How To Sell Your Motorcycle

So you’re thinking about selling your current bike and moving on to the next new thing. Perhaps you’ve gotten enough experience that you’ve outgrown your first bike, or maybe you just want to swap a cruiser for a touring model to take long-distance trips. Whatever the reason, it’s important that you get your money’s worth on your bike when you sell it so that you can bring your cash to Barnes Harley-Davidson and purchase something brand-new that suits you better! And you’ve also provided someone else with a new-to-them bike that will serve them well.

As your local Harley-Davidson dealer, we’ve provided some tips for getting your bike into shape so you can sell it at a decent profit. Read on to learn more!

Figure Out What It’s Worth

Your first task is to determine exactly how much your bike is worth in its current condition. You don’t want to overvalue it, since it’ll never sell at a cost that’s well over its market worth. But you also don’t want to undervalue it and lose money that you could have rightfully earned. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you—while you likely have lots of sentimental memories attached to your ride, another buyer has no feelings about it whatsoever, so you can’t appeal to their emotion when trying to sell them your beloved Harley bike.

Gather data on your bike’s worth using classified ads, internet listings and dealership inventory prices. Look around on forums to see how popular that model is with riders. If more people are interested in it, then you can charge more. Make sure you’re accounting for the bike’s age and condition, as well as any customizations you may have added that could improve its value. Where you sell it matters, too, since those in big cities are probably going to be able and willing to pay more than those in a small town or rural area.

Use this information to determine the absolute lowest price you’re willing to sell the bike for, then set your price higher than that so that you can negotiate with the seller on a cost that works for both of you.

Prepare Your Bike

Now it’s time to make your motorcycle look good! Clean it as thoroughly as you can, scrubbing under the seat and in every nook and cranny you can find. Touch up any paint flaking or scratched parts. Replace worn-down parts that make the bike look worse. Sure, you’re spending money on your bike before you sell it, but you can recoup the cost of what you replace if your bike is in great shape.

You may wish to have a professional mechanic inspect and evaluate your motorcycle, too. This will help you find and address any problems you might have missed. The service records will also be useful to hand potential buyers so they know they can trust you and the quality of your bike.

Get The Word Out

Next, you’ll have to get the word out somehow that you’ve got a bike up for sale. Take some good photos of it in broad daylight against a simple background (or get a photographer friend to do so, putting the bike in its best light) and build online postings with as much information as you have, like mileage, year, repairs, additional features and so forth. Post your ad to forums, Craigslist and on social media accounts.

Think About Using A Dealership

If you want to avoid the hassle of trying to use Craigslist, word-of-mouth or newspapers in order to sell your bike, you should try selling it to a dealership! This saves you time and energy and you’ll be able to get a new bike after selling your old one with the funds you’ve acquired.

As you can see, it’s not too hard to sell your Harley bike if you follow the right steps! Ready to find your next one or trade in your current model? Come to one of our locations to see our full stock of new and used Harley-Davidson® motorcycles for sale. Barnes Harley-Davidson welcomes all our British Columbia customers.