question on the katanas price

[ibanez42054]

why do i see various katanas selling for more than the actual book value or any bike for that matter??

[ThAzKat]

Sport bikes depreciate the most, the nature of the beast, thus their resale prices. As you can see on here the Kat is more likely to be taken care of.

[ibanez42054]

yeah you are probably right

[The CyberPoet]

Re: question on the katanas price

why do i see various katanas selling for more than the actual book value or any bike for that matter??

Bike sell for more than book value for three reasons:

(A) Supply and demand. If, as a seller, I can get more than book value, yeah, I'll sell for more than book value. In a high-demand time (spring in most parts of the country, fall in Florida), prices fluctuate upwards.

(B) New buyers. Most people have no clue what the price of a bike should be when they first get into the bike market. Many people take advantage of this fact, including sales people at bike shops.

(C) Upgrades. Although the typical seller should know that they'll only get a few cents on the dollar for upgrades they added to the bike normally (exceptions: BMW's and HD's), they may hold out for a higher price because of the upgrades. If enough sellers hold out for a higher price for this reason in any given area, it drives the market price for that market upwards.

RELATED STORY:

Ran by the closest Suzuki dealer this week to order some $2 part, and noticed they had an '03 Kat 750 outside. After ordering at the parts counter, I went and asked what they would charge me to swap the '03 750 for my '01 600... Both have similar mileage (8600 on the 750, 10.6k on the 600), and the '03 was stock down to the tires, and wasn't in the best shape (couple scratches, some signs of neglect).

While the sales person was busy screwing around with the manager on the numbers, I used their computer to pull the NADA book values... In my mind, a good 750 engine is worth $800 and the labor to swap it would be worth $400, plus I'd toss in $300 for the benefits of a newer year (new style tail-light, etc) if they'd let me swap my wheels/tires and givi rack over. NADA book values said difference was right around $1480, and it was worth about $1500 to me to do the swap...
The sales guy comes back with an outlandish number: $3650 with the trade-in. WTF? The low-retail for the 750 was about that much... I laughed at him, he said he couldn't do anything better because their used buyer had paid too much and that was that. But someone who didn't know better might have taken it.

As for me, I'd be far more likely to track down a private seller selling the same basic 750, buy it, swap my parts over and then sell my 600 as high as I could -- and based on past experiences, I might even come out even on the whole deal (but if I was $1k into a newer 750 instead of my '01 600, I wouldn't whine). Or I'll just wait and get what I really want



Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Jax]

Cyber....I agree with your points but I think A and B are the 90% of the gouging and don't forget Season...Buy that bike you want in the winter...cold no one wants to ride and people are more likely to want to get rid of their bikes...buy in the late Spring and Summer and you can be guaranteed to pay a premium...just my $.02...