Sig Change.

Pinkie's just been carted away by its new owner, who described the
colour as 'not as bad as I thought it'd be'.

I must have a very trusting face as apart from making sure it started,
he didn't check one single thing on either the bike or the paperwork. I
found that a bit strange, especially as he's a mechanic.

 

He'll rattle can the pink away and nige it for a profit.

 

Good luck to him if he tries, but there's no way he'll make a profit.

 

What sort of dog did he use, retriever?

 

<straight bat>

No, some yappy little spaniel thing.

 

Did you eBay it?

I bid, I win, I turn up, I pay.

What can I ascertain from looking at the paperwork or bike from a cursory
glance? So long as the machine looks like the pictures and runs there's
very little that can be done on site.

I just rely on my ability to fix/bodge things and knowledge that people
aren't out to turn me over.

 

That the address you're viewing it at is the registered keeper's, &
the frame & engine numbers match the V5 (& don't look messed with), &
the claimed service history exists, & the mileages on the MOTs tally
up, & the oil isn't black sludge, & the sprockets have teeth, & the
brakes aren't binding, & the electrics work, & the head & wheel
bearings aren't fucked, & ... etc etc.

<recalls Jag with fucked engine & Armstrong that did 5 miles / litre
of oil>

I'd rather rely on my ability to find out if things need fixing before
handing over any cash, safe in the knowledge that there are plenty of
people out there trying to turn others over.

 

Bid to buy not to haggle etc. If I worry about those things then I make
sure I look at it first (which I don't).

If someone says it's there and is ok then I believe them. I assume you
had a full, straight (with a pink bike) description with plenty of good
quality pictures? Guess what, the bloke who bought it is probably a
decent stick and not looking for a chance to knock you down - like most
other people.

<fx: rushes to defend honour> The Jag (which wasn't ebay, I'd owned a
year and had done 5000 miles before it failed) was because I allowed it
to overheat, and stay overheated, and the Armstrong was an ebay gamble -
at less than the going rate - with a bodged engine, replaced by an
untested, worn engine (not ebay). In that case a gamble that just broke
even.

The other eBay vehicles (a Stockholm Syndrome of SAABs and Volvos) I've
had all turned out to be fine, value for money. I tend to paddle in the
banger end of the pool too - so plenty of scope for it going wrong.

The point is if I'm prepared to essentially sign a contract, sight
unseen, to buy a vehicle then I'm not that bothered about whether the
wheel bearings are ok.

 

On 2011-04-18 06:41:02 +0100, sweller said:

snip>

I check the frame and engine numbers are the correct ones, is it in
something resembling the condition described and does it run ok? If I
can tick those three boxes then it's mine because if I wanted to go
deeper than that I should have viewed before bidding.

 

Matching engine engine and chassis numbers, for one thing. You can be
99% sure that the seller never checked them.

Case in point - the Gixxer I looked over for Nige. No engine number
recorded on the V5. The seller had never bothered to check the paperwork
himself.

 

So?

I have two bikes and a car that don't have matching engine numbers. If I
were to sell them I'd send the logbook off to DVLA but what does that
prove?

As to the discussion, the only thing I'd probably check is that the frame
number hasn't been modified but not against the papers.

 

Sure, but there's also 'as described'. E.g. if it's listed as having a
full service history, & a check of the docs shows it was due a cambelt
service a couple of thousand miles ago, you'd be perfectly within your
rights to either walk or haggle. If you don't check 'til you get it
home, you could end up with a nasty surprise & a very big bill.

Full description, & a long chat with him on the phone.

I don't doubt it. But he handed over 2,600 cash based purely on
something a complete stranger had told him. It's nice that there are
people with that level of trust, but I still think it's a bit daft.

Maybe I'm just overly sensitive to such things after my last two
purchases. Both the Raptor & the Outlander had blatantly obvious
problems that neither seller bothered to mention when asked if there
was anything wrong with them.

The Raptor's front discs were so badly warped the forks bounced up &
down when you braked at low speed. There's no way he didn't know about
that. And the Outlander had a completely fucked battery, two dead wheel
bearings (he did mention one of them but claimed his friendly
Mitsubishi mechanic couldn't find which one it was - blatant bollocks),
dead sunroof, one dead window, CEL, no aircon, a warped rear disk, &
the full service history didn't include the cambelt change that
should've been done around 10k miles earlier.

Neither were ebay sales, & I could've walked, but both were cheap
enough to make financial sense as I could do all the work myself. Had a
non-DIYer bought the Outlander, they probably would've been looking at
a couple of grand to get it sorted. All because the long-established
award winning dealer who sold it was a lying ****.

 

Ding.
If you buy a ringer the eciloP will eventually pull you, confiscate it,
and your hard earned wonga has gone down the drain. There are a fair
few wrong ones out there and the present seller often does not
know that he was a victim.

 

Do the DVLA actually cross-check the engine numbers to see whether it's
off a stolen bike? ICBW, but I don't think they do.

Looking at the paperwork does give you a useful insight into the honesty
of the seller though: for instance if they've thrown away all the yellow
advisory notices from the MOT certificates.

 

I've had 1 in 10 years. How would you know if I'd had one? Not everyone
sends a bike to the MOT with almost worn out brake pads, borderline
suspension or a tyre on the limit.

 

On the MOT pass certificate there is a field which says whether an
advisory was issued.

 

You can also check online to see what advisories were given at the
time. It's all entered on the MOT central computer system at time of
test and is traceable nowadays.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Me, I'd change the details on the V5. It is actually an offence not
to, as it is to change the colour of a vehicle and not mark the change
on the V5. There are a lot of ringers out there.

If you've got a vehicle that's had an (honestly sourced) replacement
engine, you might as well do it, if only to avoid hassle when a
zealous copper decides to look more closely and flags up the V5
discrepancy.

 

No, you're not being overly sensitive. I agree with you 100% here. I
remember going to collect a bike that had been described as all-
original, and the paintwork had been re-done with a rattle can, and
patterm decals applied.It had been impossible to tell from the
pictures - eBay photos always flatter bikes, especially when they've
been taken on a bloody mobile phone, and it didn't occur to me to ask
whether the paint was a home-made job, because it looked fine in the
pictures.

**** of a seller then said that it was "like original. Same style,
mate". I just walked away.

Some golden rules I adhere to now include never, ever, *ever* going
for a bike that's being "sold for my brother" or "for a mate who
doesn't have internet access". And I always take a print-out of the
auction along with me. Something serious that's not mentioned on the
auction page, or something that blatantly contradicts the description
- I'll walk, or I'll demand a discount.