Why is the value of the FJR....

[ah_starr]

If the FJR is such a great bike and everyone who has one or ever had one or always wants to go back to get another one...then why in the hell are they so cheap to buy and hard as F*&% to get a fair price when trying to sell? I don't get it...makes me think the $$$ spent isn't worth it or that Yamaha makes a crappy bike!!! The bike speaks for itself for those of us who own 'em, but getting raped on the market hurts, especially when you can't get a kiss first!

 

[fjrthree]

I`m new here, but have been seeing more and more ads for FJRs. With the economy the way it is right now, it`s simply not a good time to sell. Then again there`s never a good time to sell an FJR unless you`re upgrading to a newer faster model :scooter:

 

[SkooterG]

It's the economy, silly! It's not just FJRs.

And what exactly IS a 'fair' price? Your idea of a 'fair' price may just simply be waaay out of whack.

But really, you're thinking waaaay too much! Who cares what they sell for? You should be buying your FJR to ride. NOT to sell, or as any kind of investment.

Obsess less. Ride more.

Edit: Ahhhhhh........I see now. You're trying to sell a 1 year old FJR with accessories. Dude. You should know that even in good economic times a new vehicle takes a major depreciation hit as soon as you leave the lot. And these ain't good economic times. Lots of people out there love to get a great deal on vehicles from guys like you. Tis the way it works.

Would you like some cheese with your whine?

 

[rockmurf]

All bikes are feeling this downturn due to the economy. There are no buyers out there. No reflection on the fjr but when there is no one out there to buy your bike and you need to sell you feel the need to lower and lower your price till it is priced so ridiculous that someone bites at it or you decide it is not worth selling. I thought about selling mine last year and got no buyers and lowered the price. Then I looked at my ad and figured I must be nuts to sell my bike for that amount with everything I have in it and what it would cost to replace it so therefore I took it off the market and am enjoying the hell out of it. No different than a house in this market.

 

[Ignacio]

Did we welcome you properly to this forum? If not, we're sorry. We should have told you how glad we are you're here and the FJR is a great bike to keep and ride for miles and miles!

With 8 posts total though....including the obligatory thread introducing yourself, then a thread shortly after selling the bike doesn't bode well for your longevity here though.

Then a third thread with the teaser ... stuff bitching about the market?

I dunno friend. Good luck with that. Maybe odot can straighten you out...he's in your neighborhood.

You might want to lower your internal definition of a "fair price" to more closely align to "market price". $12.5K may not seem "fair" to others....especially since even KBB retail for an '08 suggests $11K....let alone trade-in value of $8K. Maybe you want to try and split the difference.

 

[happyPuppy]

The guys are right ah_starr. Look at the "upturn" in the stock market. Compare it to 1929-1930. It went up too ( as a measure of transaction volume) , as people with money were buying stock cheap , the same as now. The FJR's are one of the higher priced bikes Yamaha makes. A lot of people want one, but cannot afford it. The dealers are making better deals on them to move them, increasing your sellers pool. It is just market dynamics, less buyers = less demand. Right now is not a good time to sell one if you can avoid it. The used market for HD has crashed as well. A friend has 2 HD's and was trying to sell one, using Cycle Trader, Craigslist and E-bay. He never received an offer he would consider. All the farkles are best sold separate, it is impossible to get your value for them with the bike.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Ummmm. Yeah, what the last four guys said :dribble:

Some folks don't understand what "product specific" forums are all aboot.

:jester:

 

[jzzmusician]

Hmmm.....let's see, election year, pretty severe winters everywhere, and oh yeah, a bit of a hiccup with the economy.

I heard housing prices are down too.

Go figure.

If you like it ride it. If you don't, then it's time to bail.

 

[exskibum]

It's the economy and the last 6 to 7 months are NOT prime selling season for motorcycles, even in the best of times. This dramatic drop in prices has only been in the last couple years.

There are a lot of FJRs out there now, with 7 model years in the U.S. And wasn't it the '07 model year that the PDP system was dropped? When some of us arrived on this board, FJRs were the opposite -- hard to find and holding their price pretty well. Also note that in that time, other manufacturers have introduced sport touring platforms aimed squarely at what Yamaha had nailed with this bike -- Kawasaki and BMW come to mind first in that regard, all stealing away potential buyers (demand) while increasing the supply of good sport touring bikes.

If I were to sell now, I'd take a beating on any of my three bikes measured against what I have in them, esp. on the XX with all its farkles. I'm not looking at it that way, though -- they're great for riding and get good gas mileage. If I dumped one, it would be the XX. The FJR will get ridden into the ground and then replaced with another.

So, I'm holding onto something I couldn't afford to splurge on in this economy if I didn't already have it. But, it's exactly the same with my guitars -- another arena in which the prices have dropped dramatically. It's a different world out there right now with people losing their jobs and wondering what the future will bring. And if you think FJRs are bad, and aren't convinced about guitars and other middle class luxuries, just look at the housing market.

 

[marcusorelius]

Was a good thing for me! Got a immaculate 04 with 15K miles for $ 5500 (plus a couple nice guns i hadn't used in years) Been seeing nearly new c-14's going for 9k now. Like houses it's a good time to buy and a terrible time to sell!

 

[johnniegoldfish]

Having, owned BMW's, Gibson and Fender guitars, they are all great investments at the dealer, but try and recoup that. One salesman told me they were better than land. He didn't sell me anything. FJR is no different for resale. I hear AIG is a good place to put your doremi.

And for the kiss, you shouldn't expect much without a pic and maybe dinner.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Funny back in 2006 & 2007 when I was looking for a FeeJ I couldn't find one at my "fair price". They were all asking only a couple grand less then brand new. I finally found one not at my price, well I guess it was my price, I bought it. I bet I'd take a betaing now trying to sell it. But I bought it to keep not to sell. I'm blessed in that I don't need to sell it, so I'm just raking up the miles and enjoying that sweet ride.

I've wathed a guy on ebay now try to get almost $6K for his 40+K mile 2005, no bids no bites nothing. I think he's on his 4th or 5th time relisting it, with little to no price change. It's the economy.

Good luck.

 

[cardingtr]

If the FJR is such a great bike and everyone who has one or ever had one or always wants to go back to get another one...then why in the hell are they so cheap to buy and hard as F*&% to get a fair price when trying to sell? I don't get it...makes me think the $$$ spent isn't worth it or that Yamaha makes a crappy bike!!! The bike speaks for itself for those of us who own 'em, but getting raped on the market hurts, especially when you can't get a kiss first!

When you sell for a "fair price" it is different for every party for the same bike. It should be fair for both of you.

Even on our company, it is the same service we do, the same professionals we send but we lowered our invoice to our customers after we determined it is the new fair price for the economy. And this "fair price' is different for every customer although is the same service of the same person.

Back to your bike, if you have to sell it, you just have to take a loss that you can stomach and that's the way it is. The intangeables here is you might get a new bike that you like, money for your deck, etc. That is your gain.

 

[zip]

I've watched a guy on ebay now try to get almost $6K for his 40+K mile 2005, no bids no bites nothing. I think he's on his 4th or 5th time relisting it, with little to no price change. It's the economy.

I offered a dealer in NH $9k for an '05 listed on eBay last June. He wouldn't take it.

I've seen his bike listed over and over since then... and it had already been listed for about two months prior. So he's close to a year holding the bike, and there's no frigging way he's ever going to get $9k for it.

As I've said before on this forum, anything considered discretionary in any way is a tough sell right now. It's a buyer's market... if you're buying. Most people aren't.

(For me, the bike is not discretionary. It's a commuting vehicle (albeit a really, really fun commuting vehicle.) We sold our second car, and saved about $5,000 in commuting costs, car payments, gas, etc.)

 

[Rolavine]

If the FJR is such a great bike and everyone who has one or ever had one or always wants to go back to get another one...then why in the hell are they so cheap to buy and hard as F*&% to get a fair price when trying to sell? I don't get it...makes me think the $$$ spent isn't worth it or that Yamaha makes a crappy bike!!! The bike speaks for itself for those of us who own 'em, but getting raped on the market hurts, especially when you can't get a kiss first!

Mine is going to be real cheap when I'm done with it, between the 60K miles more I plan to put on it, the fact that my damn tank bag will have scratched the tank down to bare metal (thanks OGIO, nice job), my boots wearing off the metal and plastic any place near the pegs, the holes I cut in the front of the fairing to vent me in summer (covered with elegant duct tape in the winter), and the tiny nicks and dings caused by normal road debris and my one tip over in the garage because the side stand wasn't quite down. So, it's good they ain't worth much used because i'm using the hell out of mine!

 

[Geezer]

Well, at first I thought this was a fishing expedition, but I'll bite. Since you need to sell an almost new bike, and you say that you do understand the appeal and like your FJR, I'll assume that you need the money. Unfortunately, too many people are in the same position. I have never seen so many boats on the curb with for sale signs on them as I see these days.

As others have already said, the best thing you can do is keep the bike, enjoy it for the season. If you still want to sell it next spring after the economy is all rosie again (yeah, I'm an optimist) you'll be able to get a better price for it. If you really, really have to sell now then all you can do is bite the bullet and take what you can get. That's why so many people are just turning in their cars and houses to the finance companies. It sucks, but that's the reality today.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

FJR's aren't for everyone, at least not for you. I wouldn't expect better results at the price your asking either. You can pick up a brand new "Ugly Black" 09 for a little more then your asking anyway. Now if you were talking an 07 "Black Cherry" you would have better results, as they are in demand! :yahoo: Like they said, just try selling a POS connie right now and see what you get. Zero response, thats what. Now get the hell outa here, you bug me.

 

[bmwhd]

If the FJR is such a great bike and everyone who has one or ever had one or always wants to go back to get another one...then why in the hell are they so cheap to buy and hard as F*&% to get a fair price when trying to sell? I don't get it...makes me think the $$$ spent isn't worth it or that Yamaha makes a crappy bike!!! The bike speaks for itself for those of us who own 'em, but getting raped on the market hurts, especially when you can't get a kiss first!

You're going to have to face the sad fact that this economy is killing prices on all kinds of things. I went to try and trade the wifes BMW (car) the other day and could not freakin' believe how much it's value has declined in the last 6 months. Look under "upside down" in the dictionary and you'll see my face :angry2:

Given that there are still new '08s on showroom floors and dealers giving deep discounts on them, you're going to have to be realistic. I even saw a FL dealer listing an '08 for $9,999 two weeks ago. You're not going to move a used '08 at $12.5 when that stuff is going on out there.

 

[Bounce]

Edit: Ahhhhhh........I see now. You're trying to sell a 1 year old FJR with accessories. Dude. You should know that even in good economic times a new vehicle takes a major depreciation hit as soon as you leave the lot. And these ain't good economic times. Lots of people out there love to get a great deal on vehicles from guys like you. Tis the way it works.

and, based on my past experience, leaving accessories on a bike when selling it brings ZERO extra cash unless you are willing to wait for the perfect buyer who sees personal value in them and loves the bike enough to pay for the extras. the last time i sold a bike, i pulled all the accessories and either parted them out for pennies on the dollar (more than if left on the bike) or saved them to install on the next bike (PIAA 910's, radio, etc.).

that's another reason i try to always install accessories in such a way that the bike can be turned back to stock with little in the way of parts to replace.

As for recently-new vehicle depreciation... you don't even want to know what a hit I took on my PRE-ORDERED 08 Subaru STi over the past year. If you combine standard depreciation with the new dealer incentives to try and sell a later-month 08 as the 09's were coming out, it'd make you cry. But at least I got one of the branded, limited-edition iPod Touches with the STi logo on the back of the case.