... 17.000 euro only to sell it to a customer for 24.000...

That is steep, possibly more so considering where the market/ euro may have been when purchased compared to now. Well wishes with progress fixing things nonetheless!

 

Sorry to hear about your health issues, and the problems in selling your bike for a reasonable price.
Nobody likes to feel that they are being ripped off, so I can understand your point of view.

 

With Triumph it’s not really a matter of the value depreciating, it’s a matter of their motorcycles being overpriced. The resale value is more of a representation of what their motorcycles are actually worth.

 

What you just said is impossible. If it were overpriced they would not be selling them. Both new and used, it’s all about supply and demand lines crossing at a price point. Most motorcycles depreciate a lot. I’ve lost my ass on BMWs, KTM, Ducati and even Japanese bikes.

Trading or selling a bike that is still a current year bike is always the worst case for resale value. Why would a dealer give much for a used one that is competing on their showroom with a new one?

And don’t forget that their floor planning is more expensive for used bikes. Also, keep in mind that dealers have X number of dollars available for inventory. They can buy (take in trade) two bikes for half the price and there is a much bigger market for less expensive bikes.

As to comparing it to a GS, that bikes has owned that market for decades.

 

A bad time of year as well. With the cost of living rising steeply and winter approaching the dealer is likely to have the bike until next spring. He is laying out a lot to buy it and not selling a new one. Supply shortages on the 1200s seems to be easing and dealers now have 2022 trade ins on their shop floors. Not what you wanted to hear, sorry.

 

Sorry to read of your health issues - does this mean giving up bikes completely or just that you’ll have to get something smaller and lighter?

Unfortunately you are always going to take a big depreciation hit if you buy a new vehicle and then have to sell it a couple of months later, unless it was something that was in high demand and short supply! If you can afford to wait, I’d just advertise it privately and wait and see what happens.

 

Unfortunately it will be the end of my motorcycle adventures. A lighter bike is also not an option.
I did try to advertise it privately but it's a difficult bike category to sell. People who spend this kind of money on a bike are more likely to by a new one at the dealer. I would do the same....

 

When I sold my 3 weeks old 1250GS I "lost" a little more than the tax I paid on it. That's a quite a lot less than losing 11000 euro on my T1200.

I understand that dealers will not be so eager to buy a used bike of only a few weeks. But why is the difference between a Tiger and a GS so huge?
Even gen 1,2 and 3 Tigers used to depreciate quite quickly (unless you trade it in at a Triumph dealer). It does make me feel like the Tiger is a bit overpriced when you buy it new.

 

Why is the difference so huge between the Beemer and Triumph? The GS has been the gold standard for years and outsells the Triumph by a huge margin I'd say. Maybe buying the GS is drinking the Kool Aid, but Triumph didn't have any luck going after the RT Beemer, much better with the smaller Tigers.

 

I am very sorry to hear of your situation and have always enjoyed your posts about the new 1200. I'm over 5000 miles on mine now.

 

One mans desperation to sell is another mans opportunity. I have no qualms about buying someone else's huge loss then going on to make double + what I paid. In the last 18months I flipped a KTM SuperDuke GT for $14500 that I bought for $4800 after fixing up some minimal cosmetic damage. Just recently I sold a 675 Street Triple R for $7300 that I picked up for $2000 with, as far as the owner and his dealers workshop were concerned, seemingly unsolvable running issues that were soon fixed.
Taken me lifetime to realise there is nothing stopping a private individual from making the same kind of derisory offer that motor traders do all the time without a skerrick of embarrassment.

 

It's my second new T1200 that I'm selling (1200 Rally Pro and 1200 GTE) and it's a nightmare. Both bikes (including accessories) costed over 28.500 euro.

When I tried to sell my 3 weeks old 1250GS the depreciation was substantially less. And it was sold very quicklyto a BMW dealer. I could have sold the bike 5 times in just a week.

I'm a bit confused here? You have two 2022 T1200's to sell and have just sold a 3 week old 1250GS. Why so many brand new unused bikes? Were you running a rental business or motorcycle trading?

 

I had a 1250GS that I sold after 3 weeks because it was not living up to it's reputation (although it broke down 2 times in just these 3 weeks, so that part of the reputation was met).

I then bought aT1200 RP but in all honesty, Triumph did a less good job on the T1200 Rally than it did on the 900 Rally. Luckily I was able to trade it in on a new GT Explorer (selling the RP was a big problem, just like selling the GT E now).

I wanted to ride as many bikes as possible before I couldn't ride any more at all. And, against knowing better, I still had hope that I would find a bike that allowed me to keep on riding. To no avail unfortunately.

 

Lots of bikes in stock now, including the GS. Local dealer here has at least four GS's in stock and a similar number of Tiger 1200's. Motorcycles, boats, etc. are all now readily available given the economy. Big change from only a few months ago.

 

the depreciation was substantially less. And it was sold very quicklyto a BMW dealer.

Of coourse you lost your butt buying and selling the same model year. You might have considered buying used from a private party if you were trying to learn which bike is for you. I read this to note it sounds harsh, but... what did you expect?

I am sorry you are feeling like you don't want to ride anymore. But... think about staying on two wheels with a Burgman?

The Burgman 650 is a luxury, large-capacity super-scoot, with a strong, reliable 638cc parallel twin engine, putting out 54bhp. It has an automatic gearbox with manual override and sports mode, and can touch 120mph where permitted.

I have thought that I myself, if I got to the point where trying to straddle the bike was a problem, I would consider a burgman. I buzz around the island now on a little 150cc scooter. (I also have a Triumph America) The scooter offers its own kind of two wheeled fun.

 

I did not expect to make a profit of course. And I did not buy bikes to see what bike would fit me most. I just wanted to have fun buying them and riding on them. Selling them and loosing money was all in the game.
But it baffled me how much the Tiger (and not just the Gen 4 btw) looses value compared to the GS. And the previous generations did the same.

I'm not going to ride anymore. It's not about not wanting anymore. It's about not being able. Not on a Burgman or three wheel bike either.

Enjoy riding bikes and life as long as you can, it's precious time!

 

What happened to me is amazing.....
I had put my T1200 up for sale in parts, on a kind of Graigs List.
In the listing I stated that because of the huge depreciation of the T1200 I would rather sell the bike in parts than loose 40-50% of the value in just 1,5 month.

Guess what? I received threats that said I needed to remove the listing or "they" would find out where my bike was and take matters in their own hands. I'm not kidding! What kind of world is this????
A dealer that was not happy? A Triumph die-hard that was not happy?

I was advised by the police to remove it while they would investigate.

I told my dealer what happened and he offered to sell the bike for (at a little fee). But I'm still flabbergasted about what happened.

 

What happened to me is amazing.....
I had put my T1200 up for sale in parts, on a kind of Graigs List.
In the listing I stated that because of the huge depreciation of the T1200 I would rather sell the bike in parts than loose 40-50% of the value in just 1,5 month.

Guess what? I received threats that said I needed to remove the listing or "they" would find out where my bike was and take matters in their own hands. I'm not kidding! What kind of world is this????
A dealer that was not happy? A Triumph die-hard that was not happy?

I was advised by the police to remove it while they would investigate.

I told my dealer what happened and he offered to sell the bike for (at a little fee). But I'm still flabbergasted about what happened.

Might be a legal issue? Perhaps you have to be a licensed (scrap?) dealer for that?

otherwise, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would care. Even Triumph. Better to let you be done with it and move on then have this predictable sidetrack, lol.

re resale value of triumph versus other brands… I would guess “supply and demand” is universal. Perhaps just bad timing. Wait until the next James Bond movie? But heartfelt sympathy on the riding situation. It’s one of my biggest fears. Hope you have or find something to take up the slack. 👍

 

Well if you try to compare re-sell value of any bike against a GS you will always loose to the GS.
Im my area you will se gs with 10k km and cost only 1000/2000€ cheaper that new and most of the time with not much extras on it, a total no sense when the bike cost 20-25k.

I was on the search of a second hand 900 rally pro and shortly I decided that it was better to buy a new one has I would only save 1.500€, soo I think not all tigers loose value that fast.

 

MichielRP,

I am very sorry to hear that you won't be able to ride anymore. I have greatly enjoyed your posts and the ones about the Tiger 900 RP were very helpful to a new owner of that bike a couple of years back. I think the problem you have is a rather unlucky combination of different factors. 1. You will always lose quite a lot of money buying a new bike and immediately selling it; 2. People buying a Tiger 1200 might also be in the market for a used GS and we all know that used German bikes and cars just keep their value really well, even though the Tiger 1200 is a great machine. I know it doesn't make much sense because the Tiger 800's, 900's and 1200's have been solid reliable machines. But you can see lots of comparison videos about the Gs and Tiger 1200 online and even though the reviewers are supposed to be objective, you can see how incredibly difficult it is for them to ultimately say that there's a bike as good as or better than the GS, almost as if its heresy. The people buying these type of bikes tend to be very cautious people - going for reliability and reputation, rather than what they might find is better or more enjoyable. I think its just a safer option for them to buy a used GS; 3. I don't think its the best time of year to sell a bike at the end of the summer. In the winter months when riding isn't so much fun, people sit in front of their computer drooling over bikes they might buy, desperate fro spring to come when they can use their new (to them) machine. I think that if you hang on until late winter-early spring, you will get a buyer and get more than a dealer will offer you. There aren't that many people around and in the market for a new bike that costs so much and I think it's just a question of waiting. There will be someone there in NL sitting drooling over 1200 RP's this winter who will have decided he/she wants that particular bike and can't bring him/herself to pay the new price. You won't get lots of people coming to look at it but I am sure you will get a buyer. But you have to be patient and not expect you will sell it tomorrow, or that hundreds of people will come and look at it; 4. The market situation right now is absolutely the worst time to sell a bike. In Europe we have rapidly escalating fuel costs and a lot of market instability because of the Ukraine war, rapidly rising inflation for basic items like food. All retail sectors are going to take a big hit with many people very cautious about spending a lot of money on luxury items. So I think it's a combination of all those factors that don't play in your favour.

Your story about threats after offering to sell the bike for parts is amazing. Never heard of something like that.

I wish you all the best and I hope that your last weeks/months on the bikes were enjoyable.

 

My dear departed Daddy always said, "Its worth what someone will give you for it". The used market, be it cars, trucks, motorcycles, whatever, is in flux. For a time people were paying as much for used as a new unit would cost, if only because there were no new ones to buy. Time of year makes a big difference. I go my new Tiger 900 in February when it was raining for weeks and freezing cold. Got a good deal. Eight weeks later you couldn't find one and would pay top $$ for anything you could buy, new or used. Its just the nature of the market. Of course the biggest depreciation is on day one. Once its transferred to an owner its no longer a new bike. People will pay much more for a new unit than a used one, even if the used one is "perfect".

 

and if its run in, first service done, extras added, mint condition, its still worth less,

 

All good arguments and I know how depreciation works. But of all the new bikes I've owned, I never had one that lost so much value so rapidly. I've had 2 Yamaha's and a GS that I've sold within a year, none of them lost over 40% of the value, not even close. Even my two 900RP's didn't loose that much value in such a short time.
I've seen videos and posts on other forums where people were complaining about the depreciation of the previous T1200 as well.

Well, it is what it is. Motorcycles are expensive toys and it just so happens to be that the Triumph Tiger is just a bit more expensive than others.

 

To be fair......depreciation is only an issue if you sell an item. Triumph's are not cheap. And, yes they lose value when you go to sell them. Its part of the game. When I got my new Tiger I bought it because I really loved the bike and had no intention of selling it any time soon. I have owned a lot of motorcycles in my life. I am careful about what I buy. My previous Tiger was a 2007 1050 ABS. I got lucky and got it as a "left over" and got a super deal, under $10k. I kept it for ten years and sold it for close to half of what it cost new. Fact is that bike is worth about as much now as I sold it for back in 2018. I got ten years out of the bike for about $500 a year. I can't complain.
If I sold my 2022 Tiger right now I would take a beating on it, and I knew that the day I drove it home. But I don't care. With any luck at all I will also have this bike for years. When it comes time to sell I will get whatever its worth at the time. Between now and then I will enjoy the hell out of this wonderful motorcycle and never give a thought to what it cost. All I think about is how much I love it. Money in the bank is worthless, just a number. Its what that money can do that matters. I am old and worked and saved for decades so that the day would come when I could buy what I wanted. ( I did without a lot of neat toys over the years to save for this day. I have no regrets).

 

To be fair......depreciation is only an issue if you sell an item. Triumph's are not cheap. And, yes they lose value when you go to sell them. Its part of the game. When I got my new Tiger I bought it because I really loved the bike and had no intention of selling it any time soon. I have owned a lot of motorcycles in my life. I am careful about what I buy. My previous Tiger was a 2007 1050 ABS. I got lucky and got it as a "left over" and got a super deal, under $10k. I kept it for ten years and sold it for close to half of what it cost new. Fact is that bike is worth about as much now as I sold it for back in 2018. I got ten years out of the bike for about $500 a year. I can't complain.
If I sold my 2022 Tiger right now I would take a beating on it, and I knew that the day I drove it home. But I don't care. With any luck at all I will also have this bike for years. When it comes time to sell I will get whatever its worth at the time. Between now and then I will enjoy the hell out of this wonderful motorcycle and never give a thought to what it cost. All I think about is how much I love it. Money in the bank is worthless, just a number. Its what that money can do that matters. I am old and worked and saved for decades so that the day would come when I could buy what I wanted. ( I did without a lot of neat toys over the years to save for this day. I have no regrets).

I feel the same. My problem with resale is that I put too many miles on my bike. But the more I ride it, the cheaper it is for me to own because I’m getting a hell of a lot more smiles per dollar. The most expensive bikes are the ones that sit in the garage collecting dust.

 

Today I sold my Tiger. Unfortunately.
I did some research and looked around at several dealers to see what the best option would be to sell the bike at a reasonable price.

I didn't want to sell it privately as I didn't want to go through the hassle of that.

So, this is were it got weird. I got several offers from traders but none of them offered more than 16.000 euro (first offer was 17.000 but that was more than a month ago). Mind you, the bike is only 3,5 months old and was almost 29000 euro new with all options. That means almost 13.000 euro depreciation!
Long story short, I bought a 1250 GS Adventure from a multi brand dealer, who gave significantly more trade-in value for my Tiger. Much more than any other Triumph dealer offered. Buying the BMW and immediately selling it without driving it for 1 mile costed me 3.000 depreciation and left me with exactly 17.000 cash instead of the 16.000 I would have had if I had sold the bike directly.

Thus ends my Triumph Tiger era. It is what it is.

 

Today I sold my Tiger. Unfortunately.
I did some research and looker around at several dealers to see what the best option would be to sell the bike at a reasonable price.

I didn't want to sell it privately as I didn't want to go throuhg the hassle of that.

So, this is were it got weird. I got several offers from traders but none of them offered more than 16.000 euro (first offer was 17.000 but that was more than a month ago). Mind you, the bike is only 3,5 months old and was almost 29000 euro new with all options. That means almost 13.000 euro depreciation!
Long story short, I bought a 1250 GS Adventure from a multi brand dealer, who gave significantly more trade-in value for my Tiger. Much more than any other Triumph dealer offered. Buying the BMW and immediately selling it without driving it for 1 mile costed me 3.000 depreciation and left me with exactly 17.000 cash instead of the 16.000 I would have had if I had sold the bike directly.

Thus ends my Triumph Tiger era. It is what it is.

Glad you got what you wanted. I sympathize with your situation.

 

You should be able to compete with the dealers if you have a good advertising platform online. Every buyer buries themself in the web before stepping foot in a dealership. Gotta catch them before they do anything stupid.

 

Had a chat with the owner of my local triumph dealer and he told me that the 1200 is not selling as expected, his shop was full of 1200 tigers, but not a single 900 was available, including the one he had for test riding got sold a few days ago and waiting list is 3 to 4 moths long... probably that's the reason they were offering you a low price.
The owner also joked that he would buy my tiger 900 back for the same it cost me as the model it is now 500 euros more expensive and mine as some extras.

 

That's remarkable. The dealer that bought my Tiger 1200 also told me that the T1200 is not selling as good as they expected. And he had ordered as many as he was able at Triumph.

My own dealer also did what he could to get as many T1200's as possible when it was launched. He has quite a large stock of Rally Pro models as he expected that to be the best selling model (based on the experience he had with the T900). Unfortunately for him, the Rally versions don't seem to be the favourite ones.

The dealer that bought my T1200 also told me there were quite a few potential customers that decided not to buy the T1200 after a test ride. In most cases because of the vibrations.
He even had a customer that bought one only to return it 2 weeks later because he couldn't get used to the vibes.

This does to some extend indeed explain why the trade in value of my T1200 was so ridiculously low.

It's a real shame that the T1200 is not the record selling bike Triumph had hoped it would be. Personally I think it is one of the best looking adventure motors on the market. It had all it needed to be a success. If only Triumph would not have used the T-plane in the T1200.

So my prediction in another earlier thread came true: the biggest rival of the T1200 is the T900.

 

My dealer goes in waves. Some sit there a while then he’ll get low on them and a few more show up.

Regarding the vibration. I knew all about it and was fortunate enough to get an 80 mile test ride. For the first couple of thousand miles I was consciously aware of what vibration there was, but it actually never bothered me. I’m now close to 5,000 miles and I never even think about it any more.

I love the bike. At this point I hope to keep it for a long time. Long enough that however much I lose on the bike won’t matter.

 

Yeah the T-plane is part of the story but also the amazing competition, for the same price there is the Ducati Multistrada V4 which is a amazing bike and I already saw dozens of them around here.
Triumph tried to be best alrounder, and I think it is, but with a normal engine configuration it would have been the perfect long distance touring bike.

And I personally don't care about depreciationas I plan to drive mine until it dies if im able to.

 

It would have been the best allround (and allroad) touring bike if it would have had a smoother engine. Too much emphasis has been put into off road, I guess.

The depreciation wouldn't have bothered me either if I would have driven it until the bike died of old age. But since I had to quit earlier than the bike, the depreciation hurt.
I saw a BMW biker that had his bike for 5 years with over 100.000 km on the bike and he had a depreciation of 13.000 euro. That's as much as I had on my Tiger in 3 months and 4800 kilometer. (Yes, I know, the depreciation is biggest in the first 2 years. But still...)