Trade in Value

[geoffreyt]

Figure out how to get 25 more horsepower and a solid suspension and then see if you want to sell it.

[D-Rock]

I think its worthwhile to mention that I am financing this bike. Only put 1100 down. Don't know if that makes a difference. The sales manager will be in tomorrow morning, hes getting back from the dealer meetings in Vegas. Dudes a nice guy, whether he's fair is yet to be determined, but I should find out tomorrow. Oh yeah, and I'll bring my ass less chaps. I don't want the leather gettin in the way.

D

[dogtownmax]

Originally Posted by D-Rock

I think its worthwhile to mention that I am financing this bike. Only put 1100 down. Don't know if that makes a difference. The sales manager will be in tomorrow morning, hes getting back from the dealer meetings in Vegas. Dudes a nice guy, whether he's fair is yet to be determined, but I should find out tomorrow. Oh yeah, and I'll bring my ass less chaps. I don't want the leather gettin in the way.

D

well, if the trade in price is less than the total that you have paid though the combination of down payments and monthly payments, you would be what called "upside-down" in the debt, also known as "underwater".

essentially this means you have to _pay them_ to take the bike off your hands.

now, that sounds terrible, right?

ah, but the dealer might try to distract you from this harsh reality by allowing you to finance this shortfall in the loan for your new bike, telling you that its only the monthly payment that matters, not the total. the reality is that if you take that deal you will start your new loan with a bike that is worth less than the full retail price even before it leaves the lot.

the real choices are most likely going to be: keep the bike and ride the hell out of it, or take a loss and buy your way out of it. how much that is determines if its worth it to you.

to the op: how did you decide after so few miles that you dont like the bike? heck it takes me a couple of thousand miles to start to get to know a bike. how did you choose the sportster that turned out to be so quickly not the bike you want?

[chevelless502]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

Kelly bluebook says the trade in value is $5930, and that means you're going to loose a lot of money trading your bike. Try selling it yourself. Retail value is $8125 for your bike.

MM

I didnt know KBB listed motorcycle values....where can i find this at? Maybe im overlooking it on the KBB site??

Andy

[D-Rock]

I didn't go in today. Had a fire to put out at work. I'm probably going in tomorrow to see how fu_ked I am.
To dogtown: It's not that I don't love my sporty cause I do. The thing is, is that I'm thinking about the long run. I was new to motorcycles and I thought a 700 pound bike with a 1600 cc engine would be hard to start on. I'm currently on a close to 600lb bike now when wet with 1200cc and I know I can handle a dyna. I'm thinking its best to trade in now with only 600+ miles cause it should still have a sh!t load of value...at least I hope vs. waiting till I got 2-3K on it. So we will see what happens. Its not that dramatic if its a shitty deal I won't take it and be happy with my sport. The thing is that I plan to do a lot more freeway miles than I initally anticipated and I think the super glide would suit me best at this point. BTW, thanks for everybody's posts so far...even the smart asses.

D

[dogtownmax]

Originally Posted by D-Rock

I didn't go in today. Had a fire to put out at work. I'm probably going in tomorrow to see how fu_ked I am.
To dogtown: It's not that I don't love my sporty cause I do. The thing is, is that I'm thinking about the long run. I was new to motorcycles and I thought a 700 pound bike with a 1600 cc engine would be hard to start on. I'm currently on a close to 600lb bike now when wet with 1200cc and I know I can handle a dyna. I'm thinking its best to trade in now with only 600+ miles cause it should still have a sh!t load of value...at least I hope vs. waiting till I got 2-3K on it. So we will see what happens. Its not that dramatic if its a shitty deal I won't take it and be happy with my sport. The thing is that I plan to do a lot more freeway miles than I initally anticipated and I think the super glide would suit me best at this point. BTW, thanks for everybody's posts so far...even the smart asses.

D

thats a very reasonable perspective.

see which way the money goes. if it works out well, thats an easy decision. if it becomes punitive to make the trade, dont worry, just keep it.

the 1200 sporty is a fantastic bike. you can add a windshield to ease the windblast on the highway, change the bars and such if you need to, though i have found the stock bars to be pretty ergonomic, and you can add saddle bags for longer trips.

lots of folks are old, and need a rolling sofa to get down the road. personally, i tend to toward the leaner side of motorcycling. i would trade a lot of bells and whistles for a bike that is lighter.

take a good look at craigslist, and talk to the dealer. you may find that you can put a few thousand miles on that bike without really altering the trade in value. i suspect they just go by year...

good luck. either way, you have a great bike. if you trade it in on a dyna, thats great, if not, thats great too.

[muleskinner]

This is an all to familure story with Sportsters. After I retired I went to work at the local Harley dealer selling bikes until I got tired of it. One of the things we saw most with first time motorcycle buyers was they were intimidated by the larger, heavier bikes, so they would buy a Sporty to start on. (God knows I tried to talk them out of it until I was blue in the face)

Within six months, or less, they would be in trying to trade it in, as they were now used to the bike and were ready for a larger more powerful bike. Especially after their friends made fun of them for riding a Sportster insead of a "Real Harley" like some idiots will claim.

Let's face it. A bike is just like a car. When it goes off of the showroom floor you loose the dealers profit, and all of the fees like tax, Etc. If it were me, I would keep the bike for a year and then try to sell it. You will take less of a bath at that point in time. Or, you could go back to your selling dealer and try to work out a trade for what you want. But, the dealer is going to want to buy the bike for an ammount that he can safely make a profit on it, especially in these bad times.

Like someone else said, you could take the amount you are upside down and put it into the new loan. The bad part about doing this is when you get tired of your new bike and want to trade up again, you will really be upside down. (And yes with Harleys that won't take much time)

The Sportster is a nice bike. Why don't you keep it and just ride it. Heck who knows, you may end up with a girlfriend, or wife or child that would like to get started riding bikes and it would be a good bike for them to learn on.

[blondie4020@msn]

If I was you I would first try to sell it privately as opposed to trading it in. At this point you stand to take a hard hit by trading.....just saying though.

[MountainMan]

Originally Posted by chevelless502

I didnt know KBB listed motorcycle values....where can i find this at? Maybe im overlooking it on the KBB site??

Andy

Here ya go http://www.kbb.com/kbb/Motorcycles/Default.aspx

Cheers,
MM

[D-Rock]

Most of the people who posted on this are pretty accurate in my circumstance. The dealer said I would be best off selling private party. Retail value is about 8-8.5K. He pulled up the same kbb that mountain man did. Dealer said he would give me about 7K on a trade in. The 6K trade in value plus I guess a thousand off towards the new bike. I'm going to stick with my bike. I think I had to go through this exercise for my own mental sake. I'm pretty happy. My HD heavy breather came in today along with my pcIII usb and the V&H straight shots I should have a nice runnin scoot. Thanks for all the help. This site is the best for feedback.

[Electra 1]

What I have found in the past is the dealer will talk about KBB and then when you go for it they pull out a different book called NADA and the prices are usually different. When you question this they will tell you the the bank they used to finance the bike uses NADA not KBB. Get both prices before going to the dealer. JMO
Electra 1

[berserker]

Ride the damn bike. You bought it. Then go for a bigger bike, FLH, in the future.

With 650 miles, your probably just pissing your money away. If you bough a bike, and only put those few miles on, your wsting your money buying another.

Some guys will chase bikes. This ones not right, I think I will be more comfortable on that bike. Truth is, they just don't like riding bikes. Don't have the addiction.

The Dyna will be a little more comfortable, but if you only put on 650, you hardly ever even got a sore butt.

Ride the sporty, if you end up actually riding, then look at something bigger. But your gonna take it up the rump selling a 08. Plus you haven't even had it long enough to know what you want.

[berserker]

Put a better seat on it, what ever other do dad you want, and ride it. Maybe hop it up a bit and blow by your buddies.

But to be a dick, you barely ride, so may not worth doing anything.

My 1st new bike, a 750 honda, I had the 500 mile oil change in a week. I was just so excited to have a new bike. If your not excited, why bother.

[zoo]

In 2007 I got 5500.00 trade in on my 06 1200R with 9,000 miles on it. My wife got the same for her 06 1200L with 10,000 miles on it. Yep, we took it in the pooh-pooh.