Risks of buying from a dealer

[Hurrie]

Hey KB'rs hopefully someone can give me some advise

I Live in Christchurch and i was looking at a bike from a Yamaha Dealer in the north island and since i cant ride it and check it over myself before i ride it, i have to take the dealer's word that the bike is in good condition. It has been checked over by their mta approved mechanic so is that good enough to protect me if i buy it and find out that there are parts that are broken or that the bike wasnt as i expected?

What can i do to make sure that i wont get ripped off so that if i buy it i can take some sort of legal action.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or info.

[bsasuper]

Fly up and look for yourself, better to spend a couple of hundy, than thousands being dissapointed

[White trash]

Any dealer worth their salt will happily describe its condition accurately. You have to be realistic in your expectations based on age and milage though.

[Clean_up]

Depending on how much you're gonna pay for it, some dealerships offer a free delivery or free flight to pick up and ride it home. See if they are able to do the latter of the options for you then you can inspect it yourself when you get there to pick it up plus if all checks out, you get an epic first ride on your new baby

[BMWST?]

book a bit in advance and you should be able to get an awesome deal for the flight!

[vifferman]

Get them to provide a written description of condition.
BTW (and no offence intended) - are you sufficiently familiar with the model and mechanically-minded to be able to pick up anything that's wrong with it yourself (apart from the obvious)? It's always a bit of a gamble unless the bike's under warranty, and there's inevitably a few things you don't notice until after you've taken delivery and got a few miles on it, or give it the first wash.
It's really up to you what sort of risk you're prepared to take.

Another option is to see if someone on KB is prepared to look it over for you (although once again you're relying on their expertise, knowledge, etc.) or to name the dealer and ask other KBers to PM you to vouch for their trustworthiness or lack thereof.

[martybabe]

Do bear in mind though...If you do have any problems you will have to return it to the dealer so that they have a chance to rectify the problem. I don't think you would be able to pursue them legally with any hope of success if they weren't given a chance to sort it out prior to court proceedings. Which means shipping it back to them at least once.

Whilst I'm sure the dealer will ship it as described, any minor issues or intermittent problems can swiftly turn into a nightmare (Transport wise). I've had a lot of problems with a brand new bike and the fact that My Local supplying dealer is 350k away has caused no end of hassle for Both parties.

It's a gamble but my advice is buy from as local as you can, if, of course , you can source the bike you want. Having said that, I would buy a bike from anywhere in the country if I really wanted that bike but never without checking it over and riding it first.

Good luck

[Gibbo89]

Hey KB'rs hopefully someone can give me some advise

I Live in Christchurch and i was looking at a bike from a Yamaha Dealer in the north island and since i cant ride it and check it over myself before i ride it, i have to take the dealer's word that the bike is in good condition. It has been checked over by their mta approved mechanic so is that good enough to protect me if i buy it and find out that there are parts that are broken or that the bike wasnt as i expected?

What can i do to make sure that i wont get ripped off so that if i buy it i can take some sort of legal action.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or info.

What is the update on your cbr? imdying reckons it's not as bad as it looks eh, he said it on the WNR thread.

[wysper]

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or info.

Just did this exact thing myself.

Although at least I and the dealer are in the North Island. I am in Hammy, dealer was in Welly.

I got a good vibe talking to the dealer.
Dealer sent me photos of the bike, and the pre purchase inspection. The dealer gave me a 1 year unlimited ks gear box and engine warranty. (LEGEND). This helped mainly for my peace of mind.

I bought the bike sight unseen and un-ridden. It was second hand. It was an import. (I wonder how many rules of purchasing a vehicle I broke there!!)

It was more than I have ever spent on a bike before.

That was a couple of weeks ago.

Dealer shipped the bike up to me FOC. Rang several times to make sure things were ok. Quickly answered any questions I had. The experience was brilliant. Normally I would want to ride the bike first, and see it in the flesh. But I was pretty sure that if when I got it, for some reason it wasn't right, the dealership would put it right.

So I am stoked. I feel I got a good bike for a good price. I tried to buy locally but for several reasons that didn't happen.
I have no regrets. Sure, nothing has gone wrong, so I can't comment on that. But I have full confidence in the dealer that they will look after me if it does.

I would agree with the comments of asking round about the dealer. See what experiences other have had with them. If you feel uncomfortable, don't do it. I mentioned to the dealer I was a bit nervous and they understood that. They made me feel comfortable about it all. I was stoked when I saw the bike unloaded of the bike transporter.

[AllanB]

Any dealer worth their salt will happily describe its condition accurately. You have to be realistic in your expectations based on age and milage though.

I agree 100%.

I've purchased two bikes from Dunedin (I am in Christchurch) sight unseen - the first was described as 'like new' and only have a couple thousand kms on it, delivered free and as described. The second was a no-brainer as it was my Hornet and it was brand spanking new

I presume they have sent you a load of photos? if not phone and request a pile of them including some close ups. Plus are they offering a 3 month warranty or similar - if so ask if they will have it honored by the local Yammy dealer if anything is required under it, ie they pick up the bill as it won't be worth sending it back to them to fix if minor! It is highly unlikely that anything will be required at all so minimal risk to them.

Also have a KBer check it out for you.

You'll be a lot safer getting it off a dealer than a trademe sale! I was talking to a bike transporter a while back and he stated that he often sees very disapoinded faces when he drops off Trademe bikes!

[Hurrie]

Any dealer worth their salt will happily describe its condition accurately. You have to be realistic in your expectations based on age and milage though.

well its a 1990 but i'm expecting it to be in mint condition (minor scratches aside) since the km's are low and its had 2 nz owners and imported in 2004.

book a bit in advance and you should be able to get an awesome deal for the flight!

yeah but what if i miss out on the bike cause i waited too long?

Get them to provide a written description of condition.
BTW (and no offence intended) - are you sufficiently familiar with the model and mechanically-minded to be able to pick up anything that's wrong with it yourself (apart from the obvious)? It's always a bit of a gamble unless the bike's under warranty, and there's inevitably a few things you don't notice until after you've taken delivery and got a few miles on it, or give it the first wash.
It's really up to you what sort of risk you're prepared to take.

yeah i tried that and he told me that he'd get the mechanic to do a thorough check and get back to me with the report. Its a CBR250 i've owned two and i've worked on both a fair bit, i was gonna get a friend of mine to go check it out but he used to ride a GN250 so im pretty sure that if he got on the cibby he'd think its amazing no matter whats wrong with it, so i'm not sure there's any point. i really want to go check it out myself but at the same time my gear got damaged from my crash so i'd have to buy new gear before going to check it out and i'd rather spend the money getting the bike i want first than worry about the gear later.

What is the update on your cbr? imdying reckons it's not as bad as it looks eh, he said it on the WNR thread.

i'm not too sure who imdying is but the bike was a straight right off lol the mechanic actually laughed when he came to pick it up just cause it was so bent up. apparantly the main frame is bent aswell as the sub frame. so yeah not too good lol

I agree 100%.

I presume they have sent you a load of photos? if not phone and request a pile of them including some close ups. Plus are they offering a 3 month warranty or similar - if so ask if they will have it honored by the local Yammy dealer if anything is required under it, ie they pick up the bill as it won't be worth sending it back to them to fix if minor! It is highly unlikely that anything will be required at all so minimal risk to them.

Also have a KBer check it out for you.

You'll be a lot safer getting it off a dealer than a trademe sale! I was talking to a bike transporter a while back and he stated that he often sees very disapoinded faces when he drops off Trademe bikes!

just photo's of each side not many close ups, he hasnt mentioned anything about a warranty and i'd be surprised if he did since its a 1990 and he didnt say anything about free shipping either just that he'd give me $1000 off the listed price since it was accidentally dropped a couple of weeks ago by their apprentice. (only has a little scratching on the side).

[baptist]

http://www.motorcycle-doctors.co.nz/ these guys will do a pre purchase appraisal of your bike before you part with all your hard earned... dunno what they charge but they advertise on KB and seem to have a good rep.

[racefactory]

Hey KB'rs hopefully someone can give me some advise

I Live in Christchurch and i was looking at a bike from a Yamaha Dealer in the north island and since i cant ride it and check it over myself before i ride it, i have to take the dealer's word that the bike is in good condition. It has been checked over by their mta approved mechanic so is that good enough to protect me if i buy it and find out that there are parts that are broken or that the bike wasnt as i expected?

What can i do to make sure that i wont get ripped off so that if i buy it i can take some sort of legal action.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or info.

Fuck me isn't this the point of buying from a dealer in the first place? So you can get it exactly as described and have warranty, inspections and all that bull. Where's your faith mate?

People buy second hand private bikes often totally blind and have bikes delivered or go fly up.

Just buy it mate, stop wasting your time thinking about it if you really want it. This is New Zealand here.

[p.dath]

The cost of taking legal action and the time it takes is so great I wouldn't bother wasting your time on something where you want to consider this as a serious course of action.

You could engage an independent bike mechanic in the area to do a pre-purchase inspection for you.

So either accept the price and risk and forget about legal recourse, or buy closer to home, or go and take a trip and look at the bike yourself.

[marty]

LOL - yeah dealers are just so trustworthy.

the last car i bought from a dealer cost me $3500 in repairs in its first 12 months - not covered by aftermarket warranty, and considered by the small claims court as 'unforseen' problems.

the dealer simply refused to answer any of my e-mails/calls - they just referred me to their lawyer.