Lost our Veapa Dealer in Upstate South Carolina
 

We have lost our Vespa Dealer in Upstate South Carolina. Touring Sport BMW is about a mile from my house and they are dropping Vespa. I don't own one so it doesn't really affect me but I hope to own one some day and hate to see it go.

I am not sure for the reason why they dropped Vespa but they did just add Triumph.

They don't have a lot of space so maybe they just didn't have room anymore. I am pretty sure that they will sell a lot more Triumphs so It is probably a pretty smart business decision.

At this point they sell BMW, Ducati, Truimph, and Aprillia (whose status I am not sure of.)

Anyway, I hate to see it go and hope someone else picks them up.

Always a shame to lose a good dealer.

Vespas simply cost too much considering what you can get from the competition.

Heavy-handed
 

Piaggio has been accused of being heavy-handed with its dealers in terms of minimum order quantities, warranty coverage (Piaggio's warranty decisions, but the dealers reputation and dealers customer to disappoint), and other support points.

Add to that a premium priced, niche product with a very limited attraction and it may simply be that it wasnt a good business decision to stick with it for that shop.

I have to laugh just because I was reading in Canada cycle mag the head of piaggio saying how great of dealer net work they have etc. Great scooter but crappy support. BMW might be dropping it also because 2013 is the year bwm scooters start showing up in the usa. The electrical BMW scooter is going to be the one to watch. 3 hour recharge , 75 mile range etc.

The local Vespa dealer here in Vancouver; Urban Wasp is also closing. They told me that customers won't put up with the long waits for parts. They are also the SYM dealer. I am going to miss their good service and it looks like I will have to send to the US for parts for my SYM.

The BMW scooters showed up at our local dealer in October.

That stinks that you're losing your local Vespa dealer.

Not sure how Atlanta is able to support two of them- one is Vespa only, the other shares a facility that sells high end used cars, and they also carry SYM and Genuine, so they've got something for everyone from cheap and small to big (Piaggio BV350).

Seems like the only scooters I ever see (besides my own) are Chinese, or maxi scoot Burgman types....

I agree with your comment that Triumph will probably appeal to a larger audience....

Vespa Soho recently called it quits with a final volley of a Lawsuit against Piaggio.
http://www.vespasoho.com/
The lawsuit is below, a lengthy read but worth a look.
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbe...==&system=prod

The same thing happened here in Charleston. We ended up getting most of the Vespa service, which is not a bad thing. They really are great bikes. We have not had problems getting OEM parts for new Vespas, but we buy most of them in Italy and there is at least a five day wait before we get them.

I feel unless something happens like after ww2 where scooter where the best trasport soultion you continue to see crap like this happening . Don't know wasp was closing even cheap price for a new 50 cc vespa for 1700 can't get me one do to the parts issues. Really the only thing I want is a honda nc 700 scooter model that coming in 2013 but i ll not be able to buy till it's around 3 grand used. At least with honda I still can get a parts years after unlike Modern vespa parts issues.