Bike Paperwork

The day is fast approaching for me to buy my first bike so I was wondering, when I buy it second hand and do all the tyre kicking and stuff and agree a price what paperwork should change hands with the money? Do I walk away if there is no V5(?), servicebook, original receipt etc. And what do I need to look for on the official forms to spot a scam?

[timwilky]

Personally I would walk away from private sales where the V5 does not show the address as being where you are currently viewing the bike.

I also tend to use pound notes let the seller get a sniff and be prepared to walk away if he ain't prepared to deal.

The only documents you need are the v5 and mot if applicable. It is obviosly better to also walk away with warrenty details if applicable and service history etc.

You can generally spot part time dealers. They tend to be keen to shift stock but argue about price. This type are a pain. pretending to be private but wanting full wack.

Before you arrange to buy, get a HPI check done. I once made the mistake of putting down a deposit to hold, doing the HPI and getting an alert and the dodgy dealer refusing to refund deposit.

Use your intuition to work out if is a scam or not, you can normally tell if people are up to no good. Have a look at the house its being sold from and ask for a cup of tea or something, it not unknow for scammers to park up a house that they dont have access to.

If there is no V5 i would walk no questions - no matter how good a deal it looks. I know that there are situations where you can buy a geniune bike without a V5 but as this is your first bike it pays to be cautiuos.

Have a look at the V5 as well, for instance if its changed hands 10 times there is probally something up.

Ask the seller to provide some proper ID so you know who your buying it off, they have every right to ask you to provide this as well.

You should be getting an MOT as well if it over 3 years old.

Hopefully there should be some sericve history, dosen't need to be from a dealer but most people keep receipts or oil/filters etc that they have changed. Personally i would be a bit relutant to buy a bike without any service history at all.

[Viney]

Check the V5 against chassis number, engine number etc. makes sure that you are viewing the vehicle at the address thats on the V5. Make sure that the MOT's tally, as in milage seems constant, and if any, corresponds to the service history. I once viewed a car that the milage went up, then down, then back up again and the history wasnt even for the car!

General condition of bike and all that.

Make sure that you fill in the new keepers section of the V5, and they do to, and that you retian the new keepers suppliment. Keep the MOT's etc as well. ooo, also make sure that the Tax is for the bike.

Thanks all, never done a private cash transaction to buy a motor before so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious. Whereabouts are the chassis/engine number on an SV?

[rictus01]

all good advice and worth following.

Couple of other bits of paper worth asking about, alarm fitting cert, datatag/ alpha dot form.

also, get the spare key for the bike & the key number, spare fob for the alarm is useful to.

stand, bike cover, special tools, manual, always worth a shot, after all the old owner isn't going to need them and even if you don't you can always sell them on.

Any replacement aftermarket parts, try and get the originals in the deal as well.

Cheers Mark.