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Buying a pre-owned Speed Triple sight unseen?

4K views 25 replies 24 participants last post by  NeilApples 
#1 ·
So I've been searching for a 2007-2010 Speed Triple for a while now, but I've been noticing that they are very hard to find in my area (Chicagoland), this is really getting my hopes down.

Recently I've been expanding my search to include the whole country and I have found a few good looking bikes in various parts of the country, I've limited my searches to dealer listings in hopes of finding a nice bike with little or no problems.

My question to you is: Would you feel comfortable purchasing a pre-owned bike and having it shipped without actually seeing it? Or should I continue my search locally and wait it out?
 
#3 ·
Neighbor bought his HD Duece over the internet sight unseen. Seller sent a complete portfolio of high res pics and buyer confirmed all sales and service history directly with his dealer. Bike shipped from TX to KY for about $400. A week later he had the bike in his garage as pictured and as discribed.
 
#5 ·
I just recently picked up my 2005, but I drove from LA to Pheonix to get it. I was hoping to find one in LA, but they are a bit rare here, and I wanted a color, not black, thats even harder to find. On trusting the seller, I find it personally hard to just put trust in someone I dont know, that person is trying to sell what he has, and in this economy, will do his best to make it look as good as possible, or might not know what he even is talking about.

My personal experiance was that my seller had no clue, or wasnt willing to tell the entire truth on what he had. He told me it had never been dropped, but the pics he sent me clearly showed scratches on the cases, and a lever that was bent. Also, it has a scratch on the tank, that he told me was from a PO that had his helmet on it, you could easily see it was from beeing dropped.

Even with all of this, I decided to take a chance and do the drive out there, 7 hours, and have a look. It turned out to be what I had thought, he was a smaller guy that bought a bike that wasnt his speed, there was a ninja 650 in the back of the garage that he said was his room mates, probably not though. He was afraid of the speed 3, so I figured he had bought it, and dropped it a few times trying to learn, and now just wanted to get rid of it

I bought it for what I considered a good price. The scratches dont bother me, they can be fixed, and this is for my commute, so it wont be a super clean garage bike, even though I wish it could be. When I got it home, it needed a tire, which he disclosed, and needed new rear brakes, the rakes were the only surprise, $32, not that bad.

As for your question on sight unseen? I personally wouldnt do it, I want to see, and more importantly HEAR and RIDE the bike Im going to buy, dealer or not, there are alot of ways that they can screw you. Even hi res pics wont show you eveything

Good Luck though on your hunt

Mutt
 
#6 ·
50-50

I would not buy a bike without riding it first let alone not even looking at it. You might get lucky and you might get screwed. The seller may be an anal retentive very picky person ( this is good) or he/she might be a mechanically ignorant, certified bike abuser ( this is bad). "well punk, do you feel lucky?"
 
#7 ·
I bought my previous gsxr 1000 unseen , from a honda dealer
It was only 15 months old with 1900 miles, had some photos emailed and a good description from the dealer, bike arrived all perfect
The main reason for not travelling to get the bike was the time of year, snow and ice everywhere and a bike to part x, cost me £125 to have the bike delivered and the part x collected and delivered
Mark
 
#9 ·
I would agree with that. I think if I was going to buy sight unseen it would more likely be from a new motorcycle dealer and not a private seller.
 
#10 ·
I'm in TN.
I bought my S3 from a private seller in FL.
Used AutoSpector out of Miami to check out the bike for me.
There inspection was better than what i could have done solo.
Worth every penny.
Got a detailed inspection report and peace of mind when i sent my cashier's check :)
See if there is a similar service/inspection company in the region of the US that private seller is located.
 
#11 ·
Got my 08 from a guy in Michigan off Ebay, he bought it from a guy in California off Ebay. I am here in Cincinnati. I looked at all the pic's and it only had 1700 miles on it, so what the heck. We met 1/2 way between Mich and Cinti. Bike was perfect and so was the transaction. When I met him if the bike would not have been what he said there would have been trouble. I would not buy a bike unseen unless I had some type of buyer protection.
 
#12 ·
Couldnt find a S3 here locally (Nebraska), so i used "Searchtempest" to search nearby craigslist ads. Found several in my vicinity, and asked the sellers to send details, including hi-res pictures. Eventually found one a few hundred miles away, and drove down with my trailer to pick it up. (was as advertised). On the other hand, i bought a "certified" lexus from a dealer across the country (had it shipped) and when it arrived, it was nowhere near as described.

So i would advise to actually see (in person) or have it inspected, before shipping. Better yet, after you have received all the details and have an offer on the table, drive down to the sellers location to look/buy.
 
#13 ·
The bottom line is, you should price it consistent with the risks you are taking, along with the cost of shipping. I'm guessing most (I repeat - most) anything can be repaired if it's rideable, but you should assume that you will spend money fixing it, getting it serviced, adding a tire or two, etc. I bought my 2007 off Craigslist and before I took possession I knew it would need rear brake pads, and that I was going to spend money having a dealer look it over and change the oil.

As they say in real estate - there are no bad houses, just bad prices. At a minimum, make sure your final price is considerably below Blue Book or NADA values. Other than that, wait til a local one comes available.
 
#15 ·
What I've done a couple times is this: Ask the seller to take it to a reputable shop for an inspection, on your dime. If the report from the dealer is all good, have the seller knock the cost of the inspection off the price. If it's no good, the seller has a report he can show people, and that's usually motivation enough for the seller.
I'd have it inspected after I bought in anyways, so why not do it beforehand?
 
#18 ·
I wouldn`t trust a dealer anymore than a private seller. I`ve seen bikes on Ebay from dealers that when you zoom in on the pics the description is obviously embellished. How do you know a dealers reputation in their area ?.
Private sellers are no bettter or worse. If you don`t know `em, why would you trust `em.
If I buy a T-shirt on Ebay & it`s crap, oh well.... but a motorcycle ?.

I worked on a customized Honda for a friend of my sister. He bought it on line, sight unseen from a a mechanic at a Harley dealership. The bike was absolute crap. I went on line to the shop`s website to confirm that he worked there , & he did. Nice pic of his smiling face in official shop work shirt. He totally ripped this kid off. I worked onit for 3 days for a 12 pack of beer, & just found more & more wrong with it. In the end I was more depressed than he was.
 
#20 ·
The midwest has a serious lack of cool motorcycles. I encourage you to take a day or two to pick one up if you find one you like. I drove from northern Minnesota to Maryland to pick up an Aprilia several years back.

Make sure everything appears to be in order of course, but this way you may be able to pick something up from a private seller for much less than a dealer. And of course, taxes are handled differently.
 
#22 ·
He put it up on U-Ship and it was VERY well handled.

As for the sight unseen. About 50 hi-res pics for an anal retentive lawyer for his garage queen and all verified by his dealer, risk was minimized.

I can understand if $10,000 was your very last $10,000, I'd be careful too.
 
#26 ·
I bought mine sight-unseen from the other end of the country, of course mine was a wreck so I was expecting a lot of problems (and it was actually in better condition than I though even with a heap of pictures).

I cant see an issue with sight unseen dependant on vehicle age and millage as long as you get heaps of pictures and probably and inspection. You should be able to see in the pictures if the owner is trying to cover anything up. In this day and age you should also be able to ask for a video snip to be taken.
 
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