I called my dealer on Friday and asked if they had an ACE.
They did, so I went to have a look - but it was almost closing time, and it was raining outside, so I could not ride it.
The boss-man said I could ride it when it was not raining though.
I went back today, and at first the boss-man was not around, and a different boss-man told me that he doesn't want people to test ride it, because it gets dirty and then people want $2000 off the sticker price.
I changed his mind by showing him a wad of Franklins and telling him if I didn't buy it, I would wash it for him, but that if I felt that it had enough power for me, I WOULD buy it TODAY.
So he moved it outside while I went and got my helmet.
I drove it around on mostly dry pavement, so I can't really say anything about its handling characteristics, but I did something that I guess not many people do on test rides:
I loaded it onto my trailer, and then unloaded it, disconnected the trailer, and loaded it into the back of my truck. With the dealer's permission, of course.
My trailer has a 60" wide deck on it, and the ACE's wheel base is 61.5". So it sits up on the rails a little, which are diagonally out about 8 inches from the deck.
With the ACE loaded, there's a bit more pressure on the rails than I like, but I can see about reinforcing them. Once I do that it should be fine.
My truck is a 2013 GMC Sierra 2500 long bed. The ACE fit in there with the tailgate closed, with room to spare front to back and side to side.
Anyway, so then we got down to business.
The first thing I did was beat him up a little about a recent phone call I had made to the dealership. Here's what happened there:
I called and said I wanted to buy some 26x9x12 Maxxis BigHorns to replace the ones that came stock on my 2010 RZR S.
They looked it up and told me that I was wrong about the size, that the correct size was 27x9x12, and that the price was $259 per tire.
I told him I was sure that the correct size was 26", and he insisted that the computer was telling him it was 27".
I politely bade him good day, and terminated the call.
So we looked it up together. His parts fiche showed an original part number, superceded by a new one.
The original number called for a 26x9x12, and the superceded number called for a 27x9x12.
Obviously Polaris had made a mistake, and it wasn't that guy's fault, but I felt he could have handled it better.
I didn't beat him up too badly, and he didn't exactly apologize. We just came to the conclusion about what had happened together.
I think the conversation set the stage for the rest of the transaction.
He knew I wasn't to be trifled with, and I knew that he was willing to explore things and get to the bottom line.
The next thing I did was build an accessory list, so that he knew the whole deal when we negotiated.
$129.99 - Canvas Roof
$179.99 - Rear Poly Windshield
$99.99 - Sport Windshield
$399.99 - 2500lb Winch
$59.99 - Rear View Mirror
$69.99 - Trail Bag
$939.94 Total
A few words about these items:
Canvas Roof:
I have the Polaris canvas roof on my RZR. It is tough as nails. It stood up to all kinds of abuse - rubbing against tree bark, getting poked and scraped by branches, getting flapped around in the wind, etc.
What finally did some real damage is when I rolled my RZR. And the damage is just a few tattered spots on the 4 corners where it wraps around the roll cage. It is cosmetic damage only, and it is still waterproof after 2 years.
Rear Poly Windshield:
I have the rear flexible plastic one on the RZR, and it's difficult to clean because it flexes. Also, I have poked sticks through it in two places.
I have been impressed with how scratch resistant Polaris's poly front windshield is, and I expect this one to be equivalent.
Sport Windshield:
I did not go with the full poly front windshield because it cannot be opened.
I really appreciate being able to adjust the wind flow in my RZR. It makes a huge difference in how warm/cool I want to be without stopping to change my clothing.
But they do not have this option yet for the ACE, so I bought the cheap small windshield as a windbreak for now.
I will investigate whether I could make the adjustable one fit on the ACE, if I cut it down a little.
2500 LB Winch:
I didn't want to pay the extra $129 for the 3500 LB winch, and I feel that the 2500 will do for my usage.
I can't mount a Warn or Viper on there without buying a mounting bracket. Polaris does not sell just the bracket right now.
An aftermarket bracket I found for $75 is ugly and sticks down too far.
The Polaris bracket looks tough enough and looks more streamlined to fit the lines of the vehicle.
The dealer let me use his computer to look this up, and I decided that my best bet was to buy the Polaris one.
Rear View Mirror and Trail Bag:
I know that these items are overpriced and that I could do better, price wise, to rig something up for this.
But convenience costs money, and I felt it was worth $130 to have these items which are a perfect fit without spending hours trying to rig something up.
The rear storage box is a different story. They want $250 for the lock-n-ride box, and I'd rather pay $35 for a Rubbermaid ActionPacker and bolt it down back there.
Then he drew up the rest of the line items:
$100 - Documentation Fee
$60 - License Fee
$375 - Destination Fee (Freight Charge)
$275 - Machine Setup (Uncrating, bolting crap on there)
$7499 - 2013 Sportsman ACE
$8309 Total
I told him I didn't want to pay the freight, setup, and doc fees.
He was insistent on the setup and doc fees, but he gave up the freight.
I told him that if he wanted to seal this deal, he had to give a little more. I asked for 10% off the accessories, and also asked him to dismount the tires from the RZR wheels I brought along, and mount up the new tires I brought along.
He agreed to these things. That saved me $94 on the accessories, and $36 in tire mounting labor.
The one I bought also had a Poly Roof on it ($199) that they did not charge me extra for.
So effectively, I got a $669 break on the overall price.
The total before sales tax was $8780.19.
The sales tax was $751.83.
The out the door price was $9532.02.
I paid $2340 cash down payment, and financed the rest at 3.99% for 36 months.
I intend to pay it off in 6 months, but I decided against the 6-month 0% interest option, just in case.
Now, I know some people will tell me I paid too much, I didn't beat them down enough, or whatever.
But the bottom line is, it's a brand new model, they have not been hanging onto it for months, it's not last year's model, and it's a small town dealer that has to work hard to make ends meet.
I felt that it was worth a little give on my part to keep the relationship intact, because the next closest dealer is a big throng of slimeballs and idiots.
So I feel that this was a reasonably good deal, for me.
They did, so I went to have a look - but it was almost closing time, and it was raining outside, so I could not ride it.
The boss-man said I could ride it when it was not raining though.
I went back today, and at first the boss-man was not around, and a different boss-man told me that he doesn't want people to test ride it, because it gets dirty and then people want $2000 off the sticker price.
I changed his mind by showing him a wad of Franklins and telling him if I didn't buy it, I would wash it for him, but that if I felt that it had enough power for me, I WOULD buy it TODAY.
So he moved it outside while I went and got my helmet.
I drove it around on mostly dry pavement, so I can't really say anything about its handling characteristics, but I did something that I guess not many people do on test rides:
I loaded it onto my trailer, and then unloaded it, disconnected the trailer, and loaded it into the back of my truck. With the dealer's permission, of course.
My trailer has a 60" wide deck on it, and the ACE's wheel base is 61.5". So it sits up on the rails a little, which are diagonally out about 8 inches from the deck.
With the ACE loaded, there's a bit more pressure on the rails than I like, but I can see about reinforcing them. Once I do that it should be fine.
My truck is a 2013 GMC Sierra 2500 long bed. The ACE fit in there with the tailgate closed, with room to spare front to back and side to side.
Anyway, so then we got down to business.
The first thing I did was beat him up a little about a recent phone call I had made to the dealership. Here's what happened there:
I called and said I wanted to buy some 26x9x12 Maxxis BigHorns to replace the ones that came stock on my 2010 RZR S.
They looked it up and told me that I was wrong about the size, that the correct size was 27x9x12, and that the price was $259 per tire.
I told him I was sure that the correct size was 26", and he insisted that the computer was telling him it was 27".
I politely bade him good day, and terminated the call.
So we looked it up together. His parts fiche showed an original part number, superceded by a new one.
The original number called for a 26x9x12, and the superceded number called for a 27x9x12.
Obviously Polaris had made a mistake, and it wasn't that guy's fault, but I felt he could have handled it better.
I didn't beat him up too badly, and he didn't exactly apologize. We just came to the conclusion about what had happened together.
I think the conversation set the stage for the rest of the transaction.
He knew I wasn't to be trifled with, and I knew that he was willing to explore things and get to the bottom line.
The next thing I did was build an accessory list, so that he knew the whole deal when we negotiated.
$129.99 - Canvas Roof
$179.99 - Rear Poly Windshield
$99.99 - Sport Windshield
$399.99 - 2500lb Winch
$59.99 - Rear View Mirror
$69.99 - Trail Bag
$939.94 Total
A few words about these items:
Canvas Roof:
I have the Polaris canvas roof on my RZR. It is tough as nails. It stood up to all kinds of abuse - rubbing against tree bark, getting poked and scraped by branches, getting flapped around in the wind, etc.
What finally did some real damage is when I rolled my RZR. And the damage is just a few tattered spots on the 4 corners where it wraps around the roll cage. It is cosmetic damage only, and it is still waterproof after 2 years.
Rear Poly Windshield:
I have the rear flexible plastic one on the RZR, and it's difficult to clean because it flexes. Also, I have poked sticks through it in two places.
I have been impressed with how scratch resistant Polaris's poly front windshield is, and I expect this one to be equivalent.
Sport Windshield:
I did not go with the full poly front windshield because it cannot be opened.
I really appreciate being able to adjust the wind flow in my RZR. It makes a huge difference in how warm/cool I want to be without stopping to change my clothing.
But they do not have this option yet for the ACE, so I bought the cheap small windshield as a windbreak for now.
I will investigate whether I could make the adjustable one fit on the ACE, if I cut it down a little.
2500 LB Winch:
I didn't want to pay the extra $129 for the 3500 LB winch, and I feel that the 2500 will do for my usage.
I can't mount a Warn or Viper on there without buying a mounting bracket. Polaris does not sell just the bracket right now.
An aftermarket bracket I found for $75 is ugly and sticks down too far.
The Polaris bracket looks tough enough and looks more streamlined to fit the lines of the vehicle.
The dealer let me use his computer to look this up, and I decided that my best bet was to buy the Polaris one.
Rear View Mirror and Trail Bag:
I know that these items are overpriced and that I could do better, price wise, to rig something up for this.
But convenience costs money, and I felt it was worth $130 to have these items which are a perfect fit without spending hours trying to rig something up.
The rear storage box is a different story. They want $250 for the lock-n-ride box, and I'd rather pay $35 for a Rubbermaid ActionPacker and bolt it down back there.
Then he drew up the rest of the line items:
$100 - Documentation Fee
$60 - License Fee
$375 - Destination Fee (Freight Charge)
$275 - Machine Setup (Uncrating, bolting crap on there)
$7499 - 2013 Sportsman ACE
$8309 Total
I told him I didn't want to pay the freight, setup, and doc fees.
He was insistent on the setup and doc fees, but he gave up the freight.
I told him that if he wanted to seal this deal, he had to give a little more. I asked for 10% off the accessories, and also asked him to dismount the tires from the RZR wheels I brought along, and mount up the new tires I brought along.
He agreed to these things. That saved me $94 on the accessories, and $36 in tire mounting labor.
The one I bought also had a Poly Roof on it ($199) that they did not charge me extra for.
So effectively, I got a $669 break on the overall price.
The total before sales tax was $8780.19.
The sales tax was $751.83.
The out the door price was $9532.02.
I paid $2340 cash down payment, and financed the rest at 3.99% for 36 months.
I intend to pay it off in 6 months, but I decided against the 6-month 0% interest option, just in case.
Now, I know some people will tell me I paid too much, I didn't beat them down enough, or whatever.
But the bottom line is, it's a brand new model, they have not been hanging onto it for months, it's not last year's model, and it's a small town dealer that has to work hard to make ends meet.
I felt that it was worth a little give on my part to keep the relationship intact, because the next closest dealer is a big throng of slimeballs and idiots.
So I feel that this was a reasonably good deal, for me.