"Stolen Recovered"?

[bazza]

I've seen a few dealers offering these on Biketrader - almost always the bikes have been dropped and need new locksets but the prices are a fair bit lower that equivalent legit (for want of a better word) ones.

The question is this: is it such a pain to get and fit a new lockset that these dealers are prepared to sell these bikes at such a reduced price, or are there legal implications to buying a stolen recovered bike? Who recovers them, insurance companies? Police? Scabby chavs who "found it in the park, mate"?
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"That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college."
'98 Ducati 750SS, '08 Suzuki GSX650F ©2004-2014, Bazza's Harmless Banter

[McJamweasel]

They are bikes that have ben found by the police then sold on by the insurance companies who have paid out on them.

Generally, it does make for a cheap bike as a lock set is peanuts to buy and the damage is generally not serious. It will almost cerainly mean that resale is lower but other than that there should be no problems as long as you get all the necessary paperwork to confirm that it has actually been legitimately recovered.
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BCF: Be yourself, just don't be an arse.

[MattEMulsion]

Dealers of stolen/recovered bikes are not stupid, they will sell the bikes for as much as they can/are worth. If you buy one you can usually rest assured that by the time you have paid for all of the parts required to fix the bike, it will work out almost as expensive as buying a straight bike in the first place. If it was easy money then the 'dealers' would be doing the work themselves. (This is the voice of experience talking, as I have dabbled in the world of repairing car salvage). Also the chequered history of the bike, ie its been stolen/recovered will normally follow the bike around for the rest of its life, and this is what HPI checks are for, amongst other things. So any prospective purchasers will know that the bike has 'history' and thus it will always be worth less than the equivalent straight bike. One other factor to be taken into consideration is that most nicked bikes or motors tend to have the life caned out of them. I have never seen a thief yet that would drive a stolen motor like a vicar. Can you see what I am saying?
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[TiN]

The dealers often get their hands on the bike for much cheaper than the prices that they are advertised for. Also, a dealer will hold far less responsilbity (and legal obligation) if a motorcycle is "sold as seen".

As for the price of fixing the bike up - it depends. Often there is cosmetic damage to go with the lock set, and given the cost of OEM parts, this can all add up. Most bike shops have to assume that anyone wanting to buy a bike for the road will want it mint (cosmetically, at least) condition, and so would rather but their losses.

Just my
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TiN
dotgems.net

[Demonic69]

We have a lot of salvage firms in the pub over a week. I've asked this many many times.
If a dealer fixes a stolen recovered bike, they have to use original manufacturer parts, for the same reason your insurance brokers do. This ends up a lot more expensive than Pattern parts, which you buy yourself.
Also - for write-offs- they get the bikes mega cheap from companies like HBC and AGW who purely deal with insurers and dealers (sometimes they have auctions to make moolah) and get them in batches.
Par example. AGW brought in this NC30. Mint apart from fairing damage. Cost to AGW, £700. Cost to Dealer, £1000. Cost to us £About 1400. So it's money for nothing really, it's all in the logistics. Space is money to these people, so having a yard full of bikes/cars you can't sell costs much dollah.
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[ZRX61]