Buying a Motorcycle Part IV

Let me tell you about a little bike shopping experience that I had recently at a very large and supposedly reputable dealer. I had been looking for a 98 to 2001 vfr and found one on line in the inventory list of said dealer, which claimed that it had only 28 miles on it. That's right, 28 miles. This I had to see, but first I called, they checked, and yes, they said, it really only had 28 miles on it. I went down to look at it, and even a mechanically challenged individual could tell that this was bull****. There was one individual, the floor manager, who was trying to clue me in by dropping hints and still not lose his job, and I did get it. I still wanted to check it out, so I put $100 down to hold it until the weather warmed up, and I would come down with my brother-in-law, who is a very astute m.c. rider/motorhead, to test ride it. They were also telling me that they bought the bike at an auction in Michigan and paid too much for it. The asking price was over blue book, but I got that down to a more reasonable price after about an hour and a half of arguing.

Well, about a month later I went back down to the dealership with my brother-in-law. He took one look at the bike and said that the bike had more like 40,000 miles on it, not 28. Also, it would not even hold a charge, we found an almost hidden after market switch that allowed the fan to remain on( a cooling problem no doubt), and after a test ride showed that the bike was way down on power and had serious mechanical problems. I got my $100 back, and they were still trying to tell me that the bike only had 28 miles on it. I feel that the salesman could just as well be selling used cars or washing machines and probably didn't know any better, but someone did. They were trying to sell that pile of junk for $5500 knowing that the milage was false and the bike was a wreck. If this is a good dealer, what are the bad dealers like?

A few weeks later I bought my brother-in-law"s very well maintained 94 vfr, as he was selling that and his hyabusa and planned to get a new vfr. Great bike, fair price, big fun.

I don't know, but if there is any lesson to be learned from this experience, it is, unfortunately, not to trust any dealer/salesman selling any used item. Too bad, I don't like to live like that.