Putting the die in dynamic...

[anonstarter]

I've been fighting the urge to upgrade my 264cc Citycom to something with a wee bit more ooomph!

I'd spotted a £1995 2005 Aprilia Atlantic Sprint 500cc a few days ago at a dealers in Exeter called Speed. http://www.speedthrills.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Scooter, 5,704 miles, BLUE. Aprilia Atlantic 500 Sprint, only 5704 miles, high spec 500cc super scooter in good condition, MOT until 04/08/2012, Some of our 'PX to clear' bikes may requires a little work to make roadworthy again, hence sold for spares or repair. We are unable to all.. £1,995 "

I'd convinced myself that my 2008 Citycom 300i with less than 5600 miles might be worth £1500 to someone, so the cost to change might only be £500, plus the hike in insurance and slightly higher running costs...

I am a tall fella so a test ride is a MUST!

Exeter is 109 miles from me, not a casual distance to go for a test ride but I'd convinced myself the extra 500cc oomph would be worth it! The weather's good, I would Scoot up. So I decided I'd give them a ring, tell them I wanted a test ride and ask them what they needed me to bring...

However, after confirming it was still there and asking what paper-work I'd need for a test ride I was told that because it was listed as a PX bike I was not allowed to test ride it on the road because of "Health & safety", but they would allow me to ride it around their car park!

WTF?

Alas no trip to Exeter...

Is it unrealistic to expect that for nearly £2k the scooter listed above is going to be safe enough to test ride on a public road?

Have any of you experienced such dynamic sales?

[gn2]

No experience of the dealer but their policy of no test ride is about them being unwilling to have a mechanic give it the once over.
Mechanics time is money.
It probably doesn't have any road tax either.
More money.
What they are looking for is someone to come along and buy it cash without any fannying about.
At £2000 there isn't going to be much profit for them hence their reluctance to let you potentially waste their salesman's time.
Again salesman's time = more money.
Another factor is that they are not going to get repeat business from you for servicing and suchlike given that you are so far away.

[anonstarter]

Thanks gn2.

No experience of the dealer but their policy of no test ride is about them being unwilling to have a mechanic give it the once over.
Mechanics time is money.

Interesting point. I suppose 'they' could be so busy that their mechanic doesn't have the time to 'waste' on making sure a 2005 <6000 mile scooter is roadworthy.

It probably doesn't have any road tax either. More money.

I must admit I've been spoilt in the past with dealers having trade plates.

What they are looking for is someone to come along and buy it cash without any fannying about.
At £2000 there isn't going to be much profit for them hence their reluctance to let you potentially waste their salesman's time.
Again salesman's time = more money.

Two thousand pounds, IMO, is not a bargain for a seven year old Aprilia Atlantic scooter with an MOT that's going to expire in less than a month.

Another factor is that they are not going to get repeat business from you for servicing and suchlike given that you are so far away.

We didn't get as far as discussing where I live or whether I was paying cash/card and/or trade in when they told me that they can't allow tests rides. For all they knew I was just around the corner with £10000 burning a hole in my pocket.

I have noticed lately that whenever I watch Grumpy Old Men I relate to almost everything... Maybe I'm just reaching that age where all the 'Perceived Value' indoctrination is wearing off!

[Drago]

I've been fighting the urge to upgrade my 264cc Citycom to something with a wee bit more ooomph!

I'd spotted a £1995 2005 Aprilia Atlantic Sprint 500cc a few days ago at a dealers in Exeter called Speed. http://www.speedthrills.co.uk/

"Scooter, 5,704 miles, BLUE. Aprilia Atlantic 500 Sprint, only 5704 miles, high spec 500cc super scooter in good condition, MOT until 04/08/2012, Some of our 'PX to clear' bikes may requires a little work to make roadworthy again, hence sold for spares or repair. We are unable to all.. £1,995 "

I'd convinced myself that my 2008 Citycom 300i with less than 5600 miles might be worth £1500 to someone, so the cost to change might only be £500, plus the hike in insurance and slightly higher running costs...

I am a tall fella - 6'7" - so a test ride is a MUST!

Exeter is 109 miles from me, not a casual distance to go for a test ride but I'd convinced myself the extra 500cc oomph would be worth it! The weather's good, I would Scoot up. So I decided I'd give them a ring, tell them I wanted a test ride and ask them what they needed me to bring...

However, after confirming it was still there and asking what paper-work I'd need for a test ride I was told that because it was listed as a PX bike I was not allowed to test ride it on the road because of "Health & safety", but they would allow me to ride it around their car park!

WTF?

Alas no trip to Exeter...

Is it unrealistic to expect that for nearly £2k the scooter listed above is going to be safe enough to test ride on a public road?

Have any of you experienced such dynamic sales?

I've dealt with Speed myself. I bought a Malaguti Madison 400 off them. They wanted £1000 but got them down to £800.
Bike was pretty tatty, they wouldn't Tax or MOT it. They offered delivery for I think £30ish to me (25miles) or said if I booked the bike in for an MOT, got insurance etc then I could ride away. But the bike had a bad fork leak, near bald tyre (and it was winter NOV 10) so I decided to get them to deliver it, took them two weeks to get around delivering to it. Also
had no warranty either. I ended up paying nearly £400 to get the bike through it's MOT and rideable just to have it pack up after 50miles!

I'd avoid them if I was you!

[gn2]

I suppose 'they' could be so busy that their mechanic doesn't have the time to 'waste' on making sure a 2005 <6000 mile scooter is roadworthy.

No need to ensure it's roadworthy when it's "sold as seen".

[barryG]

Whatever their reasoning, they cannot expect someone to buy a bike without a test ride.... hence they have lost a sale for now. Shoddy service really, but what one expects from many dealers sadly.

Bit like my local dealers, no Piaggio demos at all so how do you buy them?

[gn2]

The dealer has not lost a sale because there's no guarantee that anonstarter would have bought it?

I have only test ridden two bikes before buying.
One was a Ducati Pantah 500, the other a VFR750.
If test rides had been refused I would have bought both of them anyway.

How you buy a Piaggio is you go in the dealers and ask nicely to be put on the waiting list.

[anonstarter]

The dealer has not lost a sale because there's no guarantee that anonstarter would have bought it?

You're right that I was not guaranteed to buy it. But I had 'psychologically' commited to hand over (upto) £1995 - assuming it was a genuine, tidy, low mileage scoot, and that on the test ride I found it was comfortable and quicker (Unless the sales guy was a rectal oriface who believed he was doing me a favour...).

I do now guarantee that would be the second-to-last place I would go to buy a Scoot. Purely because my 'perceived value' is VERY different to theirs!

Thanks for 'listening' - I'm feeling better already! Maxi-Muppet Therapy

[wuffstuff]

Irrelevant but..........nice to hear from a few Devon/Cornwall based scooterites.

For reference though, Speed has a poor rep locally for customer service.

[R1K SU]

There used to be several bike dealers in Blackpool,Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, DooKaati ( usa speak ) and Yamaha, and a cpl of small shop type stores that sold scooters, most of them are gone now, just yamaha and Honda and sam Taylors Piaggio in Blackpool now, its getting harder to find a local dealer. Keep looking anonstarter, check MCN online regularly and autotrader online. You will find something, maybe a burg 650 ?