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If you were selling your scooter........

I have always had the same mind set that Richard S has. I have sold many bikes, some sight unseen but with lots of pics and have sold some with a deposit holding the bike until an agreed upon viewing of the bike. I will run the bike for them and they can inspect it. I have taken them for a spin down the road but they have not. Once the cash has been in my hand they sign the title and they own it. My current bike was bought after a test ride. I found the bike on Ebay and it was an hour and a half from where I live. Took a ride down there in the commuter car (helps for the beat down in price if you know what I mean) and left the keys with the bike owner after I showed him the registeration/insurance/and my DL with the motorcycle endorsement on it to show all names match. I had 50% of the asking price with me in cash. I did not ask for the test ride or even try to haggle on the price. The owner asked me if I wanted to take if for a ride so I was not going to decline. My fiance and I took the bike for an agreed upon 10 minute ride and returned to his house and struck the deal. I picked up the bike a few days later with my enclosed trailer. Sometimes I think you can not be to safe but others you need to be just a bit flexible. Sorry for the long reply.
 
I wouldn't buy a used bike that I couldn't ride.

I sold my wife's Sportster to the first guy that came along with my asking price. He looked at it, came back a few days later with a check (we have the same bank, he was a sailor, I am a Marine), he asked to ride it. "Sure, here are the keys, see you when you get back!"

$10,000 dollars later I am still a happy man.:D

You have to be a good judge of character to that trusting.
 
USMCCWO5 said:
I wouldn't buy a used bike that I couldn't ride.

I sold my wife's Sportster to the first guy that came along with my asking price. He looked at it, came back a few days later with a check (we have the same bank, he was a sailor, I am a Marine), he asked to ride it. "Sure, here are the keys, see you when you get back!"

$10,000 dollars later I am still a happy man.:D

You have to be a good judge of character to that trusting.
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I think the key is judging character. The bikes, or cars, I have bought or sold, all were test riden before cash was exchanged. That was after talking on the phone for a little bit and then in person.

When I got the Fatboy, it was 10 at night. The guy could see my excitement and I listened to some of his stories about Sturgis and different things, so we almost became friends before money was seriously discussed or he let me ride it. I came back and paid him what I had and brought the other $2K back when I picked it up.

When I sold my 65 XLCH, I let him ride it after the same kind of thing, couple stories and some talking. We loaded it in his truck and he paid me.

I could get burnt some day, but I still feel there are a lot of good people on this earth and just want to treat them as I want to be treated. Sure, if I thought the guy was a tool or just did not seem right, we might have to come up with something else and some of you have some good ways to go about it.

I guess you just have to do what feels right.
 
I got my bike used, found it on eBay, went and visited the guy, looked it over, started it up, but never rode it. Of course, at this point I had never been on a bike before. Made him an offer, left, he called me the next day to discuss. Gave him the check from the bank on Friday, and that Saturday (after my morning at the MSF course) gave him the rest of the cash and rode it away. NOW the downside, I had an hour ride home, engine light started coming on just about 10 minutes down the rode, but would go off again, so I rode it till I was 10-15 minutes from my house when it died and would not turn over again. Had it trailored to Harley 2 weeks later, turned out to be the ECM which luckily was replaced under warranty.

Do I regret buying it without a test ride, maybe a little since I could have possibly gotten the bike for my original asking price, but the even with the trouble the bike was a steal and based on the way the guy was I have reason to believe he really didn't know about the Engine light issue, since the bike only had 1700 miles on it and you could tell he was not riding it at all.
 
Whiterook said:
Thanks for all of your replies. I am worried about someone laying it down, not so much it being stolen.
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A fellow I KNEW let a big old biker ride his HOP-UP ...... It was a nice country setting with a un-traveled side road to a dam in washington st.

He was to ride the bike down the road and back - never to go out of sight...
He did just that....

The owner watched it go way down the the road.... turn around and before he new what happened at about 80 mph leave the road right in front of him ... KILLED the biker and destroyed his bike..... BOTH were wanted by the law.... BOTH had NO insurance.....

Needless to say the LAW got BOTH OF THEM....
 
I've sold a couple, my policy has always been you buy it, you ride it. I wouldn't let anybody ride my bike, let alone somebody I don't know test ride it.
 
I've always just gone on a gut feeling of whoever has showed up to buy the bike. I've let 2 guys test ride bikes I was selling and both of them came back with bike and handed me cash for them. The guys who I didn't let ride didn't buy, but I didn't think they had the cash anyway. One guy offered to leave his girlfriend behind, like I was going to hold her ransom if he didnt ome back?
 
You would be surprised at the number of people that will make an appointment to look at your bike/car and want to test drive it with no intentions of buying it.
I had one guy that wanted to buy my vet and I thought he was a serious buyer so we took a drive. While we were driving he told me how many vets he drove this week end and last weekend. Never again. if you have the cash in hand then we take a drive. On a bike, you pay first and then ride it. If there is anything wrong, it will be taken care of but other than that you own it .

No test pilots needed. You know what you want to buy and the test ride isn't going to make a difference. Last guy that came to look at my last bike asked for pics which I sent him and he came with the cash in hand and took it home in a trailer without even riding it.
 
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