can give them the face time that builds trust. You can hold onto them longer, which means your customers hold onto you longer too. Same building. Same payroll. Better experience. Higher profit. Less turnover.
A lot of operators are scared of AI right now. Worried it’s going to take jobs, kill the industry, hollow us out. I don’t see it that way.
The boring work, the screen time, the stuff that doesn’t add value to anyone’s day, that’s what gets automated first. And as our customers get the same gift in their own jobs, they’re going to have something we haven’t seen in a long time. Free time.
What do people do with free time? They find hobbies. They ride. They explore. Lucky for us, that’s exactly what we sell.
The last big wave was Covid. Nobody saw it coming, and the operators who caught it built generational momentum. This one we can see coming. So, grab your board and start paddling.
By Paulina Matel | Contributor
Succession planning in today’s powersports industry looks very different than it did just a few years ago. Coming out of Covid, dealership valuations have reset in many cases, traditional lending has become more selective, and the next generation of potential owners — general managers, key operators, and family successors — often lack the liquidity or net worth to fund a conventional, full buyout.
Against that backdrop, seller financing has become a far more common feature of dealership transitions over the last 12–18 months. For many dealer principals, it can be the most practical — sometimes the only — route to transition ownership while keeping the business operating smoothly and preserving the culture they’ve built over decades. But the structure matters.
Attorney Logan Parker with Bass Sox Mercer, and financial advisors Brad Stanek and Paulina Matel with the Stanek‑Haack Group at Morgan Stanley discuss the legal, financial, and wealth planning considerations every dealer principal should understand before considering a seller‑financed succession.
Seller financing plays a larger role in powersports succession for three primary reasons:
Natural successors often don’t have enough capital. In many dealerships, the most logical next owner is the general manager or a key operator. Yet even strong leaders frequently lack the liquidity, credit profile, or net worth required by OEMs and conventional lenders to complete a full buyout at closing.
Owners prioritize continuity and culture. Many dealer principals want the business to transition to someone who has earned their trust, understands the customer base, and will protect the dealership’s legacy. Seller financing can make that possible — but only if it is structured thoughtfully to balance continuity with appropriate safeguards for the selling principal.
Traditional financing has tightened. With some banks increasingly cautious around these transactions, dealerships are often compelled to consider alternative structures to bridge the funding gap and keep succession plans on track.
Logan Parker, attorney with Bass Sax Mercer shares “the practical impact is significant: when the buyer cannot meet early net worth or liquidity thresholds, the exiting dealer is often asked to remain a personal guarantor for OEM obligations, real estate notes, or other lender requirements. While that can support a smoother transition and reassure key stakeholders, it also extends the seller’s exposure — potentially requiring the principal to stay involved longer than planned”.
When the outgoing dealer must finance a portion of the sale, the central question becomes what are my options? Logan Parker shares a few considerations for dealers:
Recapitalizing into voting and non‑voting shares: Many dealer entities — S Corporations or LLCs — can be recapitalized into voting and non‑voting units. The successor gradually purchases non‑voting equity, establishing financial security. The selling dealer retains voting control, allowing them to approve major decisions, maintain oversight, and satisfy OEM and lender requirements. With this structure, the successor may not need to satisfy OEM net‑worth requirements until they become the majority voting owner. By the time that happens, the goal is to build their net worth through dividends and distributions and participation in the financial success of the dealership.
Setting a defined purchase schedule: Seller financing is typically structured over 4‑5 years, though longer periods are possible depending on the needs of the parties. The terms often include mandatory buy‑in milestones and dividend/distributions mechanisms to help fund the successor’s payments.
Balloon payments and contingency rights: Some agreements include balloon payments at the end of the term and re‑acquisition right for the seller at a discount if the buyer defaults.
For many dealers, the true complexity is not the structure — it’s the tax and wealth planning impact.
OUTRIGHT SALE EQUALS ONE‑YEAR TAX EVENT
A traditional cash sale results in full tax in the year of the sale, a clear, clean break from the dealership, and immediate liquidity for reinvestment, retirement, and diversification. The upside here is simplicity. The downside is the tax concentration in one year, which can elevate the dealer into the highest federal and state brackets.
SELLER FINANCING EQUALS TAXES SPREAD OVER TIME
With seller financing, taxes are paid as payments are received. This means a potentially lower annual tax burden, more efficient after‑tax outcomes in many cases, the ability to time payments and coordinate them with other wealth planning strategies, and flexibility to smooth income in the early retirement years.
Tip: A core part of the financial planning process involves running side‑by‑side cash flow stress tests comparing the net proceeds from an outright sale versus seller financing, timing of distributions, tax drag, impact on retirement income, and longevity of wealth. Dealers are often surprised at how dramatically the timing of cash flows can impact their long‑term wealth.
Here are several advanced strategies dealers can consider when structuring seller financing. These strategies are aimed at protecting the selling dealer’s retirement, reducing risk, and stabilizing the transition.
Establish a retirement income plan independent of dealership distributions, and with dealership payments. This in turn allows you to determine safe withdrawal rates from your portfolio and pair those payments with portfolio drawdowns for tax efficiency.
With the help of your tax advisor, coordinate tax strategies that take into consideration income timing, and how that impacts Medicare IRMAA surcharges, capital gain recognition, and even the opportunity for Roth Conversions in future years.
Succession planning is no longer a simple buy/sell event for many dealers — it is a multi‑year transition that blends structuring, tax planning, personal financial planning, and relationship strategy. Seller financing can be the bridge that allows a dealer to exit gracefully while giving the next owner a real opportunity to succeed.
The dealer who starts early — and coordinates their team — puts themselves in the best possible position to maximize the value of their life’s work while ensuring a smooth and successful transition.
By Jacob Berry | Contributor
Powersports dealers may have less than a year before Federal Trade Commission enforcement activity intensifies across the industry, according to Gene Silas of Brightline Dealer Advisors.
Silas, speaking alongside Jeff Barron during a recent episode of the Dealership fiXit Podcast, warned dealers that the FTC’s ongoing crackdown on advertised pricing practices in automotive retail is likely headed toward powersports next.
“Powersports is 100% next,” Silas emphasizes. “I’m giving it 12 months or less.”
Silas emphasized that no new FTC laws have been created. Instead, regulators are increasing enforcement of existing advertising and pricing regulations. The primary issue centers on advertised prices that differ significantly from the actual out-the-door amount consumers must pay once freight, setup, PDI, assembly, or additional dealer fees are added.
“If I, as a consumer, come to your dealership, federal fees, tax fees and stuff aside, I have got to be able to buy that vehicle for what you have it listed at,” Silas shares.
Barron noted that 97 automotive dealerships have already faced FTC action under the agency’s current enforcement posture, with penalties reaching $54,000 per violation.
Silas described powersports as especially exposed because of the number of commonly added charges attached to vehicle sales.
Freight fees, assembly charges, PDI costs, and build fees are frequently excluded from advertised pricing across dealership websites and listing platforms, he said.
Under the FTC’s current interpretation, the gap between advertised pricing and actual customer cost may constitute deceptive advertising.
Silas urged dealers to carefully review all pricing across dealership websites, third-party marketplaces, and social media channels to ensure consistency.
That includes listing platforms such as Cycle Trader and salespeople’s own social media posts promoting inventory.
According to Silas, dealers should ensure any advertised price reflects what any customer can realistically purchase the vehicle for, regardless of special rebate eligibility or incentive qualifications.
Silas recommended that dealers begin auditing pricing and advertising practices immediately rather than waiting for formal FTC scrutiny.
He pointed dealers toward Don Hall on LinkedIn, describing the Virginia Auto Dealers Association executive as one of the most active public voices tracking FTC enforcement developments.
Gene Silas can be reached at gsilas@brightlinedealer.com. Jeff Barron can be reached at jbarron@brightlinedealer.com.
The full episode of the Dealership fiXit Podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
The National Powersports Dealers Association is also urging manufacturers to overhaul unit pricing structures, warning that current practices are putting dealers at risk under the FTC’s tightening pricing-transparency enforcement.
In a white paper released April 23, the association said a growing disconnect between OEM pricing and federal “all-in” pricing expectations is creating compliance challenges for dealers, particularly around freight and setup fees.
Under the FTC’s current enforcement approach, advertised prices must include all mandatory charges. However, most OEMs still publish MSRPs that exclude freight and setup costs, leaving dealers to bridge the gap at retail.
“Dealers did not create this problem, but they are the ones being held accountable,” said NPDA director Michael Maledon. “The current system rewards opacity and punishes transparency.”
According to the NPDA, dealers are effectively forced into two difficult choices: advertise a higher all-in price that appears less competitive online, or promote a lower MSRP that may not reflect the true customer purchase price.
The association pointed to the automotive industry as a model, where destination charges are already built into MSRP and displayed on Monroney labels, creating greater consistency between advertised and in-store pricing.
NPDA outlined two primary recommendations for OEMs:
Integrate freight charges into MSRP
Reimburse dealers for setup, assembly, inspection, and delivery preparation costs
The group said aligning OEM pricing structures with FTC expectations would reduce dealer risk, improve transparency, and create a more consistent buying experience for consumers. The full white paper is available through the NPDA website.
By Jan Plessner
America has a serious employee retention problem, and the powersports industry is no exception. Studies suggest that more than half of today’s workforce is at least considering a career move.
Some employees leave to gain experience at a higher level elsewhere. More responsibility, a fresh challenge, better compensation, improved work/life balance, and moving closer to aging parents are all top reasons we see high-caliber, talented pros move on.
When individuals move to another industry, many do not return. This creates a long-term leadership and talent shortage in our industry.
Others boomerang back into the industry they love when the right opportunity presents itself. I regularly receive calls from these “stronger than before” candidates, and it feels great.
MY BOOMERANG STORY
On the eve of a major corporate restructuring at Kawasaki in 2001, after 11 years of service, I was informed that six positions in the watercraft division (including mine) were slated for elimination.
Thanks to my Kawasaki boss and mentor, I landed on my feet in a senior management role at the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC). I gained valuable leadership experience, strengthened my media relations skills, and broadened my industry exposure.
Two years later, I was rehired by Kawasaki as the PR Manager. I spent another decade with Kawasaki before pivoting to talent search. That experience continues to shape how I think about retention and long-term leadership development in the powersports industry.
WHY PEOPLE REALLY LEAVE
I have spent 13 years in the powersports talent search arena. My experience is that most people leave for more than one reason, but the primary driver is often a stalled career. In a nutshell, organizations unintentionally trap their best employees in the role they currently perform best, rather than preparing them for the role they could grow into next.
What does this look like?
No visible or viable path for advancement
No leadership development
Managers protecting turf
Promises without action
While passion may bring people into powersports, growth opportunities determine whether they stay.
Eventually, ambitious people begin to look elsewhere for the next chapter of their development, and that is when my phone rings.
Every time a dealership loses a high-potential employee, it loses more than a position. It loses momentum, culture, institutional knowledge, and often a future leader who could have helped elevate the entire organization.
Company culture cannot be transformed overnight, but incremental, deliberate changes can and do affect the retention game. And a strong retention strategy positively impacts company culture.
When my clients tell me they’ve decided to go with an internal candidate rather than one of ours, I celebrate with them. That tells me that someone who has been working hard there will have an opportunity to grow.
What can you do to improve your retention stats?
Cross-training
Mentoring
Succession planning
Promote from within
Leadership development
Sometimes retention is not about money alone. A master tech who may be feeling the effects of an aging body might thrive in a hybrid or Shop Foreman role where they can improve shop culture while developing the next generation of talent.
Dealerships that retain top talent are often willing to develop people before they feel forced to grow elsewhere.
PLANT YOUR OWN GARDEN
To the employees who are reading this column, if you feel like your career has hit a false neutral over the triple, keep on reading.
Career growth is a shared responsibility. It is not entirely the responsibility of ownership or management. Silver platters are rare in our industry. Professional growth is not passive. If you love where you are and what you do, here are some ideas to grow in place:
Find and spend some time with a business mentor or two (friend, coworker, family member, formal or informal, in powersports or not)
Network at industry events or join a trade organization
Study leadership to refine your style
Inquire about cross-department exposure
Volunteer for leadership responsibilities
Take classes or courses related to your role
The powersports industry will always celebrate boomerang stories. But the best dealerships are building cultures where fewer great employees feel compelled to leave.
By Melissa Coffey | Contributor
For years, Memorial Day weekend was the unofficial green flag for the powersports industry. The weather warmed up, tax returns hit bank accounts, showroom traffic picked up, and dealerships naturally rode a wave of summer momentum straight into July. But today? Summer sales are no longer automatic.
Consumers are more distracted, more cautious with discretionary spending, and overwhelmed with options competing for their time and money. Between travel, concerts, sports, outdoor recreation, and endless digital noise, powersports is no longer the only thing fighting for the consumer’s attention. And that means dealerships can’t afford to sit back and wait for summer traffic to magically appear.
The dealers that win this season won’t necessarily be the ones with the biggest inventory or the deepest discounts. They’ll be the ones that create excitement, urgency, and an experience customers actually want to be part of. In other words — summer momentum has to be manufactured.
One of the biggest mistakes dealerships make this time of year is treating it like just another sale. Slapping a discount banner across the website and posting a few inventory graphics on Facebook isn’t enough anymore. Consumers are craving experiences, energy, and connection. Dealers should be thinking bigger.
Turn the dealership into a destination. Host a ride-in breakfast. Bring in food trucks. Partner with local breweries or coffee shops. Create family-friendly events with kids activities, giveaways, beginner rider demos, or live music. The dealerships that feel alive create traffic naturally because people are drawn to energy.
And here’s the reality: customers aren’t buying a side-by-side, motorcycle, ATV, or personal watercraft because of a spec sheet alone. They’re buying freedom. Escape. Family memories. Adventure. Summer weekends. The feeling of getting outside and disconnecting from everyday life. That emotional connection needs to show up in dealership marketing.
Right now, too many dealer social feeds still look like digital classified ads — unit after unit with pricing slapped across the image. Consumers scroll past that content instantly. The dealerships cutting through the noise are showing the lifestyle behind the machine: trail rides, lake days, camping trips, father-son weekends, sunset rides, and customer stories. People don’t buy products. They buy the life they imagine around them.
Another massive opportunity dealers should capitalize on right now is service traffic. Summer prep season is already underway, and customers are pulling units out of garages, storage buildings, and toy haulers as we speak. Dealers should aggressively push “Get Ready for Summer” campaigns that include inspections, battery checks, tire specials, accessory installs, and tune-up packages.
Not only does this drive immediate revenue, but it also reconnects dealerships with customers before they shop somewhere else.
Creating urgency matters too — especially in today’s market. Consumers have a tendency to believe they can “always buy later,” but the dealers who create a fear of missing the season will win early business. Highlight inventory selection, accessory availability, install scheduling, and financing opportunities now rather than later in the summer when choices narrow and service departments backup.
And let’s talk about financing for a second. Customers today are payment-conscious, and many feel intimidated walking into a dealership.Dealers who simplify financing conversations and lead with transparency will immediately build more trust. Summer is also prime time to recruit first-time riders — something this industry desperately needs more of. Beginner ride nights, women-focused events, starter gear bundles, demo days, and rider education partnerships can create a much more welcoming environment for people who are curious about powersports but unsure where to start.
Dealers need to remember one thing heading into summer: energy is contagious! Consumers can feel when a dealership is excited about the season. They can feel momentum when they walk through the door, watch social content online, or attend an event. The dealerships creating buzz, building community, and making customers feel part of something bigger are the ones that will separate themselves this summer.
Hot weather alone doesn’t create hot sales anymore. But dealerships willing to create energy, excitement, and memorable experiences? Those are the ones most likely to own the summer season.
Till next time, shiny side up and checkered flags!
Melissa Coffey is a 2x PSB “Women With Spark” award winner and a longtime powersports and motorsports industry leader with deep expertise in brand building.