Ducati Monster Forum

I'm buying my first Ducati Monster 796 (2013) in about 2 weeks but am wondering if the dealership I am buying from can cut me a better deal. $11,335.33 out the door. What do you think? The breakdown is 9723.61 for the bike, 325 for the freight and 187 for handling. Then everything else is sales tax, doc fees, and licensing fees. What do ya'll think?

Probably the best answer anyone can give is, "it depends". Are there other dealers nearby? If so, check their prices and compare. It's near the beginning of the riding season (at least in the US) when demand can be high, so they likely won't be in a hurry to sell. Prices vary a lot based on local, too.  Where do you live?

Any reason you're going with the dealer? Just curious, as in my neck of the woods you can find barely used 2013 Monsters for a little over $9k.

buy with cash...or get preapproved from an outside source. do not buy solely on monthly payments that are easy...buy on the best / lowest price they will accept, and that you feel is the best deal for you.

Where are you? Is it a good-sized single brand Ducati dealer with good reputation and history, not some megadealer with Jap bikes? If so, offhand I'd say that was a decent break. 796's don't grow on trees as the premier dealer who supplied mine in took six weeks to get my color. You'll need a few goodies for yours too, so find out whether you'll get a break on parts and installation and servicing there too. A good relationship with a good dealer is fairly important to many.

I bought my 2012 796 this time last year from one of the largest Ducati dealers in the US. The 2013 models were already getting stocked and mine was the previous year's floor model with 100 miles on it. I got a very small break on the 2012 msrp, but not much, and paid tax and title on top of that. I got more of a break on accessories (helmet, gloves, and free delivery to my house). I don't know if it is true, but my understanding is that it is difficult for dealers to come off the msrp very much because Ducati discourages it.  The dealer has more room to negotiate on accessories and modifications. I regret not getting Termignoni exhausts when I purchased my bike because I think I could have got a better deal when combined with the original sale. If you plan on mods, I would recommend negotiating them into the sale price.

Agreed. Everything you see in my signature line was fitted prior to delivery. My dealer is a noted Ohlins tech and set mine up to perfection. On initial set-up he was probably even MORE careful than usual as well!  ;)

If you are new to Ducatis, of course knowing exactly what you need up front might be asking too much.

I'm in the Monterey Bay area, riding season won't start for awhile if the rain starts up like it was supposed to in January. They are the only certified dealer of any kind within 90miles. They sale, everything except Triumph bikes. I have worked with these guys before and they love to sale to Military.
I don't know what I will need on the bike besides heated grips because of the cold weather in the mornings and nights year round. I figure I will add the pipes and what not in a year or so because the wife wants me to keep the cost to a minimum. I am mechanically inclined to say the least and am able to do 90% of the work needed for future reference. I did all the work on my ninja until the top end went out and it couldn't be adjusted to save it. Hence why I talked the wife into letting me get the bike I've been drooling over all year long.

I would still have to pay licensing and taxes on the motorcycle which would cost similar to the same price as this brand new one. I might be able to get them to knock a couple of extra dollars off on parts besides the customary ten percent they give to military

Glad to hear that at least someone is looking after the military! Wish I could get out to Pebble Beach as my son usually works the auctions which are held during the week of the concours. Maybe this dealer has a sanitary solution for heated grips, given the weather around there. Ducati could make money with a good kit, but with all the stuff they have for these bikes, that accessory was omitted.

Since you are possibly youngish, I'm sure you'd like the Termignoni kit with ECU, filter and slip-ons. IMO you'd get more from the "cheap" Ohlins spring and shock for this bike, ordered for your weight. (~$625?) Ask Skybarney! ;) As a compromise, the 796 forks aren't that bad.

Meanwhile, consider a 14T front sprocket which can add a good bit of zip and make 6th gear more useful. (~$40) Those are specific to the 796's BTW. The ones for the other Monsters are a BIG no-no.

I've no interest in much wrenching on my bikes these days, but when I did, I learned that Ducatis are "different", especially the valve gear, and a lot more is done by "feel" than empirical measurement. Do some reading anyway and assume nothing.  8) You may well be a cracker jack mechanic, but a gunsmith might do better!

Hope you enjoy your new ride. It's a LOT different than a Ninja! (The ABS is pretty unobtrusive BTW and one of the best.)

I am youngish compared to most riders on these things especially as a Ducatist.
I will keep in mind it's more about feel than look in these things.
I've got a Mom and Pop shop i go to if i need work because they will discount the labor as well as the parts if i need work i can't do myself. But the dealer gives me a discount on all my parts and everything except labor and oil. So i go elsewhere.
The only thing i was thinking about having done right away was switching the filter out for a k and n filter. Then thinking about the rest when i have a little more on the side to play with. If it's not 100% needed i don't plan to change it just yet.

You stick around this site long enough and that will change.  ;D

+1

Doesn't seem like a bad deal, nor a fantastic one. That's about 7% off of the sticker price. The freight and set-up fees don't look out of line.

I never worry about tax & license. Dealer doesn't get that, the state does. Nothing anyone can do.

If it were me I'd be happy with it, but I'd also see if they could give me a better deal on any gear and accessories I wanted. Maybe the 1st service. I think dealers have more room to negotiate on those items, and those should have just as much value to you as the MSRP of the bike itself when it comes to making a deal.

In the end, if you're happy then it's a good deal.  [thumbsup] Ideally both parties are happy with the deal, and the relationship starts off on the right foot.

Hold off on the K&N. Anything on the intake side will probably require an ECU remap whereas slip-ons have no major fueling effect. Ride the bike first and see whether you don't need that 14T front sprocket. The bikes are geared tall for Euro 3 and EC drive by noise testing. Break-in also takes ~ 1,500 miles..., so unless you find a glaring fault, wait a while before panicing.  ;)

As for oil, my dealer buys Red Line by the drum because it never let him down in all his years of Ducati racing at the national level. It works fine with your wet clutch and is ester-based. If you use anything else, make sure it's full synthetic and designed for use in motorcycles with wet clutches. http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=6&pcid=21 (http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=6&pcid=21)

As you noticed, people here are all TOO happy to spend YOUR $$$...  [roll] They mean well..., but Ducati didn't make a bad bike out-of-the-box. That rear shock and a Rizoma bar was most important to me..., but I'm an old geezer...  ;)

Have them at least set the rear preload/sag before you even leave the store! Ducati sets that stock for rider and passenger!

Oh I'm sure as "extra money" comes my way I will find a place for things on my bike. This is not a surprise at all.

I think you got a decent price but as was stated earlier, never buy based on "monthly" payments because the numbers can be massaged a bit to make the payment exactly what you want and the exact price they want to charge.  I'd ask if they can throw in an exhaust for, say, half price  ;D  The ABS models are $10,495, add back in the commission of $187 & $325 and you're at $11,007 without tax.  Did you buy an ABS model?  If you didn't I'd say paid a little more than  needed.

Fairly certain ABS has been standard on NAS 796 since mid-2011.

well I learned something today.

OK so I think then it's now slightly too much that you paid Convert123

MSRP is $10,495. No idea whether that's supposed to include freight and prep or not, but since it's not a car, there is no Monroney label. Maybe not.

In 2011 796's were rather tight and supply may still be somewhat limited as that's a popular displacement in the EC for licensing and insurance reasons. Had my dealer not been highly favored by DNA, I might not have gotten mine at all in July which is late in the selling season and Ducati is on holiday for most of August.

The OP is getting a larger break than I did, and I was in the high-line car biz for 40 years.  ;) These bikes are allocated and no doubt the dealers have to submit their financial statement to DNA, so unless they get wacky with a trade-in..., they could see their allocation cut back if they give anything away. If I had to guess, the OP is getting ~ half the dealer margin.

Business is a two-way street. Deals have to make sense for both parties. I paid MSRP and no other charges, including ALL labor for swapping out my shock, Ohlins set-up, installing a body kit, 14T, and a Rizoma bar which had to be drilled. Got ~ 10% off all the goodies. Figured that was fair as the work was done to perfection.

As usual, just my $0.02...

I get ten percent off all parts/gear without the bike due to their military discount. I talked to them and they don't come down on labor so i would probably have my labor done at another shop. I'm going to see if they will come down more on gear so it won't hurt so bad on extra/comfort needed gear. Good to know I'm getting a decent deal though

The general manager went back over the numbers and got me a bit more off the bike (-$200) then said since I'm military he will give me 15%off gear anytime I want it.

[thumbsup]

You sound as if you have a good attitude, so I'd do that for you too!  ;)

When I bought my 1100 I bellied up and had already committed to the purchase when I asked the dealer for a discount of some kind just so I would feel extra happy about the purchase.  He dropped $1000.00 and gave me 10% of  any accessories I bought that day.  Funny thing is he already had the sale and the tiny amount of it I financed had already been approved and the bike pushed in the back for final prep.

$200.00 off?  I think you could have gotten more but IMO it is never worth being pushy with your dealer.

What's your baseline? He's getting ~ $1,000 off MSRP and a 796 has less margin than an EVO.

+1

I ended up paying a grand total of $14,000 out the door all taxes, licenses and fees.  They reduced the bike itself to $12,780. 

My grand total was barely over 11k for a 2013 796 with abs... I got the bike itself down to 9.5k so I think I got a decent deal with it because the msrp is 10.5k. I'm happy with the bike over all. I put 25 miles on it today just getting a feel for it and I'm loving it.

 [clap]

Great! They run like shit when they are new. Keep the revs over 4K when possible but follow the break-in rev limits mostly. It'll run a LOT better when it has 1,200 - 1,500 miles and some of the fueling quirks disappear.

Keep us posted!

PS Consider a 14T front sprocket at the first service if you want a bit more pep and you find the gearing tall. That's because it IS...  ;D

You're pretty much right on the gearing being very tall. It's not easy to keep the revs that high. In first gear I get up to 35 before I hit that point. The dealer said to keep the revs between 3k and 5k. I've been trying but I find myself slightly speeding so I have just been feathering the clutch all day. Put 60 miles on it in misty/sprinkling weather. If it handles this well with it being new and in the wet weather I can't wait to see what it will do dry. When I clean it up from the dirt I got on it today I will take a picture for y'all.

Change the front sprocket at the 600 mile service and thank me later. With the way it's geared now, you won't get it into 6th below 80 MPH. ;) We don't have an Autostrada. 8)

Yes, the Diablo Rossos are quite good, as is the chassis. Think about the cheap Ohlins though if you don't feel the rear is doing much when you can ride in the dry.

+1 On gearing
+1 On Ohlins 737 rear shock.

Did them both and the shock was night and day.  Personally I preferred the more expensive 530 15/43 option but he 14 tooth more than works and makes the bike oh so much more ridable.

I'm still debating on switching to the 14t because I do do a lot of highway riding. I am looking the higher gearing except around town lol... I speed to much like this haha [leo]

It's good to see Skybarney jumping in here as he has an 1100 EVO. Both the 796 and EVO have the same chassis and 15/39 final drive and the same transmission ratios. 1100 EVOs have a LOT more BHP and torque already too. The factory gearing is just a super overdrive to get past Euro 3 and drive-by noise testing. 14/39 just makes the bike a lot more responsive. Given the winter here, I haven't been on the 796 since late November, but if memory serves, 75 MPH in 6th is still only ~ 4,000 RPM MPH indicated. For the facist state of CA, that should be plenty of gearing/speed left to redline.  8) 75 is also more like a true 70 MPH as that's the way the ECU feeds speed from the ABS sensors to your display. From the manual:

"“Speed” indicator

This function shows vehicle speed.

The dashboard receives the actual speed value (expressed in km/h) from the ECU and displays the value increased by 8%.
Maximum speed displayed is 299 km/h (186 mph). Over 299 km/h (186 mph) the display will show a series of dashes “- - -“ (not flashing)."

BTW, the 796 Monster and Hyper require a specific 14T due to spacing. It is NOT universal. Monsterparts, a forum sponsor carries them. Otherwise, the part number from Driven Racing is 1067-525-14T. http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/52604d15/Chain-Sprocket/52604d15.html (http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/52604d15/Chain-Sprocket/52604d15.html)

FWIW, IMO a 696 sorely needs a 14T too, but that bike has rather different gearing and power output already than either a 796 or 1100S or EVO.

If memory serves, this was also Skybarney's first Ducati and the suspension really bugged him on his until he fitted the cheap Ohlins. Ohlins in NC will build it specifically for your weight and riding style. My dealer who is a highly regarded Ohlins racing tech still had to set the sag, but after taking the bike for a ride found that it was perfect with the stock forks after backing off the damping one click. That shock has only one adjuster, but works on both the rebound and compression. Ohlins makes a three-way fully adjustable shock for these bikes which costs X3.  [roll] I'm sure it's better..., but not X3 better!!! ;D Skybarney should link the thread where he fitted his and had his forks set up properly (his are adjustable unlike ours). His selling dealer had his set up all wrong.

Keep us posted and see what you think after you've ridden it a bit in the dry. Also check your tire pressures carefully with an accurate guage. That's 2.25/2.5 BAR which is ~ 32.5/36.5.

I've ridden a bit in the dryish weather now and it's not to bad. The power is  great. I find myself having to slow down long before I hit the end of the on ramp and the small bikini fairing is doing it's job. Next week I'm going to take it on a two hour trip down to San Luis obisbo.  I will let you know what I think after that though. I don't know how to post pictures but I only have one thus far.