Cancellation of Y.E.S. on sale of bike

[El Toro]

During this spring market I went through a process of trying to sell my FJR AE (posted on forum, on ebay, and consignment with Yammy dealer), then decided to keep it, and then eventually traded it. There were a couple of things I thought I would share about how the Y.E.S. contract played into this.

1. I bought the Y.E.S. contract with the idea that it would be a valuable feature when reselling. When I put the bike up for sale this spring, it had 3 years and unlimited mileage remaining on the contract. The Y.E.S. contract did not come up as an issue. When the bike was on consignment at the dealership, the sales manager did not even tell the other salesmen about it. When I was offering it for sale with the Y.E.S. contract as a feature, offers were still down near the trade in value for a bike with no Y.E.S. contract. I think that on resale, just like every other farkle out there, the farkles are orphans, and folks hope to get them without spending any extra money to buy the bike.

2. Before the trade process last week I read the Y.E.S. contract in detail, and I discovered that the owner could cancel the contract at any time. The fee to cancel would be a $25 administrative fee, and the original premium would be pro-rated according to the date of the cancellation. All you had to do was write a letter to the dealer who sold you the Y.E.S. contract asking to cancel, and enclose the contract with the letter. Since in my discussion with the trading dealer the Y.E.S. contract did NOTHING to improve my position in the trade, I took it out of the deal. Instead I planned to cancel it and get my pro-rated refund. The trading dealer didn't care, and in fact, I think they would rather sell the buyer a new contract and make some money, rather than transfer an old one.

3. I called the Y.E.S. dealer where I'd bought the contract to give him a "heads up" that the contract was coming for cancellation.

He told me "You can't cancel it unless you've totaled the bike. Yamaha won't let us cancel the contract unless you provide a copy of the police report."

I read him the contract language, and he turned me over to his paperwork person. The paperwork person agreed with the contract language, and told me to follow the directions in the contract, and that a refund would be issued.

I wonder if other folks have been told they couldn't cancel?

I guess my thought on this is that buying the Y.E.S. contract may be a brilliant move for someone who tends to keep bikes for a long time, or for lots of miles.

Someone like me who tends to keep bikes for less than two years, and rarely puts more than 10,000 miles on any individual bike, is probably wasting money buying any extended warranty, including Y.E.S. I am chalking it up to tuition.

I'd never bought an extended warranty before. I'm going back to my old policy on these. Your mileage may vary.

 

[bramfrank]

That's very interesting, but the key question is whether you will be refunded the portion of the contract that was the dealer's profit?

I suppose if you got it from D&H they must make about $20 on the deal so it isn;t a big deal, but if you paid $800 or more, half ther money went to the vendor . . what if he is out of business?

I do know that GM will allow cancellation of their extended warranties, but only if there have been no claims.

 

[El Toro]

That's very interesting, but the key question is whether you will be refunded the portion of the contract that was the dealer's profit?
I suppose if you got it from D&H they must make about $20 on the deal so it isn;t a big deal, but if you paid $800 or more, half ther money went to the vendor . . what if he is out of business?

I do know that GM will allow cancellation of their extended warranties, but only if there have been no claims.

The contract language says you will be refunded the pro-rated amount of the cost of the contract. It does not mention any "profit" or mark up issues.

I had no claims. The rules are different if there were claims. They're described in the contract.

Anyone who's interested should read their own contract.

One of the reasons I called the dealer was to find out if he was still in business. If he had not been in business, I would have been on the phone to Yamaha asking for relief through them.

Frankly, I am thinking that the money on these things may stay in some credit account for (or possibly even at) the dealer. Otherwise why would Yamaha require that you do your cancellation through the seller, rather than through some central clearing house.

If the cancellation goes awry, or if it is discounted as you suggest, I'll repost.... but its not the dealer profit that matters here.... its the premium for what amounts to an insurance policy. The contract language says it is NOT a warranty. Its really just insurance against future repair issues.

The whole idea of Y.E.S. is nice, but the transfer rules, which allow a dealer to charge an unspecified fee to inspect and approve or reject the transfer, are aggravating. When I put the bike on consignment, the sales manager did not even want any of the Y.E.S. paperwork. He said "Oh, the warranty is with the VIN, so its not necessary." Obviously this position was contrary to the contract language, showing that even large Yammy dealers don't have Y.E.S. figured out fully.

 

[dcarver]

Interesting read El Toro - thanks for the advice. Hate to hear you sold your Feejer..

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

^^^ +1

What'd'ya trade for... (what bike)?

 

[UHOH]

wow, what a detail is my reaction.

I've been helped many times in life, so try for a more "pass-it-forward" approach, and

would have included the YES for the next guy, whether I profited from it or not.

 

[El Toro]

^^^ +1 What'd'ya trade for... (what bike)?

New Rocket III Touring.

Still have assorted BMWs, and ancient British iron.

 

[na1g]

When I traded my Honda ST13 last year, I had a couple of years on Honda's extended warranty. Much the same deal as with YES, but I could take my paperwork to ANY Honda dealer who would charge me a handling fee ($25 I think) and the remainder would come from Honda. My closest H dealer, who did not sell me the warranty, handled it all with no problem.

If I were buying a used bike, I'd consider the warranty a plus if it is issued by the manufacturer (like YES) but it wouldn't be a big increase in price. Just me.

I'm coming up on fish-or-cut-bait time for my YES: do I or don't I???

pete

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I'm coming up on fish-or-cut-bait time for my YES: do I or don't I???

Wiki: Commonly, written warranties will assure the buyer that an article is of good quality and against defects in "materials and workmanship."

If you think your bike will develop a defect in the future -- you might need it (Y.E.S.)? Especially if you can't repair it yourself or don't want to pay to have it repaired.

I think -- if something serious develops Yamaha will probably issue a recall (regardless of whether a bike has Y.E.S. or not).

just my $.02

 

[bramfrank]

When I traded my Honda ST13 last year, I had a couple of years on Honda's extended warranty. Much the same deal as with YES, but I could take my paperwork to ANY Honda dealer who would charge me a handling fee ($25 I think) and the remainder would come from Honda. My closest H dealer, who did not sell me the warranty, handled it all with no problem.
If I were buying a used bike, I'd consider the warranty a plus if it is issued by the manufacturer (like YES) but it wouldn't be a big increase in price. Just me.

I'm coming up on fish-or-cut-bait time for my YES: do I or don't I???

pete

It's less than $400 - if you ride a lot you stand a reasonable chance of collecting - then again, if you decide later that you didn;t need it, it would have been less than $100 a year for the time you used.

I've collected on a headlight reflector (and now they owe me another, though they (the new field guy for our region) are somewhat reticent about supplying it - we're 'talking' - and my dealer is fighting for me). I am having my fork seals donje on their nickle as well. And I have another year to run.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Bummer you sold the FeeJ ET.

The Y.E.S. is still a good marketing tool for private party sale. You may not get more for the bike, but it may sell quicker, etc. As you mentioned, you'll never see the money from farkles, it helps but you've lost most of the investment. I would agree at a dealer, cancel it and get the $$ and the dealer will make more selling the new owner a new Y.E.S.

Good luck.

 

[FJRScrewball]

When I bought my '07 AE used I was offered the Y.E.S. warranty from the dealer. I thought about passing on it but then started to worry about all the expensive additional electrical parts used in the AE system and thought I might need it someday. Now that I just bought a new 2010 I passed on the Y.E.S. knowing I have a year to think about it and less that could go wrong.

 

[HaulinAshe]

I've recovered my cost for YES on the '07 at least ten times over. But then again, it has nearly 100,000 miles on it and another year to go on YES.

I wish the PO of the '06 I just bought had purchased YES for it. I would have gladly paid him $400 extra for the coverage.

If your bikes are garage queens, YES makes no sense until it's time to sell the bike. Then it's too late.

 

[rogerfjrfaster]

My bike was no garage Queen it was ridden like it was supposed to be done when I put it on EBAY it sold for 3,050.00 it had sst brake lines Wilber Raceing Suppension CB was a great bike had a 100,000 miles and rebuilt the valve guides and cam chain tensioner still as quick as whe I bought and it had the YES contract and saved my bacon.

rogerfjrfaster :yahoo:

 

[palerider]

When I traded my Honda ST13 last year, I had a couple of years on Honda's extended warranty. Much the same deal as with YES, but I could take my paperwork to ANY Honda dealer who would charge me a handling fee ($25 I think) and the remainder would come from Honda. My closest H dealer, who did not sell me the warranty, handled it all with no problem.
If I were buying a used bike, I'd consider the warranty a plus if it is issued by the manufacturer (like YES) but it wouldn't be a big increase in price. Just me.

I'm coming up on fish-or-cut-bait time for my YES: do I or don't I???

pete

I'd go along w/El Toro and suggest that it depends on your long-term plans for your Feej. If you're going to keep it for a while, then one repair covers the cost.

 

[Slonishku]

wow, what a detail is my reaction.
I've been helped many times in life, so try for a more "pass-it-forward" approach, and

would have included the YES for the next guy, whether I profited from it or not.

+1

 

[El Toro]

I hope I could buy a bike from one of the guys who wants to pay it forward ... lets see..... I'll give the trade value for the basic unadorned bike, and I'll get very low mileage, no damage issues, the extended warranty, the aftermarket seats, the GPS, the top box, and all the other farkels. With my luck they will have broken in the bike via the moto man method, and then adjusted their own cam chain, synched their own throttle bodies, etc.

Seriously though ....

I had to make a trip to the dealer (it was on the way to Barber, so I combined it with a trek to the Museum). But I did get the refund. I think it was calculated a bit to their favor, but it was a significant fraction of the original cost, and the few bucks one way or the other weren't worth haggling over.

 

[Fred W]

Had I bought an extended warranty on a (any) vehicle, I would never expect any sort of a refund from it.

Instead, I would try and parlay that into a somewhat higher resale price (assuming the warranty is still in effect) and call it a day. You have clearly also received some value personally by being protected (insured) from major problems for your period of tenure.

 

[xcsp]

Not sure how Yamaha's Y.E.S. warranty works in regards to if a person trades a vehicle in to a Yamaha dealer, but I found that with GM vehicles, if you have a GM ext. warranty still in effect and trade the vehicle, I was told the warranty will not transfer to the person who buys that vehicle from the dealership - good way for the dealer to possibly sell another warranty.