Peterborough Ducati

Received an email this morning saying as of 01/10/20 they will be closing down. First of a few different dealers I think

That’s a real shame - the new dealership on the A1?

Must be something they're not telling us,as my local have sold out all their stock this year.?

yup, my local dealer's shop floor is half empty; he says he just can't get stock from Ducati or his jap franchise

From the little I know, the demands Ducati place upon dealers are expensive and limiting, and have forced an "Audi" culture into the dealer network. This likely is fine when a dealer can cultivate high-volume fleet sales, and make some good money from PCP/finance areas... Ducati's are not Audis though, and the model is perhaps not working in this context.

I like my ex-dealer very much, they are not very corporate but they recognise that relationships with their customers, good service and pricing that allows them to put food on the table without putting customers off will keep those relationships alive. They also know a lot about all era of Ducati from bevel singles to V4s... How far would I get with my MHR at Ducati Peterborough do we think?

Peterborough, Sheffield, Worcester are all Ducati dealers I've visited in the last year and there wasn't much there to hold my attention. The building on the A1 distinguishes Peterborough, but I'm so rarely passing with time to spare or when it's open that I've only visited once. The staff were alright but a bit full of themselves. I think they're part of Vindis? A large multi-franchise business which will not keep ploughing money into loss-making endeavours. I hope something nice happens to the building though...

The building used to be a little chef. But it fell into a bad state of repair, so the ducati dealership doing it up was a positive.

Love the classic Art Deco look.

Further enhanced with a fleet of red Ducs outside.

This branch is about 50 miles from me and I have visited on 3 or 4 occasions when I have been passing by. I can see why it would be closing as on each occasion I was the only potential customer in there. The place was far too corporate for me, right down to the tablet wielding staff member asking inane questions and typing my answers down for some future brainstorming session no doubt.
I should add that I am no fan of the Vindis Group so while I`m sorry for any staff being made redundant I have very little sympathy for Vindis.

I work alongside someone who's mate works there, he's being re-deployed to either an Audi or Bentley dealership.

It makes it more difficult to get a main dealer service stamp for my neck of the woods now.

With this gone and Moto Italia in Lincoln no longer being an authorised service centre i’m left with traveling to Nottingham or Cornerspeed - and Nelly is already pretty busy!

I best be more organised and book ahead next year!

Seastar in nofolk too far?

Yeah it’s 100 miles from me - Cornerspeed is now the closest at 50 miles

Italia’s work is still second to none. They work to a high standard and have a reputation.

Not wanting to knock Peterborough Ducati, but, I'm not overly surprised to hear this. The location is not the best and the service is questionable. (based on my own experience)

Yes, with Ducati owned by VAG, there is big corporate pressure to conform to brand standards etc, but, look at the dealers who do it right ... they are busy and struggle for stock to meet demand for new and used bikes.

I know the Cambridge Site has added another van so they can offer collection and delivery to most of the Peterborough customers.

Not sure about that - Riders in Cardiff was always busy - OK service - not outstanding and expensive - but they closed

M&P now has the dealership - again - they were OK at service time - but charged more than was agreed - and was only concerned that I should change my chain for a tight link that had been there since new (6000M on it).

And keeping as far away from you as was possible - leaving you out in the rain while you waited the bike..

How does it work for access to the dealer computers for ECU work, key coding etc.

Not sure how long to keep a bike in the main dealer network before the age makes it not worth the cost - when it comes down to it in the early years we pay a fortune for an oil and filter change just to keep the stamps up.

I would be happy to do it myself if the lack of dealer stamps didn’t hurt the resale value.

Mate of mine bought a brand new Aprilia from there, let’s just say they aren’t very good at what they do.

Well they certainly have access to those things, they just updated my Multi and installed an upmap for my Dad's Scrambler not so long ago. Whether that's first-party Ducati stuff or something akin to a Snap On Solus or another third-party tool I don't know. Result = happy bikes though.

If you give them a ring and talk with Stuart he should be able to give you an accurate picture. All of my bikes are out of warranty now, and so that isn't a factor for me. I'm very happy with their service stamps and their work, and they seem busier than ever.

Wonder how long before Audi start selling Ducatis in their car showrooms?

The word on the street is that they're still recovering from that thing called Covid-19.