Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

If you were selling your bike, would you trade it in or sell it privately?

I know that private sales usually attract a higher selling price, but is the hassle worth the effort? Just after people's thoughts here...

For me it would depend on the price difference,

Shop offers you 3k
and private you would get 6k+ would sell private

If the difference is greater then 3k i would sell private.

Or do the cheeky thing, find out how much the trade in is worth.
Try and sell you bike private for 2 weeks, if no go then trade it in.

Helps if the bike you want is new, other wise you can't guarantee your second hand bike will still be there.

Its not just the money you get for your bike.... its the trading power you have when you have cash in your pocket...

If you have cash in your pocket, and flaunt it a little bit, you can make all sorts of deals...

The moment you want to do a trade in, they screw you on the trade in AND on the new bike.... because they are under the impression that they are doing you a favour.... Obviously the smart consumer will be able to avoid this, but its hard to be a smart consumer when you are busy drooling all over the new Crim...

So sell your bike privately is my advice if I was to sum it up...

i like the way you think there senney.

going from 240-450 i did the trade in. got majorly ripped off, then again it was worth it as my bike wasnt that popular and i hadnt had nibbles at my adverts for a while. going from 450-750 i found out the cost of the new bike i wanted (had a choice of two equally decent bikes) and got 1900 for the 450, and stumped up the cash for the difference. Going from 750 to 900 it was a private sale, and yeah, unless it was brand new and i was keen for it, id not bother on a trade in.

i bought my zx6r thru a dealer..sold my cb900 privately tho to do it...
then i traded my zx6r on a vtr (brand new)...seemed ok...

the easiest way tho was the vtr- cbr transition..i sipmply wrote off the VTR ...waited till i was healed up & bought the cbr..for less (privately) than they were going for in dealers...

so..simple answer..are u insured??

Neka79 wrote: so..simple answer..are u insured??

aaah neka...used bike salesperson..to the rich


or may that shoud be to the ...poor

If you've got the time Colette I would say private, but be very canny about who you let look at it etc. The classified's really can be just supermarkets for thieves. A plus though is that they're probably not looking to pinch a ZZR600, but rather a traily or sports bike.

Whatever you do don't try the consignment sale approach. I did it once and got done over by the sales bloke's.

u'd definately get more from a private sale....

i'd go private unless i wanted a quick sale

Colette wrote:If you were selling your bike, would you trade it in or sell it privately?

I know that private sales usually attract a higher selling price, but is the hassle worth the effort? Just after people's thoughts here...

Colette

the dealers use Redbook and Glass as a starting point for tradein
values and resale values
and when they come to re-sell the price is higher...to cover repairs
(if any at trade time) warranty and to give a profit
so
dealer prices may be higher ..or lower than a private sale
it depends on the Redbook value of the bike in question

so if you are buying..that is the case
but
if selling, the dealer may also give you more or less
than a private sale may give you
You have to factor in the RWC (and any necessary repairs)
if selling privately. You may get a higher price..only to recoup
your repair $ necesaary to get the bike fit for sale


hth

if you have a late model highly sought after bike in perfect condition then you could get a decent trade price

if you have non mainstream in not so great condition with higher than 20K on the clock then far better to sell private as a general rule

and of course all depends on what you are trying to buy and who you visit

I personally would point towards the FS thread and also ebay and try your luck , when it sells then start hunting for your new stead

or if you are sufficiently cashed up then keep looking for your new stead and when the right bike comes up at the right price then you buy and then try to offload what you have

Johnnie5 wrote:if you have a late model highly sought after bike in perfect condition then you could get a decent trade price

if you have non mainstream in not so great condition with higher than 20K on the clock then far better to sell private as a general rule

and of course all depends on what you are trying to buy and who you visit

I personally would point towards the FS thread and also ebay and try your luck , when it sells then start hunting for your new stead

or if you are sufficiently cashed up then keep looking for your new stead and when the right bike comes up at the right price then you buy and then try to offload what you have

Thanks guys and Johnnie, this is exactly what I have decided to do..here is the ebay link and I will post it in the for sale section as well.

jee, there are a few kays on it...
thats what worries me about mine too... 58k not gonna be have a great resale value after 60k. though i guess, the plan was to keep it and not re sell it, though i was thinking about putting a z1000 engine if it dies with the zx9 cams to keep the top end. (as the z1000 uses the nine with fuel injection?)

anyone done that before?

ohh, almost forgot to say, the dealer is always going to knock a bit off the price off a bike without a trade in so say the bike you want is 7k he offers you 4k for your bike as a trade in. So thats 3 kay youd have to spend... however if you sell yours for even 4 and a half private. they might knock 1 k off the price for cash ready to go, so thats only 1 and a half kay you need to save up...

guess what im trying to say is if you trade in usually they wont give you a discount on the sticker price as its included in your trade in price to sound more attractive.

wisc wrote:jee, there are a few kays on it...

Yep, I bought my bike to ride it

Colette wrote: Yep, I bought my bike to ride it

Good luck with the sale Colette.

Gotta agree, even though I don't ride mine as much as I'd like, they're not assests to appreciate or even hold their value, they're toys to be used, sold for what you can get and then the process starts over.

Which is why I don't mike racking up the k's or buying stuff which might be hard to sell, everyone needs a hobby

Cheers
Matt