Buyer Beware Second Hand Scooters The real Story Brendon The Second Hand Scooters can be a real Pandoras Box.
People often think they are getting a bargain saving a few hundred dollars. A lot of the time they are actually buying someone elses problem and hefty repair bills to get it right.
We often get people coming through asking if we want to buy their scooter as they no longer need it. Quite often when we look over the scooter it will have a bent frame, rattly engine/transmission and require quite a bit too much work to make it roadworthy.
One example has really stuck in my mind. It involved one particular scooter that a young guy purchased for $900 and wanted to do up. He bought it in for a Roadworthy Certificate and to get the starter motor working again.
It turned out this particular Scooter was an ex rental scooter and had a bent frame probably from countless renters jumping speed bumps. The reason the starter motor wouldn't work was that the crankshaft was bent, the main engine bearings had collapsed on one side so when you engaged the starter motor it would spin the engine and the play caused by the problems allowed the starter to separate from the crankshaft. Not good news. It also needed new Tyres, Rollers, Brake Pads, Drive Belt etc etc.
To remedy this situation would have cost far more than he purchased the scooter for and that was only to remedy one of the many problems it had. He took it back to the owner and was lucky enough to get his money back.
The reason this one has stuck in my mind was it came in again about three days later, again purchased by a young guy for $900 who was going to do it up. When we saw it on the back of the trailer we couldn't believe it and showed the new owner the job card from the last prospective owner.
Next was an old Scooter purchased on Ebay for $400. Owners instructions, give it a service and make it roadworthy. Then it arrived at the shop on the back of a trailer (it should have gone to the tip). After closer inspection when unloaded we pointed out to the owner that it required much more than a Service to get it going and roadworthy. In fact we advised them that once its going there is no guarantee that something else wont break probably best to forget it and buy something else. Undeterred the owner instructed us to fix it as they are on a strict budget, the total repair bill was over $600 then they had to register it which was around another $200.
A month later we got a call the engine is running but there is no drive. A call out to pick up the scoot and bring it to the shop. It had broken the drive belt which was quite an expensive item ($120 ish) for this scooter and there were non in the country. At this point the owner had reached the point where they had enough. Total outlay on this $400 scoot had now reached $1200 and its future was less than positive. They then cancelled the registration and bought a second hand monza from us for $1,400 rideaway and we only see them every now and again for a service.
We ended up swapping this scoot for a carton of beer, the engine now powers some eccentric inventors latest creation. The rest of it is either landfill or recycled metal.
We have heaps of stories like this when it comes to second hand scooters. A couple of facts you need to keep in mind. Just because a second hand scooter is purchased for next to nothing doesn't mean its going to cost next to nothing to fix it and in the great majority of cases these bargains will cost you much more to own and maintain over a twelve month period than a New Scooter.
When it comes to second hand scooters we are very fussy in what we carry, they must be in good condition, have low K's and we don't ever touch Ex Rentals.
published 27/08/2007 |