Modern Buddy

I was wondering if someone could suggest a good place to do warranty work in the Seattle area. This winter I would like to have my Green Hornet (Buddy 150) looked at off season.

I've never been but have heard good things about Ducati Seattle. There are only 4 dealers in Washington.

Ducati Seattle
Seattle Scooter
711 Ninth Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 298-9995

Kent Kawasaki
821 Central Ave. S.
Kent, WA 98032
(253) 852-8670

Burton Motorsports
18432 Augusta Ave.
Suquamish, WA 98392
(360) 779-6014

Ural Northwest
120 W. Smith Rd.
Bellingham, WA 98226
(360) 398-1601

I'll second Ducati Seattle. I don't have a buddy (yet!) but they do the service on my Ducati and have always been top notch, professional and friendly.

The city is doing a whole bunch of road work in their neighborhood, so when you make an appointment you might ask what their recommended route du jour is.

I've been happy with Kent Kawasaki. You might compare rates. True, you can't feast at Buca di Bepo's while your scooter is being worked on like you could at Ducati, but Kent has some great mini marts.

Well, Kent Kawasaki (my local Genuine Dealer....was about a 15 minute ride from me) has now closed.

I just bought my second Buddy from them, and had no inkling they were close to closing (I would have bought it anyhow, but I feel so bad about this!)

Anyhow, I went on Genuine's website and see that now NW Motorscooters, in Tacoma, carries Genuine. I called them, and it's true! I take my MP3s to them for service all the time...however, it's a 50-60 minute ride from Renton.

I would much rather still have the 15 minute ride and go to Kent Kawasaki, but at least we still have another local place to take our scooters. There is also Seattle Ducati, but I just don't know the back roads going in to Seattle, and they (the roads around Seattle) are just too busy for me not knowing where I'm going.

I am so bummed about Kent Kawasaki though. They were really nice people--not that the other places aren't as well, but you know what I mean...

You'd think in a bad economy more people would be buying/riding motorcycles or scooters, rather than gas guzzling, expensive to maintain cars, but what do I know. Maybe it's the weather up here too, I guess--rainy much of the time.

Thanks for the heads up, Michelle!

Sorry to see this news. I enjoyed working with Kent Kawasaki too. They were always helpful and had a good inventory.

Obviously NW Motor is closer but I'll miss that once a year trek up Highway 99 and the 45 mile an hour speed limit sections. But glad there will still be a Genuine dealer in the South Sound!

Were there some screaming deals at Kent Kaw on remaining inventory before they closed down?

[quote="GrittyTacoman" I'll bet there were there some screaming deals at Kent Kaw on remaining inventory before they closed down?[/quote]

On parts and tools yes but I called them regarding new Stella or Buddy scooters and was told they were not allowed to sell them. Don't know why.

Sorry to see the Kent dealer close.

I wonder what it takes to open a dealership?

According to their website, but they were closed so fast, I just now found out about it.

This is just me speculating, but maybe their new inventory was already promised to NW Motorscooter as they became a new dealer.

Cycle Barn up in Lynnwood also just started carrying and supporting Genuine, so if you're up north of Seattle, they're good folks.

michelle_7728 wrote:This is just me speculating, but maybe their new inventory was already promised to NW Motorscooter as they became a new dealer.

I was wondering that too. I'll have to swing by NW Motorscooter sometime this Spring to see what they've got. They're not a huge shop. Hopefully they'll give Genuine a decent representation. It provides them a wider price range along with their Vespas.

Hope to see more Genuines on the road now in T-town!

I can't comment on their service department, but after the experience I just had (literally a day ago) with Lynnwood Cyclebarn I would stay away from them for any work.

I was making a deal with them for a BV350 and when they sent me the receipt the sales person (Jason) had put one of the fees we had negotiated out of the price back on the price tag of the scooter. When I called him on it he called me a liar and said I was dealing in bad faith despite the fact that I had emails documenting the entire negotiation.

Either he made a mistake and would not admit it, or he was just blatantly trying to rip me off. Due to some other things that were said I suspect the later. Bottom line; I wouldn't trust them. I am taking my business to Big People Scooters (Seattle Vespa).

Kyle

With the email trail you have, are you going to go over his head and talk with his manager? I would imagine that given that they just started carrying Genuine (and given the economy we have right now), they would rather have good, than bad reviews, and would want to make it right.

Right after he called me a liar I asked to talk to his manager and he said he was the manager. The fun part about that little revelation was that during our negotiation he was doing the "I have to take this to my manager" bit, and he referenced his manager in our conversation about the changed OTD price.

I plan on calling into the shop to talk to a general manager about the sales person's conduct, but I wanted to see if I could do some research online to see if he was really a manager, or if there was a certain person I should contact. I don't have a lot of hope though. After talking to some friends who do a lot of riding I found out that my experience was not unusual. Given that I doubt I would buy from them even if they decided to honor the original deal. I would rather pay more elsewhere.

Kyle