Used Motorcycle Pricing

[PapaUtah]

This just popped up at work. An interesting analysis of used bike pricing and what trends have emerged over the past few years. It was attached to research specific to Harley-Davidson© and may have uncovered a trend we haven’t seen in 20+ years.

USED BIKE ANALYSIS; Harley-Davidson© FALLS BEHIND - LOWER RESALE VALUES:

We analyzed used motorcycle pricing using NADA motorcycle pricing for Harley-Davidson© and two of their main competitors, Honda and Yamaha.

The research shows that during the first 4 years Harley-Davidson© motorcycles lose value faster than comparable Honda and Yamaha motorcycles.

For motorcycles 1 to 2 years old, Harley-Davidson© bikes lose 5 percent more in value, a 13% decline, versus an 8% decline for Honda and Yamaha motorcycles.

2 to 3 year old motorcycles revealed the most significant disparity at 11 percent, a 27% discount to MSRP compared to 16% for the Honda and Yamaha comparable motorcyclces.

After the 2-3 year age range, Harley-Davidson© bikes begin decelerating in regard to loss in value and the difference between Honda and Yamaha motorcycles shrink to 6% (31% compared to 25% Honda/Yamaha).

At 4 to 5 years of age the two groups are nearly equal.

Beyond 5 years Harley-Davidson© pricing remains slightly better than the comparative group. However, the technical differences between model years is much more substantial and the average mileage is significantly higher for used Honda and Yamaha motorcycles than is the case for Harley-Davidson©.

 

[Fred W]

A couple of minor problems with the "study".

They used NADA retail values. AS far as I have ever seen, those book numbers are completely whacked. Nobody I know of uses them for a reference. Condition, mileage, location and degree of farklehood creates too large a variation in resale price on bikes to have any "book value" be meaningful.

If they had used actual recorded sale prices the data would have been more meaningful.

Considering the original sale price of a Hardley, even if the depreciation rate was the same your pocketbook would be taking a much bigger hit than almost any other bike, with the probable exception of the beemers.

 

[PapaUtah]

Short of getting actual sale price data from the state DMVs, the NADA data would provide a very good proxy data set for pricing. Kelly, NADA, etc. are all based on survey data from dealers and auction price information. The actual story is probably worse for The Motor Company© due to the large value of accessories that are included in the sale of used bikes that are not reflected in the MSRP.

 

[Fred W]

Short of getting actual sale price data from the state DMVs, the NADA data would provide a very good proxy data set for pricing. Kelly, NADA, etc. are all based on survey data from dealers and auction price information. The actual story is probably worse for The Motor Company© due to the large value of accessories that are included in the sale of used bikes that are not reflected in the MSRP.

Yeah, apparently chrome is expensive...

Who knew?

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

<snip>They used NADA retail values. AS far as I have ever seen, those book numbers are completely whacked. Nobody I know of uses them for a reference.

Are you saying: (you think) NADA values are higher or lower than actual 'real world' selling prices? Or, just 'completely whacked' and have no relevance? :huh:

 

[Fred W]

<snip>They used NADA retail values. AS far as I have ever seen, those book numbers are completely whacked. Nobody I know of uses them for a reference.

Are you saying: (you think) NADA values are higher or lower than actual 'real world' selling prices? Or, just 'completely whacked' and have no relevance? :huh:

The latter. I've seen a lot of prices that are way high and a few others that are low. Typically too high though.

If these books are based on reported prices from dealerships, it would make sense that they are high, since the only bikes a dealership would keep on their floor would be a recent model year, low mileage, clean, clean, relatively unmodified bikes. Everything else would get wholesaled off and never reported.