Buying and Selling a Bike

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

It’s said that the two happiest days in a boater’s life are the one when they buy a boat, followed by the one when they sell the same boat.  While bikers don’t exactly phrase the transaction that way, having bought and sold a few motorcycles over the years, the emotional attachment formed and the anxiety incurred are pretty similar.  Since Florida is one of the few states in the Union where you can pretty much ride a motorcycle year-round, I thought I’d dedicate this week’s blog to the ins and outs of buying and selling a bike. 

It’s a Buyer’s Market

While it’s true that buying a bike is a lot like buying a car, there are some factors that cars and motorcycles don’t share.  For instance, if you’re a newer rider, you should probably stay away from extremely powerful bikes or touring bikes.  The former are referred to as crotch rockets for a reason; They’re super-fast.  That means that sport bikes can be super difficult to handle.  Touring bikes are much heavier than other street cycles.  This again makes them inordinately tough for newbies to control.  While you may salivate at the sight of a sport cycle, a custom bike or a cruising bike, with motorcycles there is a learning curve that you don’t want to ignore, since mistakes can be fatal.  There will come a time a year or so down the road when you’ll have experience enough to step up in class.

1.      How often do you intend to ride? – If you only intend to ride your bike after work and on weekends, why spend tens of thousands of dollars for a motorcycle?  In fact, when looking for reasonably priced bikes in good condition, the best used motorcycles are owned by those who only ride theirs occasionally.  A quick search of craigslist can identify oodles of cycles with low mileage that are priced at $5,000 or less.  Sometimes a lot less.  Regardless of how much you want to spend on a bike, the first thing you need to do is determine how you intend to use it and how often you intend to ride it.  Then you need to scout the ads for bikes that feed this need. 

Image courtesy USCG

2.      What are the pros and cons of buying a bike through a dealer? -  While buying a used bike from a private owner is usually the best way to get more motorcycle for your money, that doesn’t mean that buying from a dealer doesn’t offer some benefits.  First of all, if you buy a bike from a dealer and it turns out to be a lemon, you have recourse.  Buy from an owner and you’re stuck with the lemon.  Motorcycle dealers can also provide financing, whereas dealing with a private owner is strictly a cash transaction.  If you want a warranty on your bike, a dealer is the only way to go.

3.      How do you tell if a bike is worth the money? – Aside from brand appeal, when it comes to determining what a bike is worth, it all comes down to the miles and the condition.  How much tread is left on the tires?  Does the frame or fuel tank bear any signs of dents, scrapes or rust?  If you can easily move the drive chain or sprocket with your hand, this is a sure sign of excessive wear or poor maintenance.  While you don’t need to be an experienced motorcycle mechanic to buy a bike, I highly recommend you take any bike you are thinking of buying to an experienced motorcycle mechanic to check it out and let you know what it needs.

Looking to Sell?

1.      Nobody wants to buy a beat-up bike. – Just as nobody wants to buy a dirty, run down car, when it comes to selling a used motorcycle, eye-appeal equals buy-appeal.  Before you even think of listing your bike for sale, you need to give it a good once over to check for grease, grime, dirt, dings, dents, scrapes and rust.  Aside from a general cleanup, if you want to sell your bike for top dollar, you need to clean places that you may have ignored in the past.  This includes under the seat and on those hard to reach battery terminals where calcium tends to build up over time.  You’ll also want to eliminate even the smallest signs of rust and buff out any scratches on the body or chrome.  A good cleaning followed by a coat of wax can make a world of difference in the appearance of a used bike. 

Image courtesy flickr

2.      How do I find buyers? – If you’re looking to sell a used bike, other than parking your bike outside with a For Sale sign on the handlebars, there are a number of ways to get the word out.  Personally, I’d start with craigslist, since the ads are currently free.  They will also be viewed by local buyers looking for a bike.  Not only does craigslist let you write the copy, but you get to include photos along with all the particulars.  While you don’t have to provide a phone number, if you want to weed out the buyers from the phishers, I’d recommend it.  Afraid of someone using your email address to send you tons of spam?  No problem, since craigslist provides you with a CL mail relay that hides your true email address.

3.      What do I need to do to seal the deal? – Other than showing your bike to interested parties, there are several things you can do to seal the deal.  If you have meticulously maintained your bike and have the receipts to prove it, show these to prospective buyers.  Better still, take your bike to a local motorcycle mechanic to have your bike inspected and certified as road worthy.  Also make sure you have all your paperwork handy, including the title and a bill of sale you can present to the new owner.  While any buyer will no doubt want to haggle over the price, once you have cash in hand the job isn’t done until the paperwork is filed.  The Florida DMV provides a form for just this purpose.  Find it here. https://www.dmvflorida.org/vehicles/notice-of-sale.pdf

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on all your insurance needs, check out her website at http://aplusallfloridainsuranceinc.com/