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Written-off Motorcycle Auctions

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guile
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PostPosted: 16:01 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Written-off Motorcycle Auctions Reply with quote

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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PostPosted: 16:36 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rule of thumb - if it looks too good to be true, it is!

They wouldn’t be auctioning it off if was as good as you seem to hope it is. Buy it for spares or the basis of a project, but don’t expect a runner.

Insurance companies will write off if the repairs are more than the insured value, so that should give you a guide to the likely costs if you had it done in the shop - a diy project might be worth it though.
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Moo.
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PostPosted: 17:02 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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 Shocked Shocked Shocked .

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 Very Happy
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guile
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PostPosted: 17:09 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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 Shocked Shocked Shocked .

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 Very Happy


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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PostPosted: 17:10 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

FYI mine was from a website called car-transplants.co.uk
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guile
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PostPosted: 17:24 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last photo - front golden lower fork - does that look legit?
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 22:24 - 01 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Moo. wrote:


The bidding system is weird, as the bidding gets extented everytime a new bid is placed, which is nerve wracking.



Quite a few sites do that, it's to prevent sniping.

I use a boat auction site and an official receiver site that both play that game.

I'm surprised ebay haven't implemented it to boost their takings. Rolling Eyes
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 09:53 - 02 Jul 2018    Post subject: Re: Written-off Motorcycle Auctions Reply with quote

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).
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P.
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PostPosted: 11:08 - 02 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Front forks 'look' twisted. Back end looks like he was seriously pissed when adding the plate. with forks turned, nothing seems straight from the front right side and the tank on the left has a white scrape near the bar end, I'd suggest its had a bit of a donk on the front.

Is it worth it, probably... they are epic bits of kit.

Triumph immob from 2013, so GL getting keys.
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fatjames
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PostPosted: 11:12 - 03 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

peejayess wrote:

Insurance companies will write off if the repairs are more than the insured value


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.
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 11:47 - 03 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 12:27 - 03 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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Vracktal
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PostPosted: 21:45 - 04 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 08:12 - 05 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vracktal wrote:
Cat B

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.
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 09:06 - 05 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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Vracktal
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PostPosted: 20:44 - 05 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rogerborg wrote:
Vracktal wrote:
Cat B

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
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 08:51 - 06 Jul 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vracktal wrote:
https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/37226178/Photos

Cylinder cover scuffed, broken brake lever, two indicators = written off? Eh?

https://cs.copart.com/v1/AUTH_svc.pdoc00001/PIX133/658cf52d-762b-4003-9d12-b00a192a7116.JPG

Seems legi... "Vehicle details could not be found".

Are you going to be viewing it in person, or bidding blind?
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