I may be wrong and it may depend on jurisdiction, but it's my understanding that if you turn your vehicle over to a shop and then don't pay the repair bill, the shop owner can legally keep your vehicle until you do pay it.
Could this have anything to do with this policy? I can't imagine the legal wrangling involved if a shop owner had to take such a thing to court in order to sell the vehicle to recoup unpaid bills. Maybe it happens all the time: I don't know. It might make a shop owner think twice about doing 2K worth of work on a motorcycle that Blue Books for 1K. And, just because it's worth 1K doesn't guarantee you can sell it for that much, if you can sell it at all. They might be stuck with it for awhile.
I bought my current ride at a larger, multi-brand dealer, but even if they were still a Suzuki dealer (they're not) I wouldn't take it back there to be worked on. I'd rather deal with a smaller, family-owned shop that's been in the same place for 50 years that's right down the street from me. They don't sell Suzukis, but I bought a battery from them and am going to order some tires from them next Spring and have them put them on for me.
In the few times I've been in there I let them know I respect the fact that they've been in business for half a century and will be relying on their expertise and obvious business savvy in the future, and I mean it: I'm not just kissing their ass to stand out. I remember going into that place when I was 6 years old and my older brother had motorcycles. You don't stay in business in a small market for 50 years if you don't treat people right. Hopefully this will establish a relationship I can count on if I need something more serious taken care of down the road.
Yeah, I most likely could get the tires cheaper if I bought them online and took them in with me to just be mounted, but I'd rather just do the whole deal with them if they're willing to get the tires I want and sell them to me. I do things like that and, down the line, I might need something done and they might very well say, "Well, even though we're not a Suzuki dealer we'll help you out because you've been good to do business with us for awhile. We don't care if your motorcycle is 10 years old and it's one we've never worked on before."
Plus, I've already decided my next motorcycle is going to be a Yamaha and, if they're still in business, I'll buy it from them even if I could get it a little cheaper in the city.
I'm Old School. It's called "Establishing A Rapport." It's very important in all aspects of life whether you're talking about somebody doing a couple thousand dollars worth of work on your motorcycle or it's the person bagging your groceries.
After a few decades wandering the Earth, you get a pretty good feel for who's legit with you and is going to treat you right and who's phony and unreliable. And, of course, sometimes you're still completely wrong. As long as you're more often right than wrong, it's all good..........
It seems like people have really either forgotten or dismissed the art of getting along with people for the mutual benefit of both parties involved. Of course, a "good rapport" doesn't guarantee a place will work on your 10-year-old motorcycle, but they at least might go to the trouble to explain to you why they won't.