Generac Dealership Anyone?

[Ravenvalor]

Hello,

I am looking at the Generac dealership program. It looks like a system designed to make money for Generac but not the dealer.
Does anyone have any personal experiences with this dealership program? If so your input would be appreciated.

Thank You,

 

[augie47]

There are a couple of contractors in this area who have been dealers for years so it must not be a loosing proposition. I know one of their major complaints has been that the units are available at one of the big box stores for less than they pay.
Their sales come from lock and key installs and service.

 

[ceb58]

You have to sink large $$$$$$ into it. Bad thing for you you are in the heart of one of the large generator dealers area. You can get with one of the larger dealers and they work out deals with smaller contractors. They help size the unit and help you make the sale. You get the install and a % of the gen. sale. They do the start up and warranty work. It is a win win situation. They get incentives for the more units they sell. And you are not tying up money in stock waiting to sell a unit.

 

[goldstar]

Hello,

I am looking at the Generac dealership program. It looks like a system designed to make money for Generac but not the dealer.

Great insight. I'm surprised you picked that up at the start. It took me a while before I caught on.

Does anyone have any personal experiences with this dealership program? If so your input would be appreciated.

Thank You,

Contact them and get a price for a gen set. Then go to www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com and get their price. You'll be surprised to find that you can buy the same unit from them for less $$ than you can at Generac. Go figure:?

In addition, as Ceb58 mentioned you'll have to invest quite a few $$ into spare parts, some of which you'll probably not use for eons. Then, if you want to purchase other parts you will not be able to unless you go to their school in Wisconsin for a week or two and get properly trained.

On top of it all Big Orange is selling units direct to the HO for a lot less than you can. The only thing you can make $$ on is the installation. BTW, that's worked out great for me. That way the HO is responsible for the warranty on the unit.

 

[Ravenvalor]

On top of it all Big Orange is selling units direct to the HO for a lot less than you can. The only thing you can make $$ on is the installation. BTW, that's worked out great for me. That way the HO is responsible for the warranty on the unit.

Thanks Goldstar,

I like this HO warranty idea, I have been shying away from Generac generators for years because of my concern about quality. I am not a big fan of air-cooled 3,600 RPM generators that Generac sells on it's lower end.

 

[Ravenvalor]

You have to sink large $$$$$$ into it. Bad thing for you you are in the heart of one of the large generator dealers area. You can get with one of the larger dealers and they work out deals with smaller contractors. They help size the unit and help you make the sale. You get the install and a % of the gen. sale. They do the start up and warranty work. It is a win win situation. They get incentives for the more units they sell. And you are not tying up money in stock waiting to sell a unit.

I will have to give them a call.
Thanks,

 

[michaelc7a]

Generac's not for everyone but...

Generac's not for everyone but...

The previous post was correct that dealers can generally get generators cheaper online that they can as a dealer.

Rather than discuss why you wouldn't become a Generac dealer, here are a few reasons an electrician seeking to work with Generac generators should become a dealer:

• You are then listed on Generac's dealer locator, so people looking for Generac dealers can find you.
• Customer inquiries on Generac's website are distributed to dealers. While these usually trickle in, since O'Reilly's televised comment a week ago that 'everyone should have a generator' (paraphrasing), we've had more leads from Generac than we'd received in the last six months.
• Generac training, especially their 'Generac University', is very well priced and it should help sales to say you're certified on the generator you'll be installing.
• You don't have to purchase your generators directly. If cheap, regular access to Generac generators is your goal, work out a discount schedule with either a large online dealer or one in your area. It should help that you're a dealer.
• Generac has been known to have periodic generator sales that will allow you to purchase Generac at a decent discount.
• You gain access to Generac's sales support.
• If you're thinking about working on generators, many more reasons arise:
  • You gain access to Generac's tech support.
  • Being a dealer gives you access to discounted parts, many of which can only be purchased from Generac (like control boards)
  • You may be interested in doing Generac warranty work, though it can be somewhat low paying and problematic. We've been turning away a lot of Generac warranty work of late. For example:
    • You spend all day on a problem generator and/or dealing with a problem customer but qualify only for one hour (or less) reimbursement. This isn't so much the case with Generac's larger products but portable and RV warranty work often comes with ridiculously low book times.
    • When the problem isn't covered under warranty and your billables come to sometimes more than the cost of the generator, even if you explained to the customer that this could happen, rage is the norm.:rant:
    • Because Generac's policy for intermittent errata reported in the field is to deny it exists, they neither document it nor train their tech support about it. So if you happen to see it twice in a row, they accuse you of making up the problem and refuse payment. Then you go to a large Generac training course, ask who else has seen that specific issue and hands go up...:happysad:

This Info is out of date as generac has changed it's policy

 

[iwire]

You spend all day on a problem generator and/or dealing with a problem customer but qualify only for one hour (or less) reimbursement. This isn't so much the case with Generac's larger products but portable and RV warranty work often comes with ridiculously low book times.

The company I work for installed a fairly large unit, 8 cylinder natural gas. (can't remember the KVA) anyway when it was time for start up we had a Generac dealer come out. Well the unit had major issues and the guy had to tear apart the radiator and all it's supports to fix a factory assembly issue. (A drive shaft for the fan in front of the radiator was rubbing the frame)

When he called to get some sort of work order they told him that all his work was part of the start up pay he was already getting.:roll:

 

[goldstar]

Thanks Goldstar,

I like this HO warranty idea, I have been shying away from Generac generators for years because of my concern about quality. I am not a big fan of air-cooled 3,600 RPM generators that Generac sells on it's lower end.

I understand, but in most cases, especially with HD selling direct to HO's, it's the only way you'll be compeitive. Once you bump up to Kohler or Onan you price yourself out of the sale (at the HO level anyway)

 

[goldstar]

The previous post was correct that dealers can generally get generators cheaper online that they can as a dealer.

Good points on the positive side Michael. If you can get quality leads and jobs as a result that's always a good thing.

Because Generac's policy for intermittent errata reported in the field is to deny it exists, they neither document it nor train their tech support about it. So if you happen to see it twice in a row, they accuse you of making up the problem and refuse payment. Then you go to a large Generac training course, ask who else has seen that specific issue and hands go up...:happysad:

And herein lies the problem !!! Several years ago I ordered a 3-phase 55KW generator for a day camp. The only purpose of the generator was to run 5 pool pumps and a refrigerator. A local Generac dealer came for a start-up and comes back at the end of the season for a shut-down. They've been servicing this unit for 2 years. At the beginning of the 3rd year they send a tech out for a start-up and he notices oil at the bottom of the generator. He then tells my customer that the unit is missing both the oil dipstick and tube. Gives them a price of $695 to come and install it. Now, there's only 3 things that could possibly have happened :1) someone climbed over the locked fence, opened the generator door with a special key and removed the tube and dip stick, 2) One of the dealer's tech's removed it and threw it away or 3) it was never shipped with one. Long story-short, neither Generac nor the dealer would stand behind the product. I had to purchase the dip stick and tube for $140.00 and install it myself. What I'd really like to know is how they checked the oil levels after each start-up :?

 

[kwired]

Hello,

I am looking at the Generac dealership program. It looks like a system designed to make money for Generac but not the dealer.
Does anyone have any personal experiences with this dealership program? If so your input would be appreciated.

Thank You,

You have to decide if you will sell enough units to make it worth your efforts. Warranty work will either not be paid or will be at Generac's prices not yours. You will may want to put more overhead in your price to cover that, then your price may seem too high and residential customers especially will want to look for a better deal.

Getting dealership and doing it all, meaning qualifying yourself/employees to connect to gas, being qualified from Generac to do field maintenance, being able to pour concrete pads or and other associated installation tasks probably will help you out but then you better make sure you sell enough units to make it worth it. You may also need boom trucks and other heavy equipment just to install some units.

 

[kwired]

Thanks Goldstar,

I like this HO warranty idea, I have been shying away from Generac generators for years because of my concern about quality. I am not a big fan of air-cooled 3,600 RPM generators that Generac sells on it's lower end.

No matter who sells them price goes up once you graduate from air cooled to water cooled. Even for same size KVA.