Poor condition bikes at dealerships...

[Derventio]

I took a ride over to a certain massive bike dealership based in Donington at the weekend. I'm pondering a change of machine.

I shall not be buying from there, though, good grief their bikes were rough! They had one version of the bike I am considering and they wanted top money for it, despite the front tyre being scrap, massive corrosion on the engine casings and frame, leaking rear shock and being generally dirty, poor condition.

Out of curiosity, I had a look at an example of my bike, A '16 Street Twin. My bike is probably what you'd call mint with no damage, corrosion or leaks. The bike they had was a similar age and but twice the mileage and it looked like it had been kept in a canal at night. It was also 2 grand more than i paid for mine.

I wondered if I was being too picky but I nipped up another dealership in Clay Cross and their bikes might be top money but they are also, on the whole very clean and tidy.

I wonder just how many folk buy from the place at Donington.

[snagzie]

First time I've heard of that kind of opinion about SBF.

Never been myself but other PH's have

[Krikkit]

SBF have never put much effort into prep - even a few years ago you'd find grubby stuff in their stock. It does tend to get a clean before it goes out to the customer mind, along with a service etc.

[Discendo Discimus]

You get all sorts at SBF.

I bought my R6 from them and it was fairly mint cosmetically and mechanically but I did pay slightly over market value.
That said, when I came to collect the bike there was 12psi in both tyres and the battery was next to flat. Luckily I had a van and didn't wish to ride it home.

I've seen some absolute rotters for sale there too, but the price tends to reflect that.

[trickywoo]

The people doing pickups of bikes bought get a chipping bonus so the dealer will be paying the right money from their pov.

[Abdul Abulbul Amir]

Compared to other dealers, I though their stock looked quite good.

[RazerSauber]

In my local dealer, they're usually pretty good. There are a handful of classic bikes in classic bike condition (Flat tyres, leaking, etc) but the rest are generally OK. They did have a 2021 cheap Chinese thing in a few weeks ago. I can't remember what brand it was but it had a V in it (Husqvarna or something?). Good grief. It honestly looked like an 80's bike that had been kept in the sea. Every screw was fully brown, corrosion on the frame, trailing arm, handlebars, everywhere. Peeling paint, pitted chrome, even the plastic on the dials had gone cloudy. It must have been a scrapper, there's no way it would've been sold as roadworthy.

[KTMsm]

I'm a dealer - I popped into SBF when they opened and whilst I only looked closely at a couple of bikes (because they don't put prices on them and I CBA to mess around) the ones I looked at appeared to be in good condition

I aim to sell below SBF prices and I have had comments that my bikes were "better than expected" I'll pop back and have another look, maybe I need to raise my prices but I'm hardly rushed off my feet

[trickywoo]

KTMsm said:

I'm a dealer - I popped into SBF when they opened and whilst I only looked closely at a couple of bikes (because they don't put prices on them and I CBA to mess around) the ones I looked at appeared to be in good condition

I aim to sell below SBF prices and I have had comments that my bikes were "better than expected" I'll pop back and have another look, maybe I need to raise my prices but I'm hardly rushed off my feet

SBF paid me a decent amount for my bike at the end of November. Not much less than I had it for on AT with zero interest. They marked it up 30% and it was gone before Christmas. It was very tidy and low mileage at £4K.

[patchb]

RazerSauber said:

In my local dealer, they're usually pretty good. There are a handful of classic bikes in classic bike condition (Flat tyres, leaking, etc) but the rest are generally OK. They did have a 2021 cheap Chinese thing in a few weeks ago. I can't remember what brand it was but it had a V in it (Husqvarna or something?). Good grief. It honestly looked like an 80's bike that had been kept in the sea. Every screw was fully brown, corrosion on the frame, trailing arm, handlebars, everywhere. Peeling paint, pitted chrome, even the plastic on the dials had gone cloudy. It must have been a scrapper, there's no way it would've been sold as roadworthy.

I guess you don't mean Husqvarna as they aren't Chinese...

[Hungrymc]

I think they source bikes without any scrutiny and put them in the showroom in whatever condition they arrive in. They then don't do the prep until sold as far as I can tell. A bike really can look very poor until they are prepared and then it can be a bit of a shock how well they scrub up. Its pot luck when buying a bike that isn't prepared as you don't know how it will end up.

[Se7enheaven]

I think this is more a symptom of how dealers view buyers. The attitude of , well if you don’t buy there will be another idiot through the door anytime soon who will buy regardless of condition , so they don’t really care . And most sales will probably be internet based anyway so bike is physically unseen. No way in gods green earth would I part with money over a neglected unprepped bike. The joys of the modern world eh .

[KTMsm]

Se7enheaven said:

I think this is more a symptom of how dealers view buyers. The attitude of , well if you don’t buy there will be another idiot through the door anytime soon who will buy regardless of condition , so they don’t really care .

And most sales will probably be internet based anyway so bike is physically unseen. No way in gods green earth would I part with money over a neglected unprepped bike. The joys of the modern world eh .

I'm not saying that there aren't a few crappy dealers / bikes but that really isn't my experience

Internet (ie Distance Sales) as buyers can reject for any reason within 14 days, the bikes had better be better than described or they'll be coming back

Although you need to read the T&C carefully BEFORE you buy

[Slowboathome]

Hungrymc said:

I think they source bikes without any scrutiny and put them in the showroom in whatever condition they arrive in. They then don't do the prep until sold as far as I can tell. A bike really can look very poor until they are prepared and then it can be a bit of a shock how well they scrub up. Its pot luck when buying a bike that isn't prepared as you don't know how it will end up.

An acquaintance of mine had this experience. Bought a BMW from them that was covered in stickers that he thought might be hiding some horrors. Turned out to be in excellent condition when he got it home.

[Jezz172]

I picked my R1 up from there last week.

They were great to deal with and the bike was perfect.

Really can't recommend them enough

[DirtyHarley]

The one any only time I went to SBF I found it a very mixed bag; some really nice bikes at fairly reasonable dealership prices and some absolute snotters for stupidly high prices. My general impressions were 'stack high, sell fast' as there were lots of bikes crammed in with little room to move, and no displayed prices which really put me off of buying from there in person, plus lots looked pretty dirty and in need of a clean and service.

From my experience marque dealership seem to be a mixed bag - Harley dealerships tend to be pristine and even used stock is immaculate, but 2/3rds of the floor space is dedicated to 'merch' and general tat. Indian are similiar for conditions and stock but a little less on the merch/tat front. Then on the complete other end of the scale I've never been into a KTM dealership that didn't look and act like a backstreet scrapper.

[KTMsm]

DirtyHarley said:

I've never been into a KTM dealership that didn't look and act like a backstreet scrapper.

Which ones have you visited ?

I've only visited the one in Coventry (now closed) but that was shared with Honda and was standard Dealer fare

[DirtyHarley]

KTMsm said:

Which ones have you visited ?

I've only visited the one in Coventry (now closed) but that was shared with Honda and was standard Dealer fare

I've been in a few but the two worse ones were in Croydon and Feltham (both shared with Aprilia/Peugeot/other scooters) - both in pretty sketchy areas and felt very run down with a haphazard approach; the Feltham one was an absolute pit with two massive dogs charging you as soon as you went inside, staff arguing with customers, the 'service department' being a couple of kids straight out of school, a 'quick quid' mentality - just flat out a horrible experience. The Croydon one felt like a scrappers with tatty and knackered part exchanges lining the pathway and the inside having a thick layer of grime all over everything. I've ridden past the Croydon one since and it's had a full face lift and revamp but still looks like it has a 'piled high' approach and there are plenty of knackered looking scooters outside it.
The KTM in Hemel wasn't quite as awful; it was fairly clean inside if a little over packed with multiples of the same models - just a shame the staff had zero interest in anything but their phones.

[podman]

I commented on the state of the bikes at the new Superbike Factory in Milton Keynes opening weekender last Saturday, I popped a couple of pictures up at the time.

Never seen some many bikes in unloved condition in one place

That and the lack of knowledge/interest from the sales person we spoke to put me right off the whole set up.

[KTMsm]

I didn't know they'd opened one in MK

I don't know where all the stock / customers are coming from with all these huge dealers popping up