03-23-2014, 01:50 AM
Romo..tread carefully with the labeling please.
To label a whole group of one brand riders as the same is non sensical. There are many dedicated Harley riders and I would think there are just as many non Harley riders who ride only a few miles a year, but still enjoy owning motorcycles.
I can remember back in the late 80s and early 90s when there was an absolute shortage of HDs and one had to put an order in and wait for months to get one, and often paid over retail to boot. In that situation used units did carry a higher than average resale value, because there were more buyers than there were units available. They had no choice. If they wanted a bike, and didn't want to wait, they paid whatever the seller was asking. Today with excess units sitting on dealers showroom floors, that is no longer the case and resale values reflect that. People can either walk in and dicker on a new one or buy one of a multitude of used ones. That decreases value.
As far as resale value today goes I think it is fairly equal as far as percentage of loss on depreciation of American and foreign motorcycles, if you factor out the accessories that some riders tend to put into their bikes. A lot of the resale value loss also depends on the desperation of the seller. Low ball offers often beat repossession in hard times, get accepted thereby dragging the individual resale of a unit down, but if you factored in all sales of those units across the country, the resale would be much more normal.
Also resale value, just like insurance, can reflect where you live. Im guessing a used anything motorcycle or car or house goes for less in Detroit, Michigan than it does in San Diego, California.
As with our own CBs with some claiming the value between $5000 and $6000 ..some are willing to accept that, but I don't think it accurately represents the true value of our bikes which I think is much higher... about $8000 IMO, but that is just my opinion, well mine and KBBs if you look it up. I would not let mine go to someone for $6000. It had more value to me than that. But if someone does, does that accurately represent the value of these machines? I don't think so.
To label a whole group of one brand riders as the same is non sensical. There are many dedicated Harley riders and I would think there are just as many non Harley riders who ride only a few miles a year, but still enjoy owning motorcycles.
I can remember back in the late 80s and early 90s when there was an absolute shortage of HDs and one had to put an order in and wait for months to get one, and often paid over retail to boot. In that situation used units did carry a higher than average resale value, because there were more buyers than there were units available. They had no choice. If they wanted a bike, and didn't want to wait, they paid whatever the seller was asking. Today with excess units sitting on dealers showroom floors, that is no longer the case and resale values reflect that. People can either walk in and dicker on a new one or buy one of a multitude of used ones. That decreases value.
As far as resale value today goes I think it is fairly equal as far as percentage of loss on depreciation of American and foreign motorcycles, if you factor out the accessories that some riders tend to put into their bikes. A lot of the resale value loss also depends on the desperation of the seller. Low ball offers often beat repossession in hard times, get accepted thereby dragging the individual resale of a unit down, but if you factored in all sales of those units across the country, the resale would be much more normal.
Also resale value, just like insurance, can reflect where you live. Im guessing a used anything motorcycle or car or house goes for less in Detroit, Michigan than it does in San Diego, California.
As with our own CBs with some claiming the value between $5000 and $6000 ..some are willing to accept that, but I don't think it accurately represents the true value of our bikes which I think is much higher... about $8000 IMO, but that is just my opinion, well mine and KBBs if you look it up. I would not let mine go to someone for $6000. It had more value to me than that. But if someone does, does that accurately represent the value of these machines? I don't think so.