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In April of 2017 I bought a new 2016 Kawasaki Versys 1000 LT with 0 miles on it on ebay. The dealer was a authorized Kawasaki dealer, and he had it on there with no reserve. The list on the bike was $12,999. I started bidding and ended up the high bidder at $8100. The dealership was just outside Salt Lake City Utah and I was in Wisconsin 1500 miles away. I drove out and picked it up with my Ram truck. It was a great experiance that I will remember the rest of my life. I drove it one year and put 17000+ miles on it and got more than I paid for it on a new 2018 Gold Wing Tour. God hates a coward.
I have done a few fly, buy, ride home situations. But many more drive there in my SUV with a trailer deals. And a few eBay purchases and shipped to my house deals.Most people think their motorcycles are better than they are. They have fond memories ... they remember how it was 4 or 6 years ago ... they don't notice the slight issues. So they think they are telling you the truth when they say it is in excellent condition and needs nothing. Others really want to sell their moto and make it sound better than it is ... they kind of stretch the truth. Others are mechanically ignorant and really didn't know the brakes were shot or the clutch was acting funny (they got used to it). I would say ~90% of the bikes I have purchased were in worse shape than their proud overly optimistic owners thought they were. I have only had 1 case where I would say the seller was a bit of a fraud (pictures on ebay showed a perfect gas tank (both sides), when I won the auction and went to pick it up, one side of the tank was severely messed up, he owned some warehouse business and he had a worker meeting me to pick up the bike so he wasn't even around, and I had driven 3 hrs to get it ... so I just took it as-is (oh, and this was a rare ish bike, a great price) ... but you could say that was ~$800 hit to the value of the bike)If it is a rare model, or just the exact bike you are looking for ... and you are willing to deal with some issues ... then no worries. And you have to ask yourself, what really matters in the deal. For example, lets say the seller says the tires are in excellent condition, ready to go! ... you get there, tires look shot to you ... is that a deal breaker? Do you turn around and drive 8 hours back home with the empty u-haul trailer clanking around behind your car? Do you point out it needs $500 worth of tires and negotiate a new price? For a remote deal:- pictures pictures pictures. up close pictures of tires shows tread (on both tires), pictures of sidewall showing date codes. Clear pictures of any damage. - paperwork. Picture of clear title in their name. For maintenance, if it is significant I want to see pictures of that. Example: a bike that has a major service (like a $1500 one), seller says it was recently done, ok, send me a picture of that paperwork. But I don't worry about oil & filter changes, or a valve clearance check on a Moto Guzzi since it is very easy to check that yourself.And I think of "Can I resell it for this if I don't like it?". Fortunate for me, I also live in the very expensive SF Bay Area ... many of the remote motorcycles I buy are in the middle of no where ... so the seller has a hard time getting rid of it ... maybe has a price of $4500 on it whereas Bay Area prices are more like $5500-$6000 for the same bike ... so what the heck ... I go buy it for $4500 ... if I don't like/love it, turn around and sell it for $5500. On one bike, it was like 15 years old, guy had bought it from a dealership about 2 months earlier, but felt the bike was just to big/heavy for him ... he had a copy of the dealership's inspection/checklist (where the dealer looked at brakes, and tires, etc) ... this was a somewhat rare bike with only 5,000 miles on it, all body work looked excellent ... I was really tempted to fly in, buy it, ride it back ... but I ended up driving my SUV/Trailer 10 hours one way ... bike looked great, bought it, trailered it home. Took it for a ~70 miles ride once back home ... and the tires started chunking off tread!! The tires were the original 15 year old tires!! They did look ok, so I see how a quick inspection from the dealer said "looks good, tread depth ok, good to go" ... but wow, that could have ended badly if I had tried to ride that bike 10 hours home!! Would probably have had a blowout on interstate. Also, buying from a dealer is usually an "easier" transaction ... but prices are almost always higher than buying from a person. But with a dealer you can put a deposit down, go there, see bike, get deposit back if you aren't happy with it. They can usually work out a 30 day license plate for the ride home. But often they don't know much about the bike. Vs. talking to the guy that owned it for the last x number of years. Just thinking ... currently in my garage:2 bikes purchased locally1 bike from Montana (did fly, buy, ride home)1 bike from West Virginia (yes, rode it across the country) (Have friends in VA, bought bike and prepped it for cross country trip back to CA)1 bike from Seattle (did fly, buy, ride home)2 bikes were 7 hr round trip to get (1 from Chico, other just past Paso Robles) (brought both home on trailer)
I bought my first Guzzi from MotoInternational via email with Dave Richardson. I'd seen one in person but that was about it. We never spoke on the phone, I paid with a check sent by registered mail and he shipped the bike to my house. It was easy. I did a fly-n-ride to Tacoma for a KTM a few years later; I'd only seen pictures of a 640 Adventure before that and was shocked when I arrived at how tall it was. It broke down on the way home, this helped me expect it when it also broke down every time I tried to leave the city limits.
I would have someone close to there look at it. Pay a Forum member or such.