Used Bike Prices at Dealers- What goes through their minds?!?

[McBiggity]

SO- looked around a bit online today at work. Checked out a few YZF600R's. Found one at Cycles 128- a 2001 w/ 2300 miles. They had it listed at $7500. Then a few bikes down on the list they had a '03 R6 listed at $7300!!! Now, i figure it must be a mistake- SO I call the guy up and inquire- He does say that it is wrongly listed and said he could get "aggressive pricing" if I was serious about buying.

I told him I would get back to him about it. I looked on cycletrader at some brand-new YZF's and they were going for about $6100.

When I call this guy back- what should I offer him? I doubt he will get even close to what I want to pay.

It just seems that all the dealers I've gone to have had some crazy high prices for used bikes. Take for example- when I was looking for my first bike- I went to MOM's in NH. They wanted $3500 for a 97 ex500 with 17k miles! I ended up buying my buddies 98 ex500 off of him for a heck of alot less than that and it had 10k miles on it.

Sorry for the story- just bored. too much rain

[DH2ML]

My guess is that the majority of dealerships that price their used bikes into the stratosphere are following the simple Boy Scout policy of "Be Prepared".

Prepared for what, you ask? Prepared for three types of potential buyers.

The first is the guy who comes in with a beater bike, looking for an overly optimistic value on his trade-in. By pricing the showroom bikes extra high, the salesman can make it look like he's giving top dollar for the trade-in, while he makes up the difference on the overpriced "new" bike.

The second type of buyer is one who has no - or bad - credit, and is happy to be able to finance a motorcycle regardless of the price. By charging these types a bit more $$, the dealer makes up for the occasional loans that are bound to go bad (ie; reposessions).

Lastly is Buyer Type #3. He/She is generally uneducated and inexperienced with motorcycles, and has no clue as to what they should cost. Usually they walk into the bike shop and decide on a whim that they should buy a motorcycle. The salesman will shmooze them and make them feel good about buying into the motorcycling lifestyle (Harley has made their fortunes on this whole "lifestyle: gig), while distracting them from the fact that they are paying way too much for the bike.

Finally, there's the educated and experienced buyer (which I assume describes the majority of members on this site). When we bitch about the high price, the salesman suddenly changes his tune, and becomes very willing to "work with you" at whittling down the price.

All in all, when you think about it this is a pretty smart strategy. It allows the shops to take in the maximum amount of money for each bike, based on getting whatever amount each person is willing & able to pay.

However, it's a very good thing that this marketing philosophy isn't widely shared by other vendors. Imagine walking up to the cashier at Shop & Save with a cart full of groceries, and having to haggle prices with the cashier! Makes you really appreciate the "lowest price gaurantee" that many stores (and lately, auto dealers) offer.

Hopefully the motorcycle dealerships might catch on to this idea, although as long as many people continue to pay the high prices, they have little incentive to change.

[Ken]

I PMed you.

[Red Sox 6]

Good choice of a bike As long as you don't mind Yamaha's infamous clunky gearboxes then you should be all set. I have about 12K miles on my cat in a little over a year and still love it.

You should browse through the WantAD and buy off a private owner. With the lack of popularity for the 600R, it does not have high resale value. I've seen em go for 4-5 grand with around 3-5k miles.

[Half Squid]

My 600R is for sale with some extra's to give it some pep!
Custom paint and stuff, the bike runs awesome, looks sharp. If you want origonal this is for you.

Price is negotable.
here is the link with details & Pic.

http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...&threadid=6504