Harley-Davidson Seeks Bank Bailout Funds

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Two years ago the stock price was pushing 80bucks, today at around 13bucks. October-ish (last quarterly reports) from 40ish to 20ish ....and supposedly their quarterly numbers due soon aren't looking good so perhaps another big drop in the coming weeks(?)

It had been hinted that their finance division was a bigger money maker than the bikes, apparently a lot of people finance these bikes ....I'd be curious how many$ bad loans are out there ....are people skipping the house payment to make the HD payment ...or the other way around??

 
Not surprising if the financial division makes more money. Thousands of $15-20k bikes financed over X years at X interest rate can add up to quite a sum. And, remember, it's not just the bikes being financed ... it can also be the chrome, parts, and HD swag. Someone could buy a $20k bike and walk out with $30k on their H-D credit account.

I just wonder how many of the HD tattoos are financed? :lol:

 
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Where's our friend from MN that hates harley and gives regular updates aboot them?

 
I have an acquaintance that bought a very slightly used 2007 HD ultra classic (Firefighter edition?), and was giving everyone with a metric a hard time about our bikes. He bragged and bragged about how great the bike was, and how we should buy a HD. No matter what our reason was for having the bike we had, his usual reply was that we couldnt afford the HD.

Fast forward about 8 months. He is crying in his milk because his employer had to cut out some of his overtime. So you can guess what is coming next. He tells us "I am turning in my bike, cant afford the notes now". WHAT!! WTF?? After all that HD hype crap and making fun of us poor folks that cant afford a HD, turns out he had financed damn near 100% of the bike!!

i'll just be nice and not go into stereotypes here <_<

 
What options do US citizens have to stop this misappropriation of funds? Any lawyers here? The idea that I go to work everyday to help out these over priced ass bags makes me want to vomit.

 
odot said:
Where's our friend from MN that hates harley and gives regular updates aboot them?
Click to expand...
No hatin' here 'dot. Just can see the forest for the trees sometimes. They, The Motor Company©, has issues. Some of them are being inflicted by themselves and their dealers. They are still in the 290-300K bike range for annual sales. Their problem is credit. The much ballyhoo'd Harley© buyer who supposedly has cash to burn has apparently burned it. The RUBs and the Yuppies are gone. For the past three years about 20-25% of Harley-Davidson© buyers have been sub-prime borrowers. (People taking out 15+% loans to finance the motorcycle of their dreams that they can't afford.) Right now credit unions have better financing rates than The Motor Company© for the top three tiers of credit. So the dealers are giving them the "good" creditors. HDFS© will finance the next three tiers, who dealers will gladly steer the buyer towards. You know what that means, higher default rates on HDFS© paper. HDFS© can't find buyers for their current loan pools hence the government intervention. HDFS© finances about 55% of their sales now. So the risk is big for H-D© and HDFS©. I expect the dividend to come under pressure sooner than later. It's going to be a rough ride for the next 2 years or so. Hang on!

The other problem is the push into "non-tradtional" riders has been luke warm at best. It's still old guys with long beards and big beer bellys who are buying them at the core. H-D© is trying hard to address that issue.

It's not just them folks. The whole economy is shifting into a new "normal". So much demand was telescoped forward by the housing bubble (cheap credit) it will take years to get back to an even keel. I don't see things turning around until at least late 2010. I hope I am wrong.

 
SockMonkey said:
From this morning's e-edition of Dealer News: Harley-Davidson Seeking Federal Bank Bailout Funds
Uh, really..?? :blink:
Click to expand...
Sorry Marty, this just really got my blood boiling today (and not just because my H-D stock is down). Last Friday the FDIC came in and took over (closed down) the small commuity bank where my wife has worked for 11 years. Needless to say we lost $$$ as we had shares of stock, as did all other shareholders, in this case all local community business owners and people. Meanwhile the big banks and "lending companies" live high on the govenment HOG, pun intended. [RANT_OFF]

 
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I think we all have only one option in this situation. We have to all apply for bail out money. It just makes sense as we are the one paying it we should get some of it. Personally, I will not be greedy. I am just going to ask for $1,000,000!

 
:****:

IMG_1588.jpg


To each their own -

 
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MNFJR05 said:
No hatin' here 'dot. Just can see the forest for the trees sometimes. They, The Motor Company©, has issues. Some of them are being inflicted by themselves and their dealers. They are still in the 290-300K bike range for annual sales. Their problem is credit. The much ballyhoo'd Harley© buyer who supposedly has cash to burn has apparently burned it. The RUBs and the Yuppies are gone. For the past three years about 20-25% of Harley-Davidson© buyers have been sub-prime borrowers. (People taking out 15+% loans to finance the motorcycle of their dreams that they can't afford.) Right now credit unions have better financing rates than The Motor Company© for the top three tiers of credit. So the dealers are giving them the "good" creditors. HDFS© will finance the next three tiers, who dealers will gladly steer the buyer towards. You know what that means, higher default rates on HDFS© paper. HDFS© can't find buyers for their current loan pools hence the government intervention. HDFS© finances about 55% of their sales now. So the risk is big for H-D© and HDFS©. I expect the dividend to come under pressure sooner than later. It's going to be a rough ride for the next 2 years or so. Hang on!
The other problem is the push into "non-tradtional" riders has been luke warm at best. It's still old guys with long beards and big beer bellys who are buying them at the core. H-D© is trying hard to address that issue.
Click to expand...
Very interesting stuff. Please keep us updated as we watch this unfold.
 

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