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guile |
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guile Spanner Monkey
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 16:01 - 01 Jul 2018 Post subject: Written-off Motorcycle Auctions |
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Anyone ever bought a written-off bike in an auction?
Just found Copart.co.uk (mixed reviews on google) and take the following Street Triple as an example:
https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/30297308
Price is appealing but is it too good to be true?
Can't see any evidence of cat d damage in the photos.
No keys present for some reason - is it easy to get Triumph to cut new keys? Why on earth would they not have the keys?
No indication whether bike runs - looks like it has been left to rot out in the rain.
Bike reg number censored - why hide this? To stop bidder running checks on the vehicle?
As I understand, you have no right to refund if bike turns out to be a lemon.
Too good to be true? |
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peejayess |
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peejayess Derestricted Danger
Joined: 20 Dec 2017 Karma :
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Moo. |
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Moo. World Chat Champion
Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Karma :
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Posted: 17:02 - 01 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Yes! I bought a 2012 Vstrom 650 from those auctions which was a Cat D write off.
You will find you need to pay a membership fee to the auction site (£50) but they are actually part of a group of a few auction sites that are all the same.
The bidding system is weird, as the bidding gets extented everytime a new bid is placed, which is nerve wracking.
I won the Vstrom for a very cheap price for the bike it was!
Only damage was scrapes to the LHS which has engine bars, needed new panels and headlights which i got off ebay for £200 ish and fixed it up.
I had a bit of a head start, as i knew it was someone on the Vstrom forums bike, so i searched for it and found it.
Mine also came with no keys or V5, but i got the name of the bike recovery firm that reclaimed the bike, spoke to them and got the keys and V5 for free!
You will also find that if the auction house gets the keys after you purchase, they will send them on to you for £10.
Lucky, as the Vstrom has an immobiliser and alarm which if i hadnt got the keys, would have been expensive.
I won the auction and went up to collect, a very good and easy experience.
One unnerving part was when the bike was brought out on a forklift.... literally rested on the forks .
But id say go for it. They sell cheap as its not as mainstream as ebay and noone else buys from them. As theirs a sign up fee all the tyre kickers go elsewhere, so your left with genuine buyers.
Usually if theres no keys it because the recovery company hasnt passed them on. If not, new ignition set off ebay?
Id go for it, mine turned out to be an absolute bargain, is a fantastic reliable bike and gets used for commuting every day ____________________ A2 Passed 18/6/10 |
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guile |
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guile Spanner Monkey
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 17:09 - 01 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Moo. wrote: | Yes! I bought a 2012 Vstrom 650 from those auctions which was a Cat D write off.
You will find you need to pay a membership fee to the auction site (£50) but they are actually part of a group of a few auction sites that are all the same.
The bidding system is weird, as the bidding gets extented everytime a new bid is placed, which is nerve wracking.
I won the Vstrom for a very cheap price for the bike it was!
Only damage was scrapes to the LHS which has engine bars, needed new panels and headlights which i got off ebay for £200 ish and fixed it up.
I had a bit of a head start, as i knew it was someone on the Vstrom forums bike, so i searched for it and found it.
Mine also came with no keys or V5, but i got the name of the bike recovery firm that reclaimed the bike, spoke to them and got the keys and V5 for free!
You will also find that if the auction house gets the keys after you purchase, they will send them on to you for £10.
Lucky, as the Vstrom has an immobiliser and alarm which if i hadnt got the keys, would have been expensive.
I won the auction and went up to collect, a very good and easy experience.
One unnerving part was when the bike was brought out on a forklift.... literally rested on the forks .
But id say go for it. They sell cheap as its not as mainstream as ebay and noone else buys from them. As theirs a sign up fee all the tyre kickers go elsewhere, so your left with genuine buyers.
Usually if theres no keys it because the recovery company hasnt passed them on. If not, new ignition set off ebay?
Id go for it, mine turned out to be an absolute bargain, is a fantastic reliable bike and gets used for commuting every day |
Nice info, Moo. Why they not just sell on ebay and suck up the commission which is offset by massive increase in buyers?
What is the ebay protection if you buy a lemon which is not described accurately? |
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Moo. |
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Moo. World Chat Champion
Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Karma :
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guile |
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guile Spanner Monkey
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Karma :
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 09:53 - 02 Jul 2018 Post subject: Re: Written-off Motorcycle Auctions |
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guile wrote: | No keys present for some reason - is it easy to get Triumph to cut new keys? Why on earth would they not have the keys? |
Stolen / recovered, keys handed to insurer, lost by incompetent mongs who get paid the same either way?
No V5C, no keys, probably no documentation at all. I wouldn't touch it, or at least not without knowing exactly what I'll need to get new ones (which may be a new ECU) and how much it'll cost (which may be WTF? numbers). ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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P. |
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P. Red Rocket
Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :
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fatjames |
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fatjames World Chat Champion
Joined: 09 Jul 2011 Karma :
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 11:47 - 03 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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fatjames wrote: | That's not always true. It can often be a certain percentage of the value. For example, if repairs are more than 75% of the value, then write off. It's probably different for different insurance firms. |
Sure, because they're essentially buying the bike off of you.
Ponder someone like MCE with their £1K excesses. If you're fool enough to claim for something minor or cosmetic, they might very well reckon it's to their profit to take your bike, give you their lowball offer less £1K, then sell it on. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Teflon-Mike |
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Teflon-Mike tl;dr
Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 12:27 - 03 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Motorcycle & Motorcycle Mechanics magazine, did an article on "Is it cheaper to build or buy" many many MANY years ago.. I think it was about 1981 OTMH. Be interesting to read a modern remake...
Anyhow; they did a Kawasaki GPz305, if memory serves, with a lot of deliberation over the fact that as a 'big-bike' it was cheaper to start with than a (then) learner-legal 250, but as a bored out 250 there were plenty of potential donors in the breakers. Meanwhile as less common model, they could actually buy one cheaply enough that they stood a chance to save money on what a T&T'd runner could cost; and provided some pretty interesting examples and comment that the 'popular' bikes, like RD250/350LC's were far from a bargain, because they were so often crashed on the road, and breakers would buy a stolen recovered or light damaged example, because they could make their money back on just a few commonly wanted bits, like fork-stanchions, wheels, or crank etc.
That is interesting to note, and I cant remember what mag it was in in the very early days of the Street-Fighter cult in the early '90's, did a similar project on I think it was a GPZ600R... they differed from the 'Mechanics' feature, in so far as they were going to make a 'custom' and save the big expense of all the factory plastic.. ripping it all off and fitting Renthals!
But again, salvage 'donors' commanded inordinately big money as salvage, and either way, the margins to build for less than you could buy, were at best slim to pretty mythical.
Mechanics, ISTR did save some money over buying a similar bike in similar condition ready to ride, and claimed the project a success; but spanner hours put into the job, if costed, would have made it hugely uneconomical, and the only real bonus was that at the end, they had done a complete tear-down and rebuild, and had something with a better build quality than had come out the factory, and an absolutely known providence as far as it was definitely fully services and had the right fork oil, and new brake fluid etc. The Street-Fighter, ISTR was a little more revealing; they got bike to road and did so for significantly less than the 'standard' bike would have cost on open market, but without the factory plastic and with custom bars, it would have been harder to sell, and though they may have got back more than they had spent, they'd have had a harder time selling it, and the bike was essentially a scrap-heap refugee.
Personally I would be VERY cautious of ANY salvage repairable 'Project' these days; the margins to make good are at best small, and there are reports of breakers buying up brand-new unsold stock expressly to break, as parts, even sold as second hand, quickly mount to more than the brochure price of a whole bike. This suggests that you are unlikely to get a bargain that has any margin on salvage, if it has enough bits the breakers can turn a profit on... and if it doesn't... where you going to get them, and how much will you have to pay?
Projects can be 'fun'.. but also tend to be a lot of frustration and effing along the way; and if the return, if there is any, is 1/2 what you could have got spending the same time stacking shelves in Tesco's, you have to be pretty peculiar to tackle one, and NOT doing it for any supposed monetary 'savings' you likely will struggle to find, even if you are well clued up...
I think that there are bigger fish to fry in the whole plan, than whether any particular salvage dealer is better or worse than any other, TBH.
And mention of coded keys and ECU's is a pretty significant project-killer in there I think. You'd really have to weigh up the risks vs reward very carefully before committing to a deal. ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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Vracktal |
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Vracktal World Chat Champion
Joined: 04 Oct 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 21:45 - 04 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Ugh, just as I broke my copart browsing addiction I get dragged right back in.
https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/35468738
Interesting bike here, Cat B but pretty minor damage from the images. Got me wondering if it could be put back on the road anyway, I remember Borg saying something about how the write off rules could be gotten around but can't recall the exact details.
Because if so £1k for a R1200 with under 1,000 miles is a steal. ____________________ 2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning |
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 08:12 - 05 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Is as meaningless as it ever was.
If they mean "written off as non repairable" then DVLA won't issue a new V5C for it.
We don't know a way round that. What I'd suggest is writing to them and saying "I am the keeper of this vehicle, it is roadworthy and going to be used on the road, I enclose a cheque for the Vehicle Excise Duty, not my problem if you don't want to issue a V5C." or words to that effect.
Alternatively you could try putting it through an MVSA as a rebuilt bike and see what happens.
The other issue is that if the cartel have it recorded as non-repairable then they might get shirty about insuring it, or paying out.
So no, there's no easy way to get the paperwork in order that we know of at the moment. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :
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Posted: 09:06 - 05 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Vracktal wrote: | Ugh, just as I broke my copart browsing addiction I get dragged right back in.
https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/35468738
Interesting bike here, Cat B but pretty minor damage from the images. Got me wondering if it could be put back on the road anyway, I remember Borg saying something about how the write off rules could be gotten around but can't recall the exact details.
Because if so £1k for a R1200 with under 1,000 miles is a steal. |
I'd be worried about what was under the black bin liner covering the right cylinder head. ____________________ Triumph Trophy Launch Edition |
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Vracktal |
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Vracktal World Chat Champion
Joined: 04 Oct 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 20:44 - 05 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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Rogerborg wrote: |
Is as meaningless as it ever was.
If they mean "written off as non repairable" then DVLA won't issue a new V5C for it.
We don't know a way round that. What I'd suggest is writing to them and saying "I am the keeper of this vehicle, it is roadworthy and going to be used on the road, I enclose a cheque for the Vehicle Excise Duty, not my problem if you don't want to issue a V5C." or words to that effect.
Alternatively you could try putting it through an MVSA as a rebuilt bike and see what happens.
The other issue is that if the cartel have it recorded as non-repairable then they might get shirty about insuring it, or paying out.
So no, there's no easy way to get the paperwork in order that we know of at the moment. |
Bad times. However the sun is shining and the fairweathers are out in full force planting RNineTs for me to harvest so I've already found a better one.
https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/37226178/Photos ____________________ 2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning |
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 5 years, 298 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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