20 • September 2026 • Powersports Business

PLESSNER

• CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

Local crackdowns on illegal e-moto riding are spreading, and some parents are being held responsible. One Southern California county has reportedly compiled a list of more than two dozen parents under scrutiny. One parent now faces an involuntary manslaughter charge after their child, while doing a wheelie, struck and killed an 81−year-old pedestrian.

Another parent faces child endangerment charges after a modified e-moto crash left their 12−year-old son with serious injuries. The parent and child had already reportedly completed a court-ordered diversion class after their child was riding illegally.

These are not hypothetical consequences anymore. Legislatively, it’ s getting messier, not clearer.

New Jersey recently passed one of the country’ s most restrictive e-bike laws. Several states have floated bans on Class 3 e-bikes, which, notably, don’ t even have throttles. Some lawmakers are legislating against

a threat they don’ t understand, combining legal riders along with the illegal e-moto crowd.

INDUSTRY BOOM OR CASUALTY If your store sells e-bikes or e-motos, now is the time to be proactive. Become a resource.

Are you directing customers to legal riding locations or providing reliable resources? Are you teaching riders and parents the difference between street-legal and illegal motorized vehicles? Education should be the“ go-to.”

The ATV industry survived because a handful of accountable players organized before the government decimated the recreational all-terrain vehicle industry. PWC survived the same way. This time, the players are not just a handful of OEMs.

We have a real shot at transitioning this generation of e-riders into legal, licensed two-wheel customers, and that should be the goal.

But, just like past examples, the window of opportunity won’ t stay open forever.

BY PAULINA MATEL & BRAD STANEK

• CONTRIBUTORS

If you’ re a powersports dealer principal, you already understand pressure. You’ ve lived through supply chain headaches, flooring swings, staffing challenges, and the constant balancing act between sales, service, and cash flow. You’ ve built something real— often over decades. As our recent webinar moderator, Mark Sheffield, framed it— the dealership isn’ t just a business; for many owners, it’ s their life’ s work. The challenge is that one question is easy to postpone until it becomes urgent: what happens to everything you’ ve built when it’ s time to step away?

Selling or transitioning a dealership is a different game than running one, and you typically only get one chance to get it right. That’ s why we are so focused on a practical checklist mindset: understand what you own, what it’ s worth, what you’ ll keep, and what needs to be true for you to exit confidently.

DEALERSHIP WORTH When we sit down with a dealer for the first time, most fall into one of two camps: they’ ve never had the dealership formally valued, or they“ have a number” in their head that doesn’ t match what the market would

Principal dealers should consider an exit planning checklist before selling or transitioning from their dealership.

actually pay. That disconnect is completely normal. When something represents decades of time, sacrifice, and identity, it’ s human nature to assign it a different value than the market ultimately will.

The problem is that the gap between perception and reality usually doesn’ t show up until it matters most— when you’ re already in a transaction. That’ s where we see surprise, disappointment, and sometimes a deal that doesn’ t support the life the owner expected after the sale.