Out-of-Town Bike Purchases

[SacramentoMike]

You may know Clark Howard, a very informative and entertaining consumer advocate syndicated on AM radio. I respect his advice and opinions. Today he was discussing the danger of buy a car from anyone but a local seller. But if you're looking for something much more specialized, like an FJR, you have a lot better chance of finding what you want by broadening your search.

That made me think about the FJR Forum and our members' Classified section. There have been so few reports of problems or any kind of fraud here since I've been on the board as to be almost nonexistent, so cheers for the FJR Forum! Still, problems are possible, and that's a great benefit of making use of this community. While I haven't done this, I've seen requests and offers of help with out-of-area buys, especially for a big purchase like a used bike. Someone local to the seller can at least go and see the bike, look at the paperwork, even make sure the bike is really on the premises. Some of the "scammers" Clark Howard refers to in car sales are actually offering cars they don't own by reprinting information from legitimate local ads with their own contact info, and securing (and disappearing with) down payments from careless buyers.

Buyers are still responsible for their own decisions, naturally, and I wouldn't recommend closing a deal or paying a deposit until you've seen and checked out a bike yourself, wherever it was, but depending on forum folks for an initial screening seems like a wise precaution. If the flags are all green, that's a good time for the "fly and buy" (or at least "fly and try"), whether the seller is from the forum or a Craigslist ad six states away. I'd think most any seller would take a small deposit and hold the bike (briefly) for someone he knew was flying in specifically to see it, and I'd feel safe doing that much once someone else had done that initial screening. Naturally, a bike from a long-time and well-known forum member is safer than an unknown, but still probably a good safety check. FWIW, YMMV, and "just sayin' and 'nuf said," as I heard someplace.

 

[Patriot]

 

[ahchiu]

I guess I was very lucky, I bought my 06 FJR from Cycle Trader in Sept 08, he lived in So Cal. I called him and he seems to be legit, I send him 9k and he had all the recalls done for me before it was shipped up to Seattle. If I was to buy a bike today I would be differentunless it was on this fourm, too many scamers. +1 for the folks on this fourm.

 

[mk2wilson]

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Sacto Mikey – Great post and points. I trust this forum as a collective and would ask others to check out a bike for me if the situation arose. I've volunteered to look at bikes in my area for other forum members.

One indicator I’d really look at on a forum before purchasing items is post count and when the person joined the forum. I know many don’t frequent the forum a lot or post a bunch, but it’s a barometer so to speak to start. If one just joined a forum and the second day and his second post is to sell something, well, that’s ok, but it can raise a flag to be cautious.

I have bought a bike form a members friend on this forum and I’ve sold a bike (actually many bikes) on ebay.

After PMing a forum member about their friends bike I told them to tell the seller I was definitely interested and they got me their phone number. A couple phone calls later (and a couple days) and I was on my way up to pick up the bike with a cashiers check for them. Went swell, great experience.

I also sold my old Beemer on ebay. The gentlemen that bought it lived in the Seattle, WA, area. I thought he was nuts to buy it solely by my description, and even nuttier that he just flew down with the cash to pick it up and ride it home. Again after a couple phone calls and coordinated flight, I picked him up at the airport Friday evening, brought him to my house, we did the transaction and he took off for home at about 7:30pm. He arrived home Sunday about noon. That’s what he wanted to do, drive straight back. Worked out great!

Reno John did the same selling his scoot to a Canuck that flew in and drove it home after I believe spending the night.

Each person must really assess what’s going on, but there is faith on both parties that they are trusting each other.

I probably wouldn’t give a full or even partial payment (like via Paypal) for a bike I had to travel to get. Maybe a deposit that I know I could lose, a few hundred bucks max seems fair to me.

Anyway…. What’s this post about again? :huh:

 

[mk2wilson]

Sacto Mikey – Great post and points. I trust this forum as a collective and would ask others to check out a bike for me if the situation arose. I've volunteered to look at bikes in my area for other forum members.

One indicator I’d really look at on a forum before purchasing items is post count and when the person joined the forum. I know many don’t frequent the forum a lot or post a bunch, but it’s a barometer so to speak to start. If one just joined a forum and the second day and his second post is to sell something, well, that’s ok, but it can raise a flag to be cautious.

I have bought a bike form a members friend on this forum and I’ve sold a bike (actually many bikes) on ebay.

After PMing a forum member about their friends bike I told them to tell the seller I was definitely interested and they got me their phone number. A couple phone calls later (and a couple days) and I was on my way up to pick up the bike with a cashiers check for them. Went swell, great experience.

I also sold my old Beemer on ebay. The gentlemen that bought it lived in the Seattle, WA, area. I thought he was nuts to buy it solely by my description, and even nuttier that he just flew down with the cash to pick it up and ride it home. Again after a couple phone calls and coordinated flight, I picked him up at the airport Friday evening, brought him to my house, we did the transaction and he took off for home at about 7:30pm. He arrived home Sunday about noon. That’s what he wanted to do, drive straight back. Worked out great!

Reno John did the same selling his scoot to a Canuck that flew in and drove it home after I believe spending the night.

Each person must really assess what’s going on, but there is faith on both parties that they are trusting each other.

I probably wouldn’t give a full or even partial payment (like via Paypal) for a bike I had to travel to get. Maybe a deposit that I know I could lose, a few hundred bucks max seems fair to me.

Anyway…. What’s this post about again? :huh:

I agree about the new member statement. I have seen people show up on forums more than once selling the next "great"thing after being on the forum for a few hours. I think that is the main reason I have kept my user name on all the forums I am on.

 

[SacramentoMike]

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

I like this guy. He's like Santa Claus. He'll check it twice. :lol:

 

[squeezer]

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

I know I'm pretty new to the forum, but I would be more than happy to check out a bike for a forum member in my area.

I like this guy. He's like Santa Claus. He'll check it twice. :lol:

Hang on now... It's not Friday yet.

 

[Tree Doc]

I've had 3 experiences that were sketchy.

The first was with my own ATV. I bought a couple Polaris Sportsman AWD quads a few years back and just like most of us on this forum, I got involved on an ATV forum and had a gallery of some photos that were taken of both my new quads. Sometime down the road, I received a message from one of the regular members on the site asking why I was selling my ATV's. I was a bit confused as neither were for sale. He sent me a link to an ebaY listing and sure enough, there were my pictures of my ATV, a couple of them with my wife doing her best Vanna White impersonation on her own 400 Sportsman! The ad was obviously bogus as the seller was only asking $3000 for a brand new $6500 ATV. I notified ebaY and the ad disappeared. That was the end of that one.

Second was prior to my above ATV purchase, I was going to bid on a nice Polaris on ebaY. I made contact with the seller with questions and made up my mind and even told him that I would no doubt be winning this auction. I had cash in hand and all my questions had been answered and at the last minute, because the guy lived in So Cal, I told him I would come down and hand him the money in cash and in person. It turned out to be a scam as shortly after that last communique, the auction was ended by the seller early and he stopped all communication with me and disappeared.

Lastly, one of my local Bank Officers had a real problem after they bought a sport quad in from a seller in AZ. It's not unusual for offroad ATV's to not have a title and the one they bought for their 16 y/o son didn't but they were OK with that as it would only be used on their ranch property which didn't require a Green Sticker or title in CA. After a few months of ownership and a few thousand dollars in hi-performance work, the ladd decided he wanted to play on our local dunes which required him to get a title and Green Sticker. When they applied, the quad was found to be stolen! The Sheriff was called in and they confiscated the ATV. His parents battled with the SO and finally were able to pull all the parts off the quad that they had put on as long as they had receipts. That turned out to be about a $4000 learning experience for them. :huh:

It's a mean, nasty world out there!