Want to buy a used bike? Bring cash..

[Bloodbag]

I went to the dealership today to trade in my 2007 Kawasaki 900 Custom with 3,800 miles. I wanted to buy the 2005 Yanaha FZ1 they had listed for $6899. The trade in on my bike was about $3900, I owed about $3800. The retail on the FZ1 was about $6,200.

I said I would buy it for $6500 OTD and they would pay my bike off. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me, considering I wanted less than the trade-in for mine and was willing to pay more than the retail for theirs! So while they were running the numbers (code for grabbing coffee and surfing the web), I was imagining myself on my brand new used bike.

To my surprise, they said the best they could do was $6794.00 out the door. Thats it. No lower. They said something about how much they had in the bike and that they would only be making $300. The salesman even pointed out that they deserved to make a profit (no argument there, but no need to point it out, either). Also on the sales sheet was $298 for "dealer prep". Please explain to me how they charge $298 when all they probably did to the bike was wash it. In fact, the state inspection sticker was out of date and it was missing a bolt that held on one of the plastic side covers.

I was still considering just going ahead and bending over when the saleman suggest I talk to the finance person (another saleman) about the financing offers. Since I already had a Kawasaki card, they could put the new balance on it. But since it was not a new bike (and not a Kawasaki), it would be at some ridiculous 17% intrest rate. Even if I got a Yamaha card, the intrest rate would be about 14%. So I decided, too high price+too high intrest rate=no sale.

In conclusion, if you want a used bike, and don't have all the cash to pay for it up front, go ride the city bus instead.

[W-P Bill]

Get yourself a pre approved loan. Same as cash as far as the dealership is concerned.

[nvbirdman]

So you're forced to continue riding your 2007 900 Custom, yes life can be tough.

[daniel2002p]

I always get preapproved through my own bank before I ever walk into any dealership... I got a heal of a rate with my bank... 6.25% for a 60mos loan... better than the 11.99 kawi wanted to offer me

D

[Big Ed]

Yeah!

What he said.

Whatever that was.

[mnnomadguy]

Bloodbag, you ought to have no problem selling the bike for 3800 or 3900, then go find what you want.

And personally, I usually buy bikes from private parties, not dealers. But have a shop (not a dealer shop, every town has that place where they really work on bikes well) inspect it carefully.

Credit unions are usually the best place to finance, if you must finance. For me however, bike = toy = cash.


Best of luck!



Greg

[GeeMac]

I cut my Kawasaki card up and canceled my account because of their interest rate.

[bretsk2500]

Originally Posted by daniel2002p

I always get preapproved through my own bank before I ever walk into any dealership... I got a heal of a rate with my bank... 6.25% for a 60mos loan... better than the 11.99 kawi wanted to offer me

D

that's what I'm paying on my ZZR at my credit union.... I think I'm 2 or 3 months ahead on my payments now, instead of paying them monthly, I rounded up the amount and divided by 4 and deposit that amount every week when I cash my check.. this works out great because there are thirteen 4 week periods in a year.

When I pay this one off, then I'll go liter bike shopping

[c_law23]

Originally Posted by mnnomadguy

Bloodbag, you ought to have no problem selling the bike for 3800 or 3900, then go find what you want.

heck if you are going to sell it, you should be able to get 5k depending on condition, mileage and add-ons.

[adcoleman]

Originally Posted by c_law23

heck if you are going to sell it, you should be able to get 5k depending on condition, mileage and add-ons.

$5k at least...especially considering there are not too many used vulcan 900's out there b/c they have only been out for a couple years.