I'm Keeping It

Had a early finish at work today and as was riding past the bike shop anyway, dropped in. Loitering in the sales area got the usual "Can I help you" (the front of the shop guys don't know me as I spend all my time at this shop in the workshop) So was chatting about new bikes and he offered to value mine. Shrug, why not, can't hurt.

"So what do you ride?"
"Oh an 04 VFR800"
"Well that should come out ok..." At this point I'm thinking maybe AUD$7000ish, I did pay about AUD$18K to buy it new.... So we wander out to check it out...

"It's looks in good shape, even those scratches are minimal" there's a few light scratches on one fairing piece from a fall over "Can't see any stone damage at the front." Considering the state of NSW roads that's impressive.... "How many km?" At this point I put a wry smile on my face. Switch it on to get the most accurate figure...
"83000"
"83000! wow. That's going to really affect the trade in! It really is in good condition..."

So after a little more small talk, he checks with some other guy.. "Ok AUD$2000-3000, the kms really stuffed it" I will admit that it was a LOT less than I expected! Though I guess if you add their markup, they'll sell it for AUD$5000 or more I suppose.

Shrugged and wandered off.... sell my VFR! Not this member.

Typical retail dealer schtick - if you have it is worthless. If they have it is priceless. Yep - keep it or if you do sell it do it on your own and get the real value of it, not line their pockets. Sure wish it was summer here!

Keep the bike and sell me just that pretty blue bodywork, its a color we dont have here. Thats a great looking bike..hang on to it. :cool:

[image: View Post]motorhead1977, on Jan 9 2009, 05:25 AM, said:

Typical retail dealer schtick - if you have it is worthless. If they have it is priceless.

:laugh: I love it as it's SO True!!!

Frogfoot, here in the States for a 800cc bike avg. miles per year is around 8k so 32-35k miles would be considered avg. miles here. Don't remember the conversion, but my 02 has 66k miles on it now! :blush:

66,000 miles = about 106,000 km. Nice! 83,000 km = about 51,500 miles. Also nice!

When I'm ready to trade off my VFR I'll probably try selling it myself 1st instead of trading it in. It won't be worth anything for a dealer trade-in by then, esp. with the miles I'm putting on it.

But of course high mileage on a VFR is really no concern, is it? ;) :laugh:

[image: View Post]DougFromIndy, on Jan 9 2009, 10:20 AM, said:

Keep the bike and sell me just that pretty blue bodywork, its a color we dont have here. Thats a great looking bike..hang on to it. :cool:

No joke, I'm sure someone over here would pay 2-3k AUD for that blue body work.

Not to rant or attempt to switch the topic but if Honda can't give us a new VFR why can't they at least give us a color we've never had before (ok, ok, the anniversary was nice, but black for '09, come on!)?

[image: View Post]motorhead1977, on Jan 9 2009, 04:25 AM, said:

Typical retail dealer schtick - if you have it is worthless. If they have it is priceless. Yep - keep it or if you do sell it do it on your own and get the real value of it, not line their pockets.
It's not just dealers, and it's not just motorcycles. Try visiting the Corvette forums, you'll see the same thing there among owners. If someone is looking to buy a vehicle, they're always paying too much, and if someone is looking to sell a vehicle, they're always asking too much.

Heck, I see the same thing happening about everything from cars to motorcycles to used video games.

I traded in a bike that had a custom paint job, done by a professional shop, looked great, etc.

They told me that it's worth less with the custom paint because buyers think it's been crashed.


BUY, 20 feet behind the guy was another bike on their showroom floor with - you guessed it - custom paint.


And what do you think was on the windscreen? A big sign with bold letters telling you that this bike has COOL CUSTOM PAINT! UNIQUE! NOT ANOTHER ONE LIKE IT!




yeahwhatever.......

It's a buyers market here.
Just keep it and get the new bike you want.
It's value in use is more than it's market value.
MBD strikes again. :biggrin: