Where do you prefer to buy? Main Dealer, Trader, Private.

[CrotchRockets]

This is just a general question if anybody would like to answer and if you could outline the reason why it would be great

Do you prefer to buy at a main dealer ? Trader ? or private ? or even better your opinions on all ....

Usually if you buy at a main dealer or trader/retailer you pay an inflated price for warranty and obviously your covered for any horrible shortcoming in the near future ... but is it worth the extra £££ for you ?

Do you trust a private seller, or have an in-cling something might be lurking underneath ?

Is Full Main Dealer service history important, or will just adequate servicing do ? how about buying from someone who has self serviced there bike ?

whats the biggest things you look for ?

Call it a bit of market research if you like, Thanks in advance !

[G]

I'd trust the average private seller more than I'd trust the average dealer/trader.

Not very much, still.

Problem with shop warranties statuary rights is that you mostly have to seriously fight to get anything sorted.
For the extra you're paying, I'd just take the risk and can always use some of the money saved to pay for a problem to be fixed.

If someone's kept a decent log of servicing done, I'd trust that servicing way more than main or other dealer servicing.

[speedy]

private seller, I just spend a section of the £1000 i save for every £2000 spent on making sure its not a lemon hpi checks take your time looking over everything pick up on any issues and take the cost of repair of the asking price that way instead of spending 3k with a 6 month warranty which may or may not cover you, you spend 1800 on a bike that when you chuck 2-300 at it will be sound plus have another 9-1000 spare as your "warranty"

[defblade]

I go trade and get raped twice as I part-ex too.

It's mainly the thought of the hassle of selling a bike privately that sends me that way; don't know if the reality would be like that tho.

It's convenient and I can afford it, so there you (I) go.

I'm tending to go that way with cars, too; but that's mostly been because the last couple of cars (and the one I've got now!) were basically worthless beyond weighing in and at least I can get a 500-1000 price reduction without too much haggling for them on part-ex at a garage.
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[MaybeGuy]

[hmmmnz]

i think ive bought in excess of 40 bikes, never bought from a dealer or a trader, never ever even taken a bike to a dealer to be serviced or worked on,
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[JP7]

I'm open to any of them; I tend to go for the bike I want regardless of whether it is private or at a dealer. Each has its merits and pitfalls.

I bought my Yamaha FZ6 from a dealer, got a decent deal, and got a warranty too. Which was a good thing, because within a week it was back with them having a dangerous fault fixed under the warranty. That worked in my favour, and three years later I sold the bike for £500 less than I had bought it for. Win for me. The dealer was terrible to deal with throughout, but I got the bike I wanted.

I bought my Daytona 675 from a private seller after seeing it on eBay. It was the exact bike I wanted, and bizarrely it was for sale in the next village to me! The seller was very genuine and honest and couldn't be helpful enough, and I bought myself a fantastic bike that hasn't put a foot wrong. He had serviced it himself, but had a pile of bills for everything he'd bought, and I could see it had been meticulously looked after, so I was happy to buy without a stamped up book.

[Az]

Private seller every time.

You typically get more bike for your money (in comparison to dealers)
You can get a good idea of how the bikes been maintained and how hard it's been ridden. As you're actually speaking to its previous owner, not a sales man who will tell you what you want to hear, as he's trained to do so.
Easier to reduce the price, flashing cash in front of someone who's in desperate need of that cash can result in a bargain. Most dealers aren't as desperate as private sellers in need of a quick sale.

[Ste]

"obviously your covered for any horrible shortcoming in the near future"

To enforce that cover you might need to go through the courts.

I don't necessarily trust a private seller but if you're buying private then you've got a lot more to base your decision on than a salesman telling you how it's had one careful lady owner.

Full dealer service history says something but adequate or DIY servicing are completely fine if you're able to judge what's adequate.

The most straight forward bike transactions I've had have been on here. Buy from someone in the freeads or biketrader and you don't really know anything about them but if it's someone on here then you can do your homework much more easily.

[Joncrete Cungle]

Private seller every time, I like all old MOT certificates, invoices for servicing / work done, receipts for consumables etc. Wouldn't trust a main stealer as far as I could chuck em after nearly being ripped off by one when I was young and stupid.

I like to look the owner in the eye and ask them a few questions about routine maintenance / known weak spots on the bike. Can usually spot a con merchant at ten paces, hence me avoiding main stealers / trade.

[Alex A]

It doesn't really matter to me where I buy a bike from. My primary objective is buying something that:

- I want to ride.
- Should cost me very little (if anything) in depreciation.
- Is easy to sell privately.

On that basis, it's a matter of buying from whoever has the best bike at the most competitive price. Which tends to be private, but not necessarily. Some dealers are quite reasonable with used stock IME. Don't get too hung up on price. It's the total cost of ownership that matters.

The important thing is that you know what you're looking at. Service history isn't that important IMO. Neither is the number of previous keepers. Condition is everything. If you're buying an apparently low mileage bike, make sure that the MOT history stacks up. Make sure it's HPI clear (or properly repaired and discounted accordingly). Make sure it's not going to cost you £500 in consumables very soon (or if it is, make sure it's discounted accordingly).

It's not particularly easy to satisfy all of those requirements (i.e. competitive price, honest history, good condition), but there's plenty of choice out there, and it's certainly not impossible. There's also an awful lot of crap out there, and you need to separate the wheat from the chaff, wherever it might be.

[Shaft]

I'm with JP7, I find a bike I like and buy from whoever happens to be selling it.

I don't really care if it's a dealer/trader, or a private seller, I do my research, make sure I know what I'm looking at and go into the deal ready to haggle if required; if we can't come to an arrangement I'm happy with, I'll walk away.
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[Ste]

Don't put too much faith in the mileage on old MOT's or service history as both can be faked.

[Alex A]

[-Matt-]

Private. Always. (Unless i had an unlimited budget to buy new ).

Much more value for money so long as youre sensible checking the bikes condition - but you need to do that with trade/dealer sellers anyway, just as capable of providing crap/misleading sales and service as any private seller. See victor devine.

[TheCatSatOnTh...]

Private every time, unless I'm buying brand new, in which case I call every dealer in the country getting the best price I can. No loyalty for stealers.

[Supermoto_Fan]

I wouldn't not buy a bike because it's being sold by a dealer. Whoever has the best condition bike I want at the time will get my money
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[Rogerborg]

G pretty much did a /thread.

[Notj7]

Dealer, every time. I've had three new bikes and one second hand now - all from dealerships. Why? I value peace of mind very highly, and I'm prepared to pay significant amounts of cash for that (I can afford to).

The ability to pay for peace of mind and get on with my life is top priority for me. No worry about anything
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Left the forum.

[Baffler186]

Prefer main dealer. Why? My only main Dealer experience has been excellent so far. Over £200 worth of parts/consumables replaced under warranty without even questioning it. Reading on here, this does not sound like the norm for Dealers, but like with anything, standards are variable. Also, a bricks and mortar business is easier to challenge, and you have consumer rights. With larger and established Dealers, they are more prone to fixing stuff rather than getting abad name (I would imagine). If I see people in there all of the time then they must be doing something right.

I've bought privately twice: first one was a trouble-free bargain. Second seller was a complete lying waste of skin and I suffered heavy financial loss! The latter has put me off buying private, even though I'm a bit wiser now. It's not really the money that was the issue, it was the whole invonvenience and general crappy experience I had.
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Current: 2009 SV650 S, 1990 Kawasaki GT550
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[Baffler186]

[Bubbs]

Bought one bike from a dealer for £1200 for an immaculate zx6r g1 which had some nice extras. The bike sprocket carrier bearings went, and also one or two other things within that month and they were replaced for free.

Sold the bike on for around the same money. So it was a positive experience for me.
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Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

[Jayy]

Normally buy private but as I was going new, got it from a dealer. I also like the fact it has a 2 year warranty from Yamaha, no need for an MOT for a while and 6 months free tax and 12 months RAC breakdown.

The fact they're just down the road from me is good as well, few little issues with the bike which were sorted out free of charge, including the first service.

I'm happy with it all for now as a first time experience buying from a dealer

[fozzym]

I've bought 3 bikes (and many cars) private and have never bought a dog yet touch wood!

First zx6r I bought cheap knowing it needed a bit of work and when I sold it I pretty much got back what it owed me which was a touch.

The zx6r I have now was another cheap bike but has been perfect. I just managed to drop on a bike a guy was desperate to sell and being January I presume offers weren't flooding in so I turned up and nicked it off him!

My little TS50 my Dad bought me when I was 16 (in 94) was a magic bike, never gave me one ounce of trouble, I bought it off a lad who have bought it new and ridden for a year before doing his test. Think it had only done 3k miles, Dad paid about £750 which I guess was all the money back then but it was like new and I was so chuffed.
I rode it for 3 years and I think I still got 500 quid back when I sold it!

I've bought 1 new bike which came from a main dealer and I can only say it was a nice deal and I didn't have any problems.

[Rogerborg]