Bike enthusiasts, have you ever thought about buying a salvage motorcycle? If you are a fan or love to repair and resell stuff, purchasing a damaged motorcycle can be a safe bet for you. The repairable salvage motorcycles for sale usually cost just a fraction of their normal market value.
Category: Salvage auctions
Flood Damaged Salvage Motorcycles – Should You Buy Or Stay Away?
Honestly, my first reaction is always to tell people to stay away. But, to be fair, I’ll tell you why you should consider buying a water-damaged bike. I will also tell you why not to buy one.
Five Reasons To Get A Flood Damaged Salvage Motorcycle:
- If you absolutely know what you are doing with a wrench on a bike. You’ve rebuilt motorcycles, done complete teardowns, and, above all, have infinite patience;
- People Do It Already. People fix flood-damaged bikes all the time. For example, motorcycle enthusiasts in the Philippines – a region known for tropical monsoons and flooding – have documented the process for cleaning Honda motorcycles;
- A motorcycle is not a car. Repairing a flood damaged car is a nightmare. A good part of a car wasn’t designed to be out in the open. Motorcycles are designed to deal with the elements. Therefore, motorcycle parts can be pretty resilient;
- Moving parts can be inspected, dried and repaired: engines, forks, and bearings can be taken apart fairly easily and set out to dry in a normal garage;
- You can do it on a budget. You can buy a flood salvage bike cheap. If you do the work yourself and find good cheap sources for parts, you can save a lot of money.
Five Reasons NOT To Get A Flood Damaged Salvage Motorcycle
- Water gets into everything. Water goes into any small or hollow opening. It floods the fuel tank and works its way into the fuel system. Liquid seeps into cables, gauges, pistons, bearings, cylinders, crankcase, plugs, etc.;
- Water damage can appear months after the flooding. Water gets in everywhere (see #1), and quietly corrodes from the inside. Motorcycles have metal, composite, plastics, rubber, glass, and leather. Water basically destroys just about every one of those things over time;
- Flood water is not just “water”. Flood water can come with salt water, fuels, oils, chemicals, sludge, sewage, etc. These chemicals can be really toxic to a bike;
- You don’t know how long it was underwater. Most articles about repairing “flooded bikes” are for people who just pulled their bikes out of the water. They are able to do emergency work, like hosing down the bike with clean water and emptying out gas tanks. Now, about these motorcycles being auctioned today, how long were they underwater? Who knows?
- Forget resale value, collision insurance, trade-ins or getting financing. Once that bike gets “flood” on the title, it will mark the motorcycle for life. As a result, insurers won’t want to touch it, dealers won’t accept it for trade-ins. Too much risk to insure or put on your showroom.
CONCLUSION
There you have it, both sides to the argument. Most importantly, I’d say stay away, if I didn’t have any knowledge. On the other hand, if you are a master mechanic with a lot of time, go for it. Otherwise, do not touch it!
Inspect Salvage Motorcycles – Ten Things To Look For Before You Bid
You’ve been looking for a used bike and decided to go the salvage motorcycle route. Great! Now, it’s time to actually get out there and start shopping. But before you bid, if possible, you need to personally inspect salvage motorcycles you plan on bidding on.
Salvage Motorcycles – Buying And Selling Can Be Fun!
Dealing with salvage vehicles can be time-consuming, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! First of all, you don’t need to spend a fortune on this hobby. The more knowledge you have on fixing them, the more money you will save. Some salvage motorcycles don’t need much work and can be turned around in a week, which are the ones you need to make a business out of.
Buy Salvage Honda Motorcycles At Auction
Honda is a classic name in motorcycles. The car-making giant founded by Soichiro Honda in 1949 started out as a motorcycle maker. That’s where it earned its reputation for well-engineered motors and high-quality manufacturing standards. Starting with small motorcycles in the early ’60s, it made a name for itself in the United States. As of 2019, it is the most-sold motorcycle in America and the world.
Video: How To Buy A Salvage Motorcycle At COPART Auctions
On this blog, we have suggested you check out auctions for wrecked bikes. Here is how you can register at SalvageReseller.com to bid on Copart auctions and buy a salvage motorcycle. For that matter, you can also bid on salvage trucks, cars, watercraft, and ATV’s.
You Can You Bid On Stolen And Recovered Motorcycles
When motorcycles are stolen and recovered by the police, insurers will auction them off. If you are looking at buying a used motorcycle this can be an option. Question is: can you bid on stolen and recovered motorcycles? The short answer is yes.
Buy A Salvage Motorcycle For Parts at Auction
Project Bike Needs Parts
So you have that project bike that you are repairing or customizing. You might have bought a frame at an auction site or Craigslist, or perhaps you have a motorcycle sitting at home that needs serious fixing. What’s stopping you is the laundry list of parts you need to get it going.
Things To Look For When You Fix A Salvage Motorcycle
Salvage Repaired Title Versus Salvage Title Motorcycle
You are likely to encounter articles or forum posts advising you how bad salvage-title motorcycles are. Well, that is half the story. These articles are telling you the issues of buying a rebuilt salvage title motorcycle. That is a bike that has been titled as salvage, then rebuilt and inspected. Someone else gets to fix the salvage motorcycle, not you.
Should I Buy A Salvage Dirt Bike From Auction?
You are looking for a cheap dirt bike for sale and you happen to notice the pricing on salvage title bikes at auction. Should you buy a salvage dirt bike at auction? If you are careful and patient you can find a pretty good off-road bike at a fraction of the cost of a used motorcycle. I’ve summarized some of the main challenges facing the buyer of a used bike and the advantages.