Haggling if a bike has no obvious flaws...

[jambo]

Originally Posted by Pedrosa

Anyways I sliced another €100 off it and he was content. I remained a little peeved as although at the time I really had to sell the bike, I did feel that he had been a greedy c*nt! (pardon my French.) You see it's like why try to screw the seller down to the floor when you know the price it is at right now is a good deal anyway? Brother bikers and all that BS hey?

I'd have said, "look you came all this way, you can take the bike at a good price we agreed, or you can go back without it. The price is fair and as low as I'm willing to go. Your call"

When I bought my ZX6 privately I haggled quite hard. This was based on a few things but the main one was it was described as "showroom" now while it was clean it had a fair few scuffs and scrapes on the fairing so I pointed out how much these would cost to repair. Had the bike been described as "some scuffs and scrapes" I'd have phoned and haggled ahead of arriving. I was happy with the deal I got, but at no point was I unreasonable. I'm not going to pay more than I have to though.


Bear: Good luck mate. And also "Gis a go"

I'm pretty sure i spied a ZX9-R f/s at my garage today....i will investigate further tomorrow.

Ooh just checked the site,its a 1988...maybe thats too old.

[KnightRider]

Originally Posted by jambo

I'd have said, "look you came all this way, you can take the bike at a good price we agreed, or you can go back without it. The price is fair and as low as I'm willing to go. Your call"

+1

Its all about mentality. If you put yourself in a position of strength and focus on all the reasons why the other party needs to buy the bike you will end up getting a better price.

At the end of the day, you could have advertised your bike with a €600 discount and bet you would have had hords of people knocking at your door!

Bear - good luck and happy hunting - hope you bag a bargain.

Dude how did it go?

Jambo, next time I'm selling a bike and I am in negotiation stage with a potential buyer I think I will do "call a friend" and hand him over to you.

Well, had a look at a couple today, took my Uncle Mark with me for moral support. It's down to a choice of 3 at the moment, all on for £2500ish: a black 1998 with 32000 miles on from a dealer close to me (My second choice), standard except its got an immobiliser fitted, a green 1998 with 19000 miles which has no alarm or immobiliser but has got a full micron system with a Scorpion end can on (My fave at the mo) or a red and purple 1999 with 26000 miles on which has a LOT of "tasteful" red anodised bits and bobs that are going a little pink from sun exposure, alarm AND immobiliser, and a nice exhaust the make of which escapes me for the moment! (The rank outsider!)

So; here's the plan.

I go and have a second look at the black one. If I like it as much as the Green one I mention that there's one up for the same money with an aftermarket exhaust, 13000 miles less on the clock. If we can get closer to £2000...

I go for the test ride of the Green one (Yummy!) If all goes well with the test ride, I mention theres one the same age and condition in a dealers closer to my house that already has an alarm and immobiliser, but I really quite like this green one. If we can get closer to £2000...

All else fails and the red/purple one is all that's left: All this anodised tat has to go and be replaced. It seems to have been dropped a couple of times (the kick-part of the side stand is bent and there's a little polishing on the clutch lever, looks like the front fairing has been replaced with OEM part).
If we can get closer to £2000...

Hopefully I'll let you know that I got a steal tomorrow...

[Biker Biggles]

Welcome to the dark side.
I would forget the blinged up crashed one.You can do better than that for the money.The other two sound nice,but closer to £2000 is a must.At this time of year you could probably get an Ffor £3500 with sub 20000 miles.Worth checking on both those bikes that the valve clearences have been done.Plenty about so dont get sucked in until you get the right one at the right price.

You've got to be cheeky with them. I'm sure you can manage that. Maybe have a stiff drink before?! I know it's not in the same league but I got a battery for £50 instead of £65 in a shop just cos I was cheeky. Felt wrong but when he said yeah I was so happy. I'd say all of the above. If you go too high first off and he says yeah you'll kick yourself for not trying less. Don't forget to the dealers, a few extras cost a lot less for them than for you to do after. Annodising? I'd say that's a reason to get money off! Standard bike probably hasn't been tinkered with a lot which I'd find a good thing.

I'd go for the black one cos black is back people. Oh yeah.

I gather your knee's a lot better!

Originally Posted by BigApe

Offering to buy the bike in cash these days is probably the best way to ensure you don't get a good deal.

+1

Make them think you'll buy finance and they will sell it to you at cost or near as damn it. They make a lot of their money in selling the finance packages which invariably have a high rate of interest (0% finance deals excluded, which is why you normally have to pay list price on these).

It's a kwak. It has to be the green one. Any other colour and it's trying to be something else.

GET THE GREEN ONE.