Posted: 9/14/2006 6:23:54 AM EDT
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I remember the first time I purchased a gun from an on line vendor. Lots of questions. Who has purchased a mtorcycle from someone (privatte sale) with an ad on line? Did you have it shipped? Who did you use? Escrow company? Did it turn out okay? Has anyone sent a bike back because there was something wrong? |
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1987 Honda Magna I bought one bike from Washington state. Had it shipped and it was better than I expected. I have a bunch of pictures takes and e-mailed to me. I found it either on eBay or a bike web site for sale. I used JC Motors (http://www.motorcycleshippers.com/). Other than having to take a day off and waiting around for the rig to show up, it went well. I even got to keep the 6 or 8 really nice tie downs that they used. I bought it from a practicing minister so I felt ok sending a cashiers check. I only asked that he put the keys and title in the mail the minute that he got it and not to wait until we made arrangements with the shipping company. 1998 Honda VTR1000 Another one I found on eBay. Visually it was as advertised or even a little better, but the seller kept assuring me that it ran fine. It really didn't. I needed to be rejetted because he put some cns on it from another model bike. They were worth a ton, so I figured that I could handle rejetting it. Sucked though because I had to drive it back from NC to TX like that. I bought a 1-way ticket to NC. I never did end up rejetting it. I bought it for my wife and she didn't keep it more than a season of riding. Good news was that on both the bikes, I was able to sell them for what I paid, minus the registration taxes that I had to give the state. One ran well and the other ran good enough and could easily be made to run better. Both looked great for their age and mileage. So not bad in all. I'd do it again. Don't accept crappy pics. Make them use a quality digital camera and get the hi-res images. Get a picture of the odometer reading, tires, chain rear sprocket, seat cushions, forkseals, windscreen, close-ups of the tank seams if it has any. Looking for stuff that's gonna cost you to get/keep it on the road - mainly rust, cracked seals, dry rotted or work tires, rusted chain, worn sprockets, clouded windscreen, etc. All but the tank is an easy fix, but can quickly inflate to cost of the bike, although it might still be worth it. |