Test riding before buying?

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dubz

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So I drove 30 minutes away to buy a bike who from someone who told me:
"there is no damage, its never been dropped, no issues and needs nothing for safety"

I get there expecting to pick up the bike without any hassles because like he said, nothing wrong with it.
I inspect the bike and..

- the spot for the spool on the swing arm has been totally deformed - like the bike went down HARD with the spool breaking the fall.
the hole is no longer round and the threads are stripped.

- footpegs and accompanying parts are all replaced with aftermarket - possibly because oem were damaged by the fall

i tests rode it and

- bike felt and sounded funny like a cylinder wasnt firing

- and the speedometer wasn't working and stayed at 0.

needless to say i went home bikeless.. what a waste of time.

Obviously situations like these show that in my opinion a test ride before buying is necessary.

Funnily enough, as I was trolling kijiji for a bike,
I came across this ad:

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes...09/1358039332?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

which was totally overpriced, but what really got me thinking was "ABSOLUTELY NO TEST RIDING is available. I am more than willing to have you walk around the bike and start it up."
I got what I think was one of the dumbest responses Ive ever seen from my semi-trolling inquiry

 
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you are dreaming to expect test rides....the only way is to show up with full payment in cash and then you might and you should check with your insurance agent and tell them what you are doing.
There is a world of liability and relatively high risk ( unknown bike, unfamiliar rider etc ).

Buy from someone on the forum here or lay out what kind of bike and realistic budget as people here know who is selling what and vet kiji often.
Good luck

30 minutes is the other side of Toronto....driving to Ottawa maybe you get some sympathy.:rolleyes:
 
I'd be hard-pressed to allow a test ride on my for-sale. The only way I can conceive is if they:
- were older/mature
- had a GM licence (which I'd photograph)
- current insurance on a bike
- arrived on a bike and showed a good degree of control and ability on that (bonus)
- left full-asking cash in my hand

It'd be tempting to get a photo of them and/or any friends and the licence plate of the vehicle(s) they came in too.

Otherwise I'd offer to ride it up & down the street a bit myself for their benefit to show the engine sound, the transmission working, the brake etc.
 
So many things could go wrong if you allow test rides:

- they drop it or crash into a person or another vehicle. "oops. sorry. okay, bye!"
- they give you false ID and ride away with your bike
- tire-kickers looking for a free motorcycle ride with no intention of buying

A test ride should be the absolute last step in completing a motorcycle sale, not the first when you're just "thinking about it". So full cash in my hand when you ride off on the test ride. If you drop it, then you keep it.

I've sold many many bikes this way. If you don't like it, there will be somebody else who thinks this is fair and will buy my bike.
 
A good way to do it is just to have the owner ride his bike around the block.
You'll know if anything is wrong, have them shift a few gears up and down, and ride around you/past you. On a quiet day motorcycles are loud enough that anything odd you can hear.
 
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bigpoppa said:
A good way to do it is just to have the owner ride his bike around the block.
You'll know if anything is wrong, have them shift a few gears up and down, and ride around you/past you. On a quiet day motorcycles are loud enough that anything odd you can hear.
Click to expand...

That is actually a good compromise.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've sold 3 bikes and allowed seriously inquiring buyers to test ride it up and down my street.
...once i had cash in hand, and some other form of collateral ie: their car/bike keys
 
MacDoc said:
you are dreaming to expect test rides....the only way is to show up with full payment in cash and then you might and you should check with your insurance agent and tell them what you are doing.
There is a world of liability and relatively high risk ( unknown bike, unfamiliar rider etc ).

Buy from someone on the forum here or lay out what kind of bike and realistic budget as people here know who is selling what and vet kiji often.
Good luck

30 minutes is the other side of Toronto....driving to Ottawa maybe you get some sympathy.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The concern over losing the bike or having it damaged distracts from the real risk, the liability in case of a collision.

My bike, in my wildest dreams, is worth about 1/100th that of my house. If something about the rider is cause for the insurer to not honour the policy I could lose my house. Even if insurance pays, rates go up as the crash goes against the owner not the rider. Five or six years of double rates means one might as well have given the bike away.

Your insurance policy is pages of legal specifics backed up by tons of law books. You can't change what is written in those documents by writing a note on the back of a cigarette pack.

In many cases the prospective rider will not have experience on that make / model and is more likely to crash.

"I don't know if I will like it" is not a reason to allow a test ride. I can't go to a steak house and ask for a free sample. Do your research. Bouncing in the saddle and getting a static feel for the bike is OK.

A demonstration, by the owner, of the bike doing its thing on the road is fine but sometimes the owner is selling off his old bike and it isn't insured. If I was buying I would expect a contingency discount.
 
Had a similar situation with my current bike. It was listed as “Mint!”, but when I got to the guys house he starts pointing out all the scratches and crap that were on the bike, and didn’t include some of the other issues I discovered later on, nothing major though. The worst part was his dad said it was “well maintained” after I bought it, but the never cleaned chain said otherwise.
Still bought it though.

As for test rides, whenever someone came to check out my old bike and asked, I said “not till you pay for it.” I wouldn’t even ask to test ride a bike because like everyone says, what if you drop it? It took me a few rides to get use to my new bikes riding style, and if I’m uncomfortable on a new bike paired with a bike that I haven’t paid for while the current owner is watching. That’s a whole lot of nerves built up, which could easily lead to me making a mistake and dropping the bike.
 
Blackfin said:
I'd be hard-pressed to allow a test ride on my for-sale. The only way I can conceive is if they:
- were older/mature
- had a GM licence (which I'd photograph)
- current insurance on a bike
- arrived on a bike and showed a good degree of control and ability on that (bonus)
- left full-asking cash in my hand

It'd be tempting to get a photo of them and/or any friends and the licence plate of the vehicle(s) they came in too.

Otherwise I'd offer to ride it up & down the street a bit myself for their benefit to show the engine sound, the transmission working, the brake etc.
Click to expand...

+1

Aside from above, which primarily provides assurance that the person can ride a bike, the key thing I'd be worried about is an accident on my insurance and how that might impact insurance cost for me on all of my vehicles.

You probably get a good 30% net less on a trade in, but you don't have to deal with tire kickers and the long term consequences of an accident.
 
I actually went through this 3 days ago when I bought a bike.

I made all the calls I could to insurance, and they couldn't help insure me for a test ride because the bike was not in my name.
Because of this, expect to ride the bike uninsured (bad idea).

Despite the bad idea, and the buyer hesitant to allow me to test ride it, I basically made him let me. The money was there in an envelope and I provided it to him in advance. Worst case scenerio I return with the bike and try to give it back to him and he won't give me back the money I guess. LOL!

For what it's worth, I drove 4.5 hours to Ottawa to see this bike, I wasn't leaving without riding it!
 
A number of years ago, I was down by the lake on my brand new Ninja ZX11. There was a guy there in a brand new Corvette.
He came over and said why don't we switch for 20 minutes. I said no thanks.
He looked puzzled and said, my car worth 5 times what that bike is worth.
I just looked at him and said "I can't drop your car"
 
Klaatu said:
A number of years ago, I was down by the lake on my brand new Ninja ZX11. There was a guy there in a brand new Corvette.
He came over and said why don't we switch for 20 minutes. I said no thanks.
He looked puzzled and said, my car worth 5 times what that bike is worth.
I just looked at him and said "I can't drop your car"
Click to expand...

Fun on your bike, priceless. fun in his car. Meh. Just not the same.
 
dubz said:
Funnily enough, as I was trolling kijiji for a bike,
I came across this ad:

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes...09/1358039332?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

which was totally overpriced, but what really got me thinking was "ABSOLUTELY NO TEST RIDING is available. I am more than willing to have you walk around the bike and start it up."
I got what I think was one of the dumbest responses Ive ever seen from my semi-trolling inquiry

kjiji convo screenshot (sorry idk how to shrink pic size under limit):
https://ibb.co/fpyibT
Click to expand...

???? How is a 2009 CBR 600 with all that on it for $5900 "totally" overpriced??:confused:
 
Last summer I was going to buy a second DRZ to keep up at the cottage. Super cheap for a DRZ, it had a lot of cosmetic damage but I didn't mind because it was going to be used and abused. I think the guy was acting like he didn't really know anything about the bike, as I was walking around pointing out fuel leaks and missing bolts and he seemed surprised. Still it was a good deal, I would have bought it until the test ride. The guy had no issue with me riding it. I was wear a t-shirt and short, no helmet or anything, so he knew I wasn't going far. As I was pulling out of his driveway I immediately knew the clutch was done. I hit 4th gear on his street, turned around and came back. With the carb rebuild and a new clutch, the deal wasn't so good anymore and I passed on it.

I wouldn't buy a used vehicle or bike without trying it out first. I've sold cars, atv's, and tractors and stuff and don't really have an issue with people taking them for a short test up and down the street. I usually judge the person by the vehicle they show up in to tell if their serious, though.

In saying that, when I bought the DRZ new it was still in a crate, no clue how it drove or what it really looked like until I handed over cash. I bought my brand new truck without test driving it also, actually the dealer didn't have the keys so I couldn't even look inside of when I put the deposit down.
 
Klaatu said:
???? How is a 2009 CBR 600 with all that on it for $5900 "totally" overpriced??:confused:
Click to expand...


Its a clean bike, but half the upgrades on that bike dont matter. Tires are nice, brake lines, new master cylinder.

Everything else(fancy underglow lights, fender elim, levers etc) is worthless. Dont expect to get any money back on mods.

at a closer look, those dont even look like Q3s. So either he is lying or those pictures are old.

Willing to also bet at 30k, he hasn't done the all important valve service as well.

You can also get nice ones for a lot cheaper than 6 grand. So it is overpriced
 
There is no way in hell i'm buying a private sale bike without testing it. I would provide full payment (cash/bank draft) and my licence before i got the keys.

Anyone who still refused could find another buyer.

I wouldn't expect any less from anyone looking to buy a bike from me.
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