Buying Bike from Shop Or Private Owner

[yenyenpark]

Originally posted by hachi@April 28, 2007 10:08 pm

I brought all my bikes from private,cheaper than shop,saving can be use to repair if needed.Bike shop? Even with warranty they will just put on any part lying to make ur bike rd worthy.

I agreed with "piss" how many time in this forum u will see people asking those who wanna push into bike shop exchanged with wrapped rotors,bend rims....etc..And those bike in shop might not be even rd worthy with tons of unseen mechanicals problems. Not to mention the higher price u have paid.

I full cashed all my bike. I dont pay installment unless I wanted new bike..

My bike is my bike doesnt belong to anyone else....

Even I dont have the latest litre bike does it means I do not have fun riding the

yesterday supersport??

same thinking with u.. at least for private seller, they wanna a higher price, he will need to take care his bike.. and normally we still can check back with them after buying..

 

i heard of so many complains about bike shop guarantee this and tat b4 buying, but after purchase, bikeshop give bochap attitudes.. super sad to read tat.. worst is at the end still need fork up $$ go other shop do repair..

 

i bought mine from private seller too, not cheap but reasonable bah.. at least i save some $$ to do watever repair i think needed..

[buttbutt8]

small bikes that cost 1 or 2k of course can buy from private la. But big bikes that cost 10 over k how to buy from private?? unless u r satu orang kaya

[Jacq]

I think doesn't matter from where. it also depend on your luck. you can ask an expert to help you check on the bike before you purchase. there are ppl out there who dun maintain their bike at all, then sold the bike. I used to ride SP. spend almost $1000 on parts and maintain. after that take Class 2a, to lazy to look for buyer. then push to shop.

[RESPECT]

i think private is much better as it will be cheaper. but the only thing is that you wont really know the engine's condition but the shops one they say all good but will conn you! haha. so you decide.

[yenyenpark]

small bikes that cost 1 or 2k of course can buy from private la. But big bikes that cost 10 over k how to buy from private?? unless u r satu orang kaya

good point.. agreed that we need reloan for big bike.. but sometime we still can buy from biker then do re-loan in bikeshop or financial company... although big bike most ppl push to bikeshop bcos very hard to get buyer in short time??

 

i think private is much better as it will be cheaper. but the only thing is that you wont really know the engine's condition but the shops one they say all good but will conn you! haha. so you decide.

 

shop sure will say all good.. and profit come to their mind first.. but at least for some private they r honest.. on selling their bikes... (of course got bad private oso but overall my opinion is private r more worthy to buy from)

 

I think doesn't matter from where. it also depend on your luck. you can ask an expert to help you check on the bike before you purchase. there are ppl out there who dun maintain their bike at all, then sold the bike. I used to ride SP. spend almost $1000 on parts and maintain. after that take Class 2a, to lazy to look for buyer. then push to shop.

 

think SP like any sport bike r high in maintenance.. u want it to in good shape, u really need to put quite alot of $$.. but consider it's market value.. it's like not worthy again.. o_O

[xiaobanz]

Prefer private buyers, at least you can check back and also know that they will take care of bike.

[bike4me]

If lets say u got money to pay full cash for the bike then its ok

if not u gotta go bike shop loan cash,they are like legal loan sharks

if not go bike shop buy

[Zaraki]

i bought from shop and i learnt the hard/expensive way.. after 1 month i bought the bike, the bike needs to be overhaul.. after overhaul, still need to do some major exterior changes as there's some scarring on the fairing.. total damage for bike and "repair" : 6k and still going..

[kazuhiko]

i think is safer to buy from private owners, if you got spare cash cos is a direct sale between you and the seller. You can save up a lot and process time is also very short. Unlike shop, cos they want to earn a profit and normally prices are higher plus unknown charges plus not allow to test the bike. Risk factors are more compare to private and processing time might take weeks of even months. Time is money. You guys can decide according.

[dragonforce]

1 of the main point of NOT buying from a shop is

1) they say everything ok etc.. give you warranty anything happen go back to them but got prob go back they push everything away. ie not trustworthy, not reliable.

 

BUT what if the shops belong to your friend? or the salesperson/mech is your friend? a trustworthy 1? would you prefer to buy from his shop or still look for private sellers?

[loufu]

private seller definitely... last time when i m looking for S4, 2nd hand spec2price quoted by bike shop can buy spec3 in forum liao... needless to say anythin more liao...

[biking nomad]

wow! 183 forumers voted! And almost 73% prefer buying from a private seller.

 

But as a private seller you have to put up with a lot of weird requests from viewing to price to loan to negotiations. Actually, the most popular requests are for loans and sometimes prospective buyers don't even meet the requirements of a loan from a bikeshop or finance co.

 

Some frens tell me for a diff of one or two thousand less from a bike shop they rather just sell their bike to a shop or trade-in.

 

But due to the availably of loans even though at high interest and agreement fees, so many bike shops with bad business ethics remain in business....

 

So plan what bike you;re going to get a few mths, years in advance and start earning, investing, saving for it! You'll also lose less when you sell because you don;t incur the cost of borrowing.....

[loufu]

the most stupid thing abt buyin 2nd hand from shop is... we nid to pay GST again....

[deryiu]

this is my experience

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bike 1 . RD350LC 1980 model . $500 .brought year 1998

 

brought from bike shop . no major faults normal wear & tear ,coolant pump clutch and radiator overhaul . rusty leaking tank . shop offer $2000 to do up, after bargain i say no need , i buy as scrap metal ,$500 deal machine price,no warranty .

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bike 2 . VFR400 nc30 1989 model . $8000 .brought year 1995.

 

also brought from shop . good engine ,horrible electrics ,once ran out of warranty everything electric component short curcuit .nice bike to own but a nightmare to fix.

CBR400 Fireblade cost $16,000 new,NC35 $19.500.

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bike 3 . RXZ 135 1999 YCLS model . $1800 .brought year 2003.

 

brought private owner . ex-owner kind of motor-siao (rempit)

Mod exhaust , raised jet needle to fifth position, bike was blogging all the way,rusting stock spook rims ,busted piston ring.

good thing is frame and body in great condition looked new ,spend $1000 on new rims ,repairs and new plastics . bike worked fine ever after till 2007.

A early 2001 Catalyst model selling only $2800 at bike shop , regret no buying .

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bike 4 . KTM 2 EGS 1999 model .$3400 .brought year 2007.

brought private owner . ex owner got it well kitted worth paying the price

still riding now .fantastic bike. no major repairs. shop selling $3500 stock cond.

 

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bike 5 . XR2 2000 brazil model .$600 .brought july 2007.

Brought private owner . only the frame is in pristine conditon. every bearing on the bike u can think of must be replaced, old & tatty bodywork ,spend over $1600 on repairs and restore . (the one in my avatar) .it's now the most bling bling XR2 i have seen in singapore. shop selling about $3000 for an average one.

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So buying from shop or private owner better ?

* u must see the condition of the bike and selling price

* check out the price of spares and stock before buying.a bike that is too new or old selling too cheap maybe a nightmare, limited edition or rare model have few spares unless u wiiling to wait a few months for spares.

* dont buy from shop that must pay early repayment fees( if u decide to clear yr installments earlier must pay fine)

 

this is just my own experience and from my own point of view.

[Maldini03]

Private of course... it is cheaper and the surplus difference can be used for repair if anything happens.

 

Do you think the bike shop will repair those in their shop to tiptop standard. Not practical, the bike may not be sold at the end of the day. As long can move can liao, because they will wait for someone to buy, ride and then return to them to be carrot $$. If the rider nvr return then good the $$ to repair the bike to tiptop condition has been avoid

 

I may even go as far to say that the parts that of trade in bike are taken out and sold as second hand parts to those who need it. Churning of sales...

[FunkyChicken]

it depends arr bro, if ur in luck, pte owner really take gd care of his bike and has receipt and servicing schedule dats a gd choice. bikeshp depends on ur luck but after sales service is there. usually 1 mth guarantee

[arthur_chan]

it all depend on how good u spot the fault of bikes. sometimes bikeshop might hv a sweet deal or two, but very rare, most i see are in bang down condition.

 

u want hear all the good things, bike shop, they sure sugar coat u everything. most priv will tell u their experience, probably point out what faults before selling, take note, there're also con priv out there too.

[mkhairi]

anybody noticed that private sellers in the forum are pricing certain bikes at ridiculous pricings.. some even more ex than shop (stock conditions)

 

if this keeps up, what stopping me from buying from shop where there is warranty, rather than over priced private sellers, who the only warranty i can get is 'my word of honour' that the bike is in good condition?

[Xenophobia07]

anybody noticed that private sellers in the forum are pricing certain bikes at ridiculous pricings.. some even more ex than shop (stock conditions)

 

if this keeps up, what stopping me from buying from shop where there is warranty, rather than over priced private sellers, who the only warranty i can get is 'my word of honour' that the bike is in good condition?

 

But there are also good pricings around, it just depends on how you look for it. Its the same for Shop, there's also bikes are rediculous pricings.

 

The bottomline to me is that, the lowest pricing of shops can never beat the lowest pricing of Private. But from here on, it just depends on how you can identify problems of the bike.