i'm not thinking of trading my GS in, but I was bored and checking out the local bike dealership's site and noticed they take trades. What do you think I could get for a 1990 GS with 18k miles, a small dent in the tank and some rust? Would I get more from selling it outright to someone on craigslist?
You will most likley get more from a private buyer. The dealer will give around or lower than KBB value which wont be that much.
As a trade... you could expect nothing for that old of a bike... Maybe $500 - 800 if the dealer thinks he can sell your 90 GS for any kind of profit ...
No matter what you do, most of your $ on a trade is being tacked back on your sale price.... You can try and slip one by the dealer.. get a OTD price first.. negotiate the price a bit..., then tell em you have a trade.
Keep them on the line a bit till they give you their best deal
:cheers:
^^^ exactly they take money off sticker price and tell you its your trade in value, you almost always get screwed with trade in.
trade in isnt worth it IMO. you'll almost NEVER get what its really worth, and you usually get screwed. sell it outright, or keep it and make it a trackbike.
A dealer offered me $1000 on trade for my Subaru Outback. (KBB value: $5500) They're absolutely insane, and so is anyone who goes along with them and actually trades something in.
I never buy from a dealer either. I let someone else get shafted and buy it from them for book value.
From an employee of a motorcycle dealership... NADA clean value, $505. Avg retail, $740. Not a profitable venture on the dealers behalf. I'd give you 250-400 this time of year. Probably closer to the lower for a not very popular bike at the close of the season here(NY).
Oh yeah, for a 1990 with rust and a dent? I think $500 would be a good private party price.
I got $600 for a 1980 Honda CM200T... caged to the dealer, told them I was looking for a new machine, and let the salesman lead me around a bit. I steered the conversation towards used, they brought out a 1 year old Bandit 600. Talked a bit, I test rode it, came back and said I liked it, and would have to think on it. While we were there I spotted a 1985 Honda V65S, $1000... I said nothing.
Couple days later I showed up on the CM200T, and started the haggling process. They offered $600 in trade, didn't really move on the asking price on the Bandit. I hemmed and hawed while walking around, made my way over to the Sabre... was 'surprised' to find it and asked the price. I then asked if they'd honor the $600 trade offer against the Sabre, which they did... SCORE! :P
Thanks, that's good to know. I did get the feeling when I spoke to a salesman at that same shop that it was kinda shady.