My Honda dealer barred from servicing CBR650R: Other options?

The only option available right now is to ship my bike either to service centres either in Indore or Gurugram to get it serviced.

BHPian rishabh.asthana recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone, wanted to share my harrowing experience with Honda Motorcycles.

I have been always a big fan of Honda motorcycles and had been a loyal customer to them for the past 5 years with my first bike being Honda CBR650F and later from 2019 Honda CBR650R.

The local dealership here in Lucknow (Envision Honda) has always been exceptional and very customer friendly and I never had any problems with them regarding any issues related to my bikes.

Last month my bike was due for its regular service and as usual, I called up the dealership to make an appointment. But this time they said there are some issues and they will inform me regarding when they will be able to give me an appointment for servicing my motorcycle.

I waited for a couple of weeks and now they inform me that Honda has barred them from serving any motorcycle above 500cc and as such, they won't be able to provide any service to me. According to them the only option available to me is to ship my bike either to Indore or Gurugram service centres to get the bike serviced.

I have contacted Honda local manager (Himanshu) and he kept repeating the same that for any servicing or insurance claim I have to ship the bike at my own expense to the above-mentioned service centres. The local dealer also can not order any parts for my bike as he has been barred.

This leaves me in a quagmire as I had bought my bike from the local dealership and it is registered here in Lucknow. So why would I send it to some other dealership, whom I don't know, for servicing and then secondly, why should I pay for the transport of the bike to the outstation dealerships?

Can any of you members suggest some solution to my problem?

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

Contact Honda 2 wheelers and Big Wing HQ mentioning your case and ask them what is the customer's fault in this and what do they recommend. Let's see what their response is.

If it's the same as what the local manager mentioned it's shameful but I think they should've better sense.

We might have to suggest a BigWing service hit/miss in their already expensive motorcycles.

Good Luck and update when you get a response.

Here's what BHPian neil.jericho had to say on the matter:

rishabh.asthana, it looks as though your Honda dealer hasn't become part of Honda's BigWing network and hence they cannot service big bikes. Honda has picked only select dealerships nationwide to become part of their BigWing network. So there isn't really anything arbitrary about the company's decision making. The news of this showroom strategy was announced months ago and it was common knowledge in motorbiking circles for a very long time. We have a few threads on the forum discussing the same.

A simple check on Honda's website shows that there is a Big Wing dealer in Lucknow. Try contacting them and see what they say.

If there is no appointed dealer in Lucknow to service big bikes, then group up with other Honda owners in your city and talk to the nearest BigWing Honda dealership. They will happily send down their technicians to your city to do a group service of all the bikes over a couple of days. That is how owners of different brands get their bikes serviced. For example, here in Kerala, all the big bike dealerships are in Cochin. So Triumph and Kawasaki owners, for example, wait for official service camps to be conducted in their cities every 6 months and get their bikes serviced at that time. It's a very common practice in the superbike world.

Here's what BHPian CrAzY dRiVeR had to say on the matter:

This is a nationwide restructuring process in-line with Honda's 3-tier dealership strategy. Doubt any escalations will work in this particular case.

With a 650R and in warranty period - Gurugram might be the only option, other than the possibility of service camps as Neil rightly mentioned above.

Neil, I'm sure you are well aware of this (since I first heard it from your post), but the post sounds different above. So adding in the clarification.

Since OP has mentioned bikes up to 500cc, the Lucknow dealership is a BigWing alright. It is just not BigWing Topline capable of servicing a 650cc, but the entry-level BigWing which can service the entry-level premium range like the CB350 Highness and CB500X.

Honda has ~88 BigWing dealerships in India now and less than 8 BigWing Topline dealers, so the 650cc and above bikes bought from other cities would need to use these 7-8 cities for their service requirements.

Here's what BHPian Axe77 had to say on the matter:

Crazy Driver and Neil have laid it outright, including the 3 tier model. This transitionary phase is indeed unfortunate, especially for people who have bought their bikes from a local dealer assuming they will get “local” service - the OP may well have chosen another brand had he known he will not get such local service.

Sadly this is a significant restructuring and I doubt anything will come of your escalation. I would focus on using the above grounds to get some goodwill local support through travelling technicians where you are not charged for their travel. The nearest dealership should be able to provide some such support I guess. I know Triumph has covered cities like Raipur for instance where owners group together and the nearest dealership organises local service camps for them.

It's still a pain factor though and I feel your indignation. Just the other day something in my service was not done perfectly which I discovered a few weeks later. Triumph just did a pickup/drop complimentarily and sorted it out in a day. You can’t rule out such needs with any bike and not having local support is never perfect - especially for an in-warranty bike where you don’t want to go to an FNG.

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