Travelling to view/buy

[sinedtomuch]

Just wondered how far you guys travel to view/buy your bikes?

And how far is too far?

Also if the bike isnt as described I gather you cut your losses and avoid (depending on how different the description is).

Reason I ask is I'm looking for a Street Triple but theres no decent ones at all in the north west in my budget (4k).

[base]

How long is a piece of string? if something isn't as described, what are you actually going todo try and claim money? its alway buyer beware........... buyer beware. some people are great to deal with some are lying scum bags................ welcome to the world...............

[sinedtomuch]

[Az]

Depends how cheap it is and whether it's makes financial sense to travel.

I traveled from Birmingham to Cumbria to buy my Bandit (it was £900, ended up being as described too) almost 2 years ago. Cost me about £100ish in diesel and my brothers time, but worked out in the end, as I got the bike for £1000 in total, which was a lot cheaper than anything as good as that one (good history, good mods; crash bars, full Micron exhaust system, datatagged and more, low mileage, running well etc etc).

Whereas on the other hand, when looking for my current GSXR I wasn't willing to travel more than 70 miles each way as there were decent examples local for a little or the same asking price in the same condition, so the cost and effort spent on traveling wouldn't have been worth it.

So far every bike I've bought (only 4 in my biking life) have been as described, cheap & lasted. Maybe i'm just lucky with bike buying though & I have seen of other people getting screwed over, so be cautious. Personally, If a bike wasn't as described i'd walk away, but I think sometimes it down to asking the right questions. Remember what you might consider a nasty scratch may just be a small scuff to another man, so ask if there's any little marks or blemishes.

[DrDonnyBrago]

It's a gamble, most of the vehicles I've been to view I haven't bought, wouldn't be too impressed if some of the shite was hundreds of miles away.

I cba with travelling far, but I do tend to go for the vehicle models where millions were made and a decent one can normally be found fairly local.

[woo]

ive traveled from London to Rhy north wales i think thats my furthest, if the bikes not up to scratch i walk away.

Ive viewed plenty local to me less than 15 miles and had to walk away from them, one even had the frame numbers filed off and a metal plate stuck over the engine number.
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[Wednesday Biker]

I'd go as far as I could be bothered to ride back.But only if it looked mint in the pics and there was a very good chance I would buy it.
I wouldn't go far for a bike under £1500 in case its a bit of a dog.
But usually i'll look in a 30 mile radius of Notts and can usually find something I'm after.

[Rogerborg]

Very few low money Striples around, you may have to travel to get a bargain.

If it is a bargain though, will you get there in time?

As a seller, I absolutely would not "hold a bike" for you, no matter what story you pitch me about your son who's working offshore on the rigs in Nigeria. First to actually show up with the monies wins is.
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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

[rubyhorse2]

i check the whole country when looking for a new bike, i've managed to get many a bargain by travelling further than i'd want, admittedly it is a risk but generally pays off.

i always have a good chat with the seller on the phone beforehand, generally gives you a good impression of what they are like and thus how the bikes been treated etc.

Example : last seller i bought from sent me 2 videos of the bike, walkaround and starting up etc, described everything in detail and was so helpful and friendly.

[ocatoro]

been all over for cars/bikes. Lived in west wales from 17 to 27 and never bought a bike/car inside wales til I left. Then my first one came from newport..

rule of thumb based on nothing, from west wales, and still now as I'm lazier, and living in Gloucester, nothing north of manchester, maybe blackburn as it sounds a friendly town. and nothing in london or east of it. and nothing from the south coast, east of southampton.

arbitrary, but those are the places I can't be bothered travelling to.
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CBT - 17/09/12 * Theory - 23/10/12 * Mod1 - 05/03/13 * Mod2 - 25/03/13 * BOSH!
Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[DrDonnyBrago]

^ I've bought several vehicles from the valleys surrounding Newport/Cardiff.

I think the shittier/Welsher the area, the less that people are inclined to drive there. Ebbw vale was very cheap... and very shit.

[Dcwhite1984]

I'd travel quite a distance to see the right bike, however the phone is a wonderful tool, and you can ask the seller to email pictures of the log book and the chassis number on the frame of the bike etc.

If they don't want to do that then i don't go and view, however if people are genuine they will normally be helpful.

Make a list of questions and ask them before going to view,talking to someone for an hour on the phone could save a 2 hour trip there and back, you soon get an idea if its worth it.
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The trick to life is to not get too attached to it.........

[sinedtomuch]

[chickenstrip]

I've travelled from North London to Guernsey to view/buy a bike. Got lucky - it was as the seller advertised, good enough to have been worth it.

It will all depend on a number of things. Do you get a gut feeling from the seller's advert, and perhaps contacting him/her, that it may be worth looking at in person? Is the price good enough to weigh up against the costs of going to see it?

Usually, I'll try to line up more than one to view if I'm going to travel any distance, gives you more chance of getting what you want in one trip. The Guernsey one I just took the chance on. If it hadn't been what I wanted, it probably would have put me off ever going that far again.
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[angryjonny]

In dealer-world, the first question a dealer will ask you is "have you travelled far?" It's not smalltalk. They're sussing out their chances of selling you a vehicle. The further you've travelled, the keener you probably are. People buy something to make the journey worthwhile. So yano. Lie.

An hour is about my max. I've walked away from a few at that sort of distance.

[sinedtomuch]

Screw it, I'd rather just buy locally (within 40-50 mile radius) at least then if it turns out to be a lemon I ain't out of pocket too much.

Another question to the pot, whats your opinions on leaving a deposit and collecting later that day/next day (assuming hes not a junkie pikey dodgy chavvy character)

[angryjonny]

If you're prepared to give a stranger £x00 and take his/her word that they'll (a) not sell the bike to someone else (b) honour your £x00 against the price of the bike and (c) not pretend to have never seen you before, then you're free to risk it.

I've done it for relatively small amounts (50 quid deposit against a 150 quid item) but frankly, if I'm leaving money behind, unless it's a legitimate business, I'm taking the vehicle with me.

tl;dr - dealer yes, Delboy no

[Polarbear]

[sinedtomuch]

[ocatoro]

would anyone sell if they knew you were making a long journey?

several times, including when i picked up a new car the other day from near leicester, folk have told me they had someone local nagging, but as I was coming from so far they had to put them off until i'd been. and likewise i've done the same...

poor form if they did sell it from under you imo


did get a call once after getting train from forest of dean up to st helens, whilst waiting to change trains at liverpool ... "sorry mate, clutch rod thing" has dropped out, can't get it to work ...

decent chap though, collected me from the station with his fit daughter, showed me round the bike, then took me back to the station, paid for my train tickets, and then brought the bike half way down to a motorway services after having it fixed...
____________________
CBT - 17/09/12 * Theory - 23/10/12 * Mod1 - 05/03/13 * Mod2 - 25/03/13 * BOSH!
Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[sinedtomuch]

[ocatoro]

[monkeybiker]

I traveled a 400 mile round trip to get my Z1000 as I was struggling to find one for a good price local at the time. I had the seller send me tons of pics and he even sent me a couple of videos. I spoke to him several times on the phone and thought sod it and went.

I was glad I did it as it was/is a good bike but would always look local first. I got it for 3k and locally they wanted 4k or more as most were dealers.

Depends how quick you want the bike as well as I could have probably got a good deal local had I waited.

[andyscooter]

Furthest away was 80 miles it was immaculate when I got there
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[Rogerborg]