'Busa auction->Dealer cheekiness

Some of you may have seen this post http://tinyurl.com/y5m7as6
recently about a 'Busa up for auction in Nottingham, here
http://tinyurl.com/y25orpr. I went to have a look and thought the
condition okay but not brilliant for its age and mileage. It sold for
£3,955 in the end which by the time you've added the buyer's premium
and VAT comes to something in the region of £4,650. Still a good price
though.

A week later and the same bike appears on Ebay http://tinyurl.com/y7j8hde
(they even use the auction photo) with a fairly optimistic BIN price
of £5,995 where they describe it as 'mint' and having 'never seen
rain'. They also say current mileage is 3,973 which is odd because it
was over 4K when I went to see it and in the auction house
description. FSH? Presumably it's now been given its 4000 mile service
since last week only the 600 miler was recorded.

So, probably the message here is don't travel a long distance to see a
bike for sale at Markham Commercials in Retford.

 

In message

I like this "JUST 3973 MILES (MAY CHANGE THIS WEEKEND!!)" , I wonder in
which direction. Perhaps a nudge in the direction of trading standards
is needed?

 

Yes, that made me smile too. Trading standards? Tempting but I doubt
they'd be interested. Describing the bike as mint is what annoys me
most since someone could easily end up travelling a long way to find
out it most definitely isn't.

 

To me it's banal statements like "never seen rain" that marks them out a
trader as a complete tosser.

 

Which isn't too bad for an '06 when you consider that's what I paid for
my '03

Do you have any pictures of the speedo? I'd be amazed if anyone clocked
it from just over 4k to just under. Maybe a speedo change if there was a
fault, but not worth it for a few hundred miles surely.

FSH is a tricky one as for that to be the case there would need to be
evidence of the 4k service at 6 months, the 7.5k at a year, the 11k at
18 months and the 15k at 2 years.

Twice as it's 4 years old.

Buying a second hand bike, I'd realistically expect it to be done my
miles but not by age, so if it's had a 4k service (which is basically an
oil and filter change and look that nothing's fallen off) that would be
OK IMO.

£6k from a dealer as a starting point for negotiation on an '06 doesn't
seem too far off

Anyway, I've decided after today's experience, they're too fast for
their (or my) own good...

 

Give it here, you PFF.

Paul.

 

Meant to say that there's a chance that the bike is 4,0xx miles but one
or other of the trip meters is showing 3,9xx miles, and the person that
wrote the add looked at the wrong one.

I know that my Busa shows the total RM, trip 1 shows the mileage since
last fill up and trip 2 shows the total miles that I've done.

 

At one point this afternoon I'd have happily swapped places

 

Nope, but I did have a look at the trip and it was definitely over 4K.
I don't for a monent think it's been clocked just that should anyone
enquire they'll go with the 'it's done a few miles over the weekend'
defence - as implied by the auction text. Not sure why they bothered
really but I suppose just under 4K sounds slightly better than just
over. I think it indicates a general lack of trustworthiness rather
than out and out fraud.

Well obviously they can ask what they like but I reckon £5.5K is
closer to the mark having done a little research before the auction to
see if it was worth bidding.

 

If we're being generous then I suppose that's possible. Don't forget
the auction description states mileage over 4K though.

 

Perhaps my generousness comes from the fact that I couldn't give a toss
about the difference betwixt 39xx and 40xx. And also the possiblity that
the firm's buyer might not be the same person as the firm's ebayer.

If it had gone from 20k miles to 4k miles then it might be worth jumping
up and down, but not for a hundred or two.

 

Not onto the shiteheaps I have here you wouldn't. (VTR1000 x 2 &
MT500)

Paul.

 

Obviously *I* don't care about 50 miles here or there either. I do
expect a dealer to know which trip is showing total mileage though.
It's not that hard. I also expect them to describe their auctions
accurately.

Who's jumping up and down?

 

You are

 

If the bike had really done less than 4000 then it could be described as
"full service history" with just the 600 mile check. Over 4000 and the
service should have been done. So...describe it as under 4K miles in the ad
but with the get-out about the mileage may increase. When punters see over
4K miles on the clock and complain that it was described as "full service
history" they are told that it had under 4K at the time the advert was
posted. Dealer then offers to throw in a "free 4K mile service" as a deal
clincher.

 

No, not really.
I have no idea why you feel the need to defend the dealer or why you
think my original post was unwarranted. I honestly didn't think it was
particularly controversial. Still, whatever floats your boat.