Yanmar's Distributor / Dealer Protection Stinks . . .

[bstreep]

Having just been ratted out by Laborde for buying parts out of the distributor's geography, I'm in the process of making Yanmar aware of how terrible their protected distribution/dealership arrangement "works".

I've been discussing this situation with the folks at Yanmar - and being honest, they've at least listened. I've told them that one of the primary (if not the primary) reason people don't repower with Yanmar, is the strong-arming of the customer when it comes to who they buy from. Along with a LOT of other people, I very much resent being told who I have to buy from!

They protect territories (which is done to protect dealer margins), which keeps bad dealers from having to compete with businesses that actually do a good job. Therefore, there's no incentive to perform - when you are the only game in town, there's no incentive to treat customers right. And this is WRONG. I buy from folks I WANT to buy from, not from someone I HAVE to buy from. It's just plain un-American (sorry for folks not from the States) to force you to buy from someone you don't want to buy from.

So, I'm asking everyone to take a couple of minutes and chime in here on this thread, and feel free to copy your documents into this link: Yanmar - Comments & suggestions

I've been told that they DO monitor and use comments that arrive there.

P.S. IF YOU WORK FOR LABORDE I'M CANCELING MY ORDER.

[ozskipper]

Its called Brand Management. Everyone From Levi's to General Motors do it. It's a real PITA for the consumer. Obviously its good for dealers and the manufacturer. As you said, it means that local dealers can keep their margins high without having to compete with online and overseas distributors.

I work in the entertainment industry. If we could do it, we can buy brands like JBL at half the retail prices we pay locally. But Brand Management by Harmen Karden the owners of JBL and other brands dont alllow thier onsellers to trade outside of thier own territory. Hence we have to pay inflated prices for not only products but parts as well. The same goes for just about every international brand name you can think of.

At best you may be able to get a friend to buy it in another location then forward the parts to you. Or, buy aftermarket parts at half price instead.

Cheers
Oz

[hellosailor]

Bill, yes it can su** but many "dealerships" were in fact sold and purchased on the basis of a geographic exclusivity. Sometimes the dealer pays so-many-dollars per so-many-miles of exclusivity, or pays by the population within so many miles of their dealership.

Bottom line is that they've bought that exclusive from the distributor/manufacturer, and that franchise binds both ways. The guy who is willing to advertise or sell "out of town" is effectively stealing from the territory that someone else bought and paid for. "The guy" bought and paid for an exculsive somewhere else.

Yes it can be a problem for everyone--but those are the terms they signed up for up front, before they bought in. I woldn't expect Yanmar to be ABLE to change those terms unilaterally, even if you could convince them that there's a better way to do things.

[Tellie]

I feel the pain. Dealing with Distributorships and Dealerships are at times tough on the consumer. But they pay a hefty premium to be one. They do have incentive to take care of their customers because they can lose their status from the main company for bad performance. Just because they own a protected area does not mean the main company cannot pull their distributorship from them and give it to another. It's in their contract to keep up customer relations. If you are being ill served by any distributor the best action is to contact the main company. In your case that would be Yanmar itself. They will not do much about a letter here and there but if they get enough complaints about a particular distributor they will protect themselves and look into it and take any action they deem fit. But it's not easy to be a distributor either.

"I buy from folks I WANT to buy from, not from someone I HAVE to buy from. It's just plain un-American (sorry for folks not from the States) to force you to buy from someone you don't want to buy from."

What is also un-American is that a business can't decide as well who they would like to sell to and who not to.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Tellie

"I buy from folks I WANT to buy from, not from someone I HAVE to buy from. It's just plain un-American (sorry for folks not from the States) to force you to buy from someone you don't want to buy from."

What is also un-American is that a business can't decide as well who they would like to sell to and who not to.

If I go to buy a new car, I have MANY Chevy dealerships to choose from. They don't get exclusivity. If I want to buy JBL speakers (from an earlier post), I can choose to buy from anyone in the US (and probably Canada and Hong Kong) that I want to. If I want a Raymarine/Garmin/B & G/etc. piece of electronic technology for my boat, I can. There are NO geographic restrictions on who they can ship to, or not ship to. The Chevy dealer in California is free to sell to the guy from New York.

Why is Yanmar different?

Interestingly, if I use the Kohler part number for the generator impeller, I CAN BUY IT FROM ANY KOHLER DEALER I WANT TO BUY IT FROM. But NOT from Yanmar!

I can't buy the impellers from Defender, but guess what? I CAN buy an aftermarket impeller from Defender. This way Yanmar gets NOTHING! So, in order to protect their lousy base of dealers, they will get nothing. I'm going to figure out how to source as many parts as I can from outside Yanmar Marine. If enough of us do this, MAYBE, just MAYBE someone will pay attention. Probably not - but maybe.

[SvLetitgo]

It would be ok if the price were close but for a similar part we go from

$8 to 18 for a simple filter, for a mixing elbow $367 to $185

Give me a break we find way to buy from who even we want trust me.

[delmarrey]

It's not the dealerships I have trouble with but the (lack of) documentation that Yanmar puts out. And the inconsistencies and planning in their design. You should see my threads; http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ing-35395.html AND http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ant-36940.html

Here in the Seattle area there are several dealers to get parts from, even the main warehouse in Tukwila. So parts are not a problem for me.

But trying to find info for a new 3JH4E was taxing. I still haven't found the maximum mounting angle for this motor. Thanks to a few guys here on the forum I was able to find maintenance specs, something the dealers have not been able to do for me.

But, with all these problems I've become a 'Yanmar Apprentice' and have learned to retrofit whatever I need. In these times it doesn't seem to pay to be picky. One just has to learn to work around the problems and be happy to be up and running/sailing.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by bstreep

If I go to buy a new car, I have MANY Chevy dealerships to choose from. They don't get exclusivity. If I want to buy JBL speakers (from an earlier post), I can choose to buy from anyone in the US (and probably Canada and Hong Kong) that I want to. If I want a Raymarine/Garmin/B & G/etc. piece of electronic technology for my boat, I can. There are NO geographic restrictions on who they can ship to, or not ship to. The Chevy dealer in California is free to sell to the guy from New York.

Why is Yanmar different?

Interestingly, if I use the Kohler part number for the generator impeller, I CAN BUY IT FROM ANY KOHLER DEALER I WANT TO BUY IT FROM. But NOT from Yanmar!

I can't buy the impellers from Defender, but guess what? I CAN buy an aftermarket impeller from Defender. This way Yanmar gets NOTHING! So, in order to protect their lousy base of dealers, they will get nothing. I'm going to figure out how to source as many parts as I can from outside Yanmar Marine. If enough of us do this, MAYBE, just MAYBE someone will pay attention. Probably not - but maybe.

I understand the frustration. But there are differences in your examples. Too many apples and oranges. Distributors are different from dealers. If you were to buy a Toyota from a dealer here on the southeast coast he gets his cars from his south east distributor who gets his cut. If a person in California wants a Toyota from the east coast the distributor on the east coast gets a cut when he ships it to the distributor in California. You can go to the trouble of ordering a Toyota from Japan but it would still go through a local distributorship who gets his cut. You can put cheaper after market parts on a Camry but don't expect much help from Toyota if it fails or causes more damage. But here's the real kicker that will really get most cruisers blood boiling. Cruisers are not for the most part Yanmars big clients. If I owned a Yanmar distributorship I'd make them as important as the bigger boat guys because repeat business is important. But human nature I suppose takes over when they are working on large yachts with tens of thousands of dollars of engines and someone is questioning about the exclusivity of areas and the cost of impellers for a very small engine.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

It's not the dealerships I have trouble with but the (lack of) documentation that Yanmar puts out. And the inconsistencies and planning in their design. You should see my threads; http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ing-35395.html AND http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ant-36940.html

Here in the Seattle area there are several dealers to get parts from, even the main warehouse in Tukwila. So parts are not a problem for me.

But trying to find info for a new 3JH4E was taxing. I still haven't found the maximum mounting angle for this motor. Thanks to a few guys here on the forum I was able to find maintenance specs, something the dealers have not been able to do for me.

But, with all these problems I've become a 'Yanmar Apprentice' and have learned to retrofit whatever I need. In these times it doesn't seem to pay to be picky. One just has to learn to work around the problems and be happy to be up and running/sailing.

I agree, Yanmars manuals are more than a bit limited. My local Yanmar guys in Ft.Lauderdale are actually pretty good guys. It took some time and just plain good southern manners at the front desk and they will answer practically any question I have or direct me in the right direction.
Perhaps you can print a small Yanmar manual including all your retro fit ideas and experiances. I'll take one.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Tellie

I understand the frustration. But there are differences in your examples. Too many apples and oranges. Distributors are different from dealers. If you were to buy a Toyota from a dealer here on the southeast coast he gets his cars from his south east distributor who gets his cut.

But, that is different: 1) the Toyota Distributors are part of a legacy infrastructure that Toyota put into place when they entered the US market back in the 60s & 70s. 2) I can't order a car from a Toyota Distributor. 3) I can buy a car from any Toyota DEALER I want to - anywhere in the US. If I walked into a Toyota dealership in New York, they wouldn't say "I can't sell you that car, you live in Texas and you have to buy a car from a dealership in Texas".

Tell me if I'm wrong: Can I buy my parts from any DEALER in the country?

[Palarran]

I'm not sure I fully understand your situation. Are you saying there is only one dealer you can buy parts from? I looked on line for Yanmar parts and found our local marina in Muskegon. They have a territory as you say but it is pretty major. I'm sure that there are other yanmar dealers in the territory they cover. Sailboat Engine Parts and Boat Parts-Torresen Marine

It would appear that you just can't sell to everyone everywhere. I own a business which has some manufacturer territories. We would call it limited distribution. You can buy from others but not everyone carries our product. I have a lot invested with certain mfgrs and it makes sense to me.

[senormechanico]

On the other hand, at least you all can BUY parts.
Try buying a part, ANY PART for a Xantrex Prosine 1800 inverter.
I knew exactly what I needed, but they said,

"We don't sell parts, schematics, or any service information.
Send it to us for 'repair'. $1000.00 US Dollars."


GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

I finally found someone with a broken one, bought it for $75 and fixed it myself.

[zeehag]

what i find interesting is that no one hs gone to NAPA for parts--impellers, filters, etc.. all for diesel engines.. so ihavve absolutely no complaint with my yanmar dealer/distributor-- he is awesome--paxwest marine and induastrial. elias is wondwerful.. has been extra sweet and awesome fo rme-- he is the company did the work on my yanmar when i first bought the ericson in 2004-- did awesome job-- pricy as hell, but did a wonderful job-- when my newly installed tach didnt work, made sure i got new one and installed-- is awesome. i know in gulf coast is difficult, as you guys have that laborde company mixing it up-- but many smaller parts can be found at NAPA.. go figger.....there is always a way around the dealer.. even if ye3 likes him.....

[redhead78]

When I was doing some checking around for my repower, I looked at Volvo and Yanmar, they made me feel like they were doing me a favor just answering my questions. They certainly were not happy answering my questions. If the dealers won,t give support to the customers, then the company should have a department for this.There are a lot of us in this position, they call our boats made from 70,s to late 90,s the ghost fleet.There are thousands of these boats that are outliving there engines.The same thing happened in the late 60,s with bikes, BSA, norton ,triumph, even harley, were the whole market, 10 years later Honda had them reeling...they had something new service,parts, reliability, price what a concept...check out Beta Marine...sorry for rant....Red

[bstreep]

Red,

Thanks for the note. If/when I get to the "repower" decision, Beta WILL be at the top of my list.

Yanmar's system is from the dark ages.