United Motors Closes Its Doors
United Motors quietly closed their doors February 1, 2010. They had what seemed to be a solid business importing Jincheng motorcycles from China after input on specs and quality and rebadging them as UM. A few years ago they began a deal with Hyosung (S&T Motors) to rebadged the 650c and 250cc models as UM. The multi-phase deal would eventually lead to Hyosung engined bikes designed by UM. The deal did not sit well with Hyosung US and rightfully so. The UM bikes began to sell better than the Hyosung brand in the states and dealer locations were not spaced far enough apart to protect Hyosung USA dealer territory.
All the details are not available about how UM met its fate. GE Money, the firm that loans money to dealers to stock the showroom, took possession of all United Motors inventory. A United Motors Group member in China called UM Global is still in business. Although this is strange it might offer hope for UM powersports owners who have warranty claims. If you have more information about UM’s fate and its possible future in UM Global please leave a comment or email admin [at] othermakes.net.
Source: Powersports Industry Daily Via: Korider
Anyone has any info on warranty claims? surprisingly – not really – UM China does not accept my contact message…mmmhhh I wonder if it has something to do with me asking info about a recall… Any info would be appreciated…
those villegas brothers should be hung from the first tree we find. come buy um products and then sell us out , go crooks….
paid extra for my skooter only because of the three year warrenty.
dealer less than honest. will never buy another product from his business.
I bought a UM Renegade 200 LE in Lima Peru, obviouly they are not here any more either, it looks like we all got coned worldwide!
we bought a 200 dsf we cant read the vin. if i give you the motor number that was under the shifter can you come up with the vin. the number is 167fm186504346 . any bike during assembley sould have a build order we need that vin thank you
I can’t tell you personally but might want to contact MRP or your local MRP dealer. They bought out all the UM parts and may have that type of information.
As a former employee of UM, I can completely sympathize with all of the dealers and customers left out to dry. UM had reached a point where it was left with only a handful of employees, and that’s including warehouse employees. They simply started cutting back ON EVERYTHING! They had no money to pay for parts, therefore, dealers were left waiting for warranty parts for over a year! Ridiculous, I know! I worked in the parts department, so I was the one who had to tell dealers the unfortunate news. When customer’s would call us directly, I tried to resolve their issues, but was always told by the Villegas to just have them contact their dealers. I felt terrible having to turn my back on the customers, as I am just another petty consumer pinching pennies to get by and I understood that for most customers, this was their only method of transportation, and having it in the shop for over a year was just simply unacceptable. I left the company before things got worse and when the parts manager also quit, they contacted me again for me to take the position. I already had been informed of their plans of moving their operations to Latin America, so I decided not to go back, although they reassured me that my position as Parts Manager for US was safe despite the fact that they would be focusing more on Latin America. I decided not to go back because I knew them to be shady, selfish people. Not surprisingly, a few months later, the Parts Manager position I was offered became obsolete because their doors (for the US) were officially closed. They are now operating out of Aventura, FL distributing only to Latin America. It’s terrible that so many people were duped during this ordeal. I was especially sorry for all of the dealers that lost their businesses due to UM’s negligence! Especially since I maintained a great relationship with a lot of them during my time at UM despite the circumstances! My heartfelt apologies to all of you for the trouble this has caused!
They obviously faded back into the Colombian Jungle from wince they came.
I also worked with them as a regional rep from 2004-2005. I actually quit a very good job to go to work for them because of the opportunity that seemed to be there.
The program they offered for dealers was appealing but my midwest dealers would often not reorder after experiencing “out of crate” quality issues that caused them more headaches than they were worth. The brand positioned itself as a premium line and charged for it, but the bikes often needed work right out of the crate, which caused mismatched expectations. Then, follow that with poor parts management plus a total misunderstanding of American quality-seeking culture, and you get a company that can’t survive the long haul. Fortunately, most of my dealers knew my stance on quality and I had to end up quitting to help salvage my own personal reputation. It was unfortunate because I liked being in the powersports business. :-/
For parts, try MRP (www.mrp-speed.com) and maybe they can help you.
I bought my United Motors V2C 250T cruiser new in 2008 (out of the crate) and keep having problems with maintaining a charged battery. It seems like I am having to put my battery on a charger about every 3 days if I am not riding it. Is this a typical problem with this bike and if so can it be fixed. Any suggestions welcomed.
My husband bought a um 650 in 2007 from the dealer he works for now and then. They will not even help him sale the bike. we have replaced the battery and other parts numerous time. I would love to light a fire under the bike. The bike is the worst purchase we ever made. I guess we will all do more research on the companies we buy from or maybe only buy AMERICAN MADE.
I saw a UM for bargin sale on National Poswersports Distributers. Not being familiar with the brand I decided to search the Internet to get more info. Glad I did. Apparently we will be seeing a lot more UM bikes being dumped into the redistribution market before being absorbed into the wrecking market for recycling. Buyer beware!
i just gat a motorcycle 2009 and just wonder if i am gonna be able to buy parts for this toy
Bought a 2005 200GY several years ago from a friend and he gave me the parts manual, but no User’s or Owner’s Manual. Wouldn’t mind a download but don’t want to pay for subscription unless have to.
I don’t know about UM but I am very familiar with Hyosung, in particular the GV 250. It is a very well made motorcycle and for a 250 cc, very quick and responsive. I don’t like the chain drive. I rode one when they fist hit the US and my brother eventually bought a 2003 model. He is not an avid rider, but the cycle is always ready when he is. He has 9,000 miles on it and the only trouble he had was a faulty fuel gauge, which he ordered online and was shipped out of CA. All five of my brothers and I ride various bikes from H-D to Yamaha, and that little 250cc keeps up with us everywhere. I’d buy a used Hyosung any day. Just thought I’d let you know.
Ipaid 8400 thousand dominican pesos for a un motorcycle witch Icant find no dame parts . thats a dam shame, hell with u chinese poeple
How do I get another key?
i bought a 04 um and i was wandering does anyone know what major brands wil cross reference with these bikes . i also understand that the were hyosung so i dont know if u should look up parts that cross reference with that name also please help i would love to be able to ride it soon .