Hey Allen,
Most of the surrounding Harley dealers within 100 miles south of where you live (or will be living soon) have had a poor reputation. Having two Harleys, mine a 04 Low Rider and my father's an 05 Peace Officer Electraglide, we have had experience with pretty much all the Harley dealers from Jax down to New Smyrna Beach, FL. and as far west as Gainesville. These experiences were awful.
Lets start with Jacksonville. The two area dealers are Adamec's Orange Park HD and Adamec's Regency HD. Both of these dealers are affiliated with each other, I believe owned by the same people. Both have poor service, with less than desirable results. We did not have service here but from recommendations to stay away from people who have, we decided to go else where.
St. Augustine HD
Another disaster. St. Augustine is a one owner operation that gives no deals and has a poor service department. They f**ked up the Lowrider for the 1000 mile service. They put the wrong oil in the primary cover (SAE 60). The bike came out of the shop with a very bad vibration and seemed to now have the mufflers misaligned. We never went back, fixed the problems ourselves and occasionally go to purchase a small amount of parts. No deals or breaks given. The best place to buy parts is in Daytona Beach HD but the store located on Beach St. not the new Destination Daytona.
Gainesville HD
This is where the Electraglide was purchased. Sales practices are unscrupulous, resulting in a complaint filed with Motor Vehicles for the return of excess money paid in estimated Tags and Title Fees. According to the dealer, they do not return money. FL state law says otherwise and requires them to return the differerence in fees to the purchaser. A friend bought an 05 Heritage Softtail brand new and had accessories and upgrades made before taking delivery. Due to carelessness on the part of the technicians, several days later, he was stranded due to Clutch inoperability. It turned out, when technicians worked up the bike, they never tightened up the locknuts on the clutch cable causing the clutch to malfunction. Monies were also not returned to him, requiring another complaint with Motor Vehicles to obtain the funds.
Daytona Beach HD (BEACH ST--Downtown)
PARTS ONLY
Destination Daytona (OFF I 95, Exit 273 US 1)
Probably the lesser of all evils. Quality of work depends on technician assigned. There are several that are good. Prices seem to be fair. The same type of work varies among the dealers of Northern and Central FL. In my opinion, experience seems to be that Daytona gave the best price. Good selection of parts in stock but all new people work here that seem to have no clue what they are doing. Beach Street is a better bet for parts.
***Both of these dealers are owned by Bruce Rossmeyer as well as New Smyrna, Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano and God knows which others. Destination Daytona is the newest dealer opening this past November 05.
New Smyrna HD
This is where my Low Rider came from. The parts guy we dealt with is no longer there. We no longer go to this dealer due to internal problems and it appears that on a basis of price, they charge more money for the same job than other dealers.
After market shops
Two that seem to be big in the area of Daytona Beach are Carl's Speed Shop and Custom Works. I believe Carl's Speed Shop has a Dyno as well as Daytona HD (Beach St).
Judging by your location, I know that Daytona is a stretch. As far as GA, I have only read a few comments regarding Golden Isles, and they were negative. I do not know of any dealers North of you. Perhaps someone will have some other input.
Everything I wrote here is of course my opinion and the opinion of others based on either personal experience myself or friends who have had negative experiences. Hope this helps. IF you have any other questions, give me a shout. Good luck and have a safe move.
Joe
