Dennis,
I am my USLCI dealers biggest customer. With that said my dealer also supports me in buying items he doesn't have to get from USLCI from me. He buys these items from me, and other outside vendors, so he now can have a larger profit margin to help him stay in business and make a living. I have, just like me dealer, a lot of money invested in product to support the racer at the track, it is not just the USLCI dealer that is vesting in this series.
I buy all of my USLCI manufactured & proprietary based parts from him as there are no other options other than buying directly from USLCI. With that said, I can buy from my dealer which is two days shipping away or from the USLCI Vegas which is also two days away. The price is the same on the part & shipping, but I choose to support me dealer because he is at the track supporting the racer, not USLCI.
But why would I or any dealer buy radius tubes, hiem joints, bearing & seals, engine gaskets, carb parts, clutch parts, etc. from them when they have the opportunity to have a larger profit margin on parts. You said it yourself, we buy in quantity and get better pricing, does USLCI offer you and quantity pricing?
There is an aftermarket for those parts and the aftermarket is going to be cheaper than USLCI. Who do you think USLCI buys from, the aftermarket and they they mark the item up for their internally controlled profit margin. You, the dealer, then get to buy the parts from them and I am fully aware that your profit margin varies from part to part.
Then to top it all off, USLCI sells parts to anyone, anywhere in the county. How is that dealer support? When USLCI sells to every racer they then make all of the profit and take the minimal profit you could have earned out of your hands. What does it matter to the racers, the price is the same from you or the mother company USLCI and the only difference is the cost of shipping, so where is the incentive to buy from a dealer?
I have been around long enough to see 7-8 dealers in my area come & go, I was part of, I believe one, of the first 10 dealerships which opened in 1994. I worked for that dealer as he struggled to make it work in the infancy of the company & series. He lasted for about 4 years and had to close the doors severely in debt. The reason most dealer go out of business is they cannot afford to keep inventory on the shelf because the profit margin is not there to support that cost. Then when they get a call and they don't have the item, USLCI has it and they sell it to the racer taking all of the profit from the "local" dealer.
The problem starts at the top Dennis and that is where the problem needs to be addressed. There needs to be an established profit margin that will allow the dealer to make enough money to stay in business without the variance in profit margin.
From there USLCI should establish a set percentage surcharge, say 10 or 20%, when items are purchased directly from them and not the "local" dealer. This additional fee should then be applied to the dealer that is closet to the customer who bought the parts. This will do two things, #1) Promote the purchase of USLCI parts from the local dealer network because the price is cheaper than direct for USLCI and #2) compensate the local dealer who lost the sale because USLCI sold directly to the customer.
Will this ever happen...I doubt it, USLCI is a portion of a publicly held company (NYSE: TRK) that requires profit for the stock holders.
I do believe this series is still the best bang for the buck, but it is people like me that offer the racer more bang for their buck. When they take it all away and everything must be purchased from USLCI and then they have options above the standard equipment how is that the premise of "INEXpensive" racing. It's not it is a business and to stay in business it must make money, how they make money is by eliminating any opportunity for anyone outside of the company to contribute.
But hey, we are going to have a new INEX brake system that USLCI can make money on now and on the horizon is the new INEX radio system too.
And Dennis, they will sell the kits to your customer without ever batting on eye while eliminating your profit...
Randy - RPM