| Author | Message | ||
     J_s_machine |
I recently bought an \\'07 XB12S, and I am faced with a delima. I recently bought a house, and I am paying on that to begin with. I thought that I could aford a Buell, which I have always wanted one, so I went out and bought one. I bought it in Dec. of \\'06. I was pretty stable at the time, and was doing well with afording the bike. The insurance is not that great either, in adition to the payment, because I am only 23. I had an accident on the bike in Feb. and broke my leg, and could not work overtime at work for about 2 months. This really put me behind. I recovered financially just barely, but I am still struggling. The one thing I always wanted (a Buell)is turning out to be the thing that I just wish I could get rid of... I have never bought a vehicle new, so I am not sure what my options are here. I really need to sell the thing, but I do not have the title. I know that Buells have an awful resale value, so I am guessing that If I listed it, and it sold, I would have to come up with the difference to pay Harley Davidson so that I could get the title for the buyer. I cannot do that. I have not been able to save money since the accident. I thought about maybe trading it in on something that will sell easier and for an alot better price, but I would still end up paying off the difference. I\\'m not sure what I can do here. Something that really influences any buyer is the condition of the bike. I had an accident on it about three weeks after I got it and laid it down on the left side. It busted the primary cover and scratched the frame/fuel tank (12\\'s don\\'t come factory with pucks) and damged a few things. I am a machinist, so I pulled the primary cover and fixed it. I had to do some welding and spot painting, and I had to rebuild the shifter because it also was broken. SO it has left side damage. Then as I mentioned above, I laid it down on the right side in Feb. trying to avoid a car that pulled out in front of me. After this, I have a scratched and dented frame/fuel tank on the right side, as well as a dented and scratched header tube. It broke the footpeg, turn signals, right brake lever and some other small things. I replaced everything but the header tube and frame of course out of pocket, and it is good as new, other than the dents in the frame and headers. I added pucks, and they cover up the frame spots, but they are still there. And I would have to tell any buyer about this, as I am not the kind of person who would ever lie about something like that. And if that wasn\\'t enough, It also blew a rear head gasket about three months ago, and that was fixed under warranty. It has 6000 miles on it, 1500 of which I have put on since the new rear head gasket was installed. The bike is fine to me, it rides great and you can\\'t even tell that it has been down, as I wrapped the headers to hide the dent and of course added the pucks. But, what would a buyer think about this??? You don\\'t have to tell me that I am stuck between a rock and hard place, believe me I know. I really need to get out from under this payment but I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read. | ||
| Dako |
I'm guessing you never claimed the bike damage on your insurance? I think it costs around $5000 to replace the frame/tank. Claim it, sell it, pay the dif w/insurance $. Other than that, ???? | ||
| Toona |
Any options of downsizing on another car/truck and using the profit from the sale of that to offset the Buell payment? Hmm, profile says Alabama. Sell any other transportation and ride the Buell 24/7/365? Do you have the extra time to get a second job if your not back to the O.T. on the first job? | ||
| J_s_machine |
I never claimed it because it costs me $1000 to file a claim. That was the only way I could get the insurance where I could afford it. The insurance is $1200 a year thru progressive, and that was the cheapest I could find, with a $1000 deductable. It isn\\'t paid for, so it has to be insured. I am not complaining here, I really enjoy my bike. It has just turned out to be one of the worst financial decisions of my life lol. I want somebody else to be able to enjoy it if I can\\'t, but I would guess that nobody is really going to want it in the condition its in. Has anybody else ever been in a similar situation? What did you do? | ||
| G4string |
A frame replacement is about $1700. The frame is about $1300 from the dealer and add about $400 for labor. Since the frame will be off replacing the header wont be a problem. The header will run you about $150. So for $2000 do you claim it and run the risk of your insurance going up or do you chum up an extra $1000 and do the work your self. Also, this takes time. Since your frame is stamped with the VIN you need to send in your old frame and the factory sends you a new one with the VIN stamped on it. That could take up to a month! Why is your insurance so high? I pay ~$250 a year for a 03' XB9 with a $500 deductible. One thing I have learned is NEVER set up your insurance deductible for a premium you can never afford to pay on at any given moment. Accidents always seem to happen when you are strapped for cash. Live and learn!! | ||
| Badlionsfan |
should've claimed it and got the check then fixed it yourself. the deductible doesn't cost you anything, that is just subtracted from the payout for the repair. | ||
| Lukeduke |
Am I missing something? If someone pulled out in front of you and caused the accident, you wouldn't have to pay a deductible. Their insurance should cover 100% of your costs since they were at fault. You're not going to get much for a bike that's been laid down on both sides and still has significant damage. I'd find some way to fix it one way or another. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
Your options are pretty bleak given your situation. However, they are mostly created by you. A dose of reality: At 23, you bought a 1200cc bike on credit, the only way you could insure it was to have a $1,000 deductible. So you now have bike payments, and barely affordable bike insurance payments. Before that, you bought a house, which I can imagine has even bigger payments. You were relying on your ability to work and work overtime to make the payments on these things. Now, you are dealt with a major blow, accident, and you want to get rid of your bike without taking a loss or at least minimizing your loss. Let me tell you that the first 2 years of ownership, whether it be a car or bike, is the period in which you are upside down. That means, what you can get for your bike/car if you sold it will be LESS than its market value. Whether or not your bike is damaged, you will loose and end up owing the bank more than what you paid for your bike. Since your bike has visible damage, you will get even less. If your main goal is to lower your monthly payment overall, then you have no choice but to sell your bike at a significant loss and pay the difference either through a credit card or some other loan. At least you will have lower monthly payments by having a smaller loan that does not require insurance. It's a tough lesson to learn. Next time, don't buy stuff you can barely afford. Do your homework first and figure out if you can really afford ALL the costs involved in a purchase (insurance/maintenance/registration/etc.) before you dive in. Also, if you just bought a something as big as a house, don't buy anything else for a while. A house is the biggest investment you will make in your life so you want to make sure you are covered. Finally, if you are going to have loans up the ying-yang, make sure that you have a good Disability Insurance coverage or something so that if you get injured at work, have an accident, get laid off, you are still able to make the monthly payments until you get back on your feet. Sorry for the lecture and negative outcome. Good luck to you. | ||
| Cgocifer |
I have to agree with Rogue. I know you aren't wanting lectures, but it sounds like you have learned something here. I would never buy a new Buell due to the poor resale value. I bought mine with 1200 miles on it for 6300 bucks. It was barely broken in and in perfect condition. It now has 4200 miles on it and I've had it for sale for about a year for 6000 OBO, and have only received 4 calls on the bike. It is in perfect condition. You will not get much for your bike, especially with that damage. Being a slave to payments sucks!! Hopefully, you'll be able to climb out of the hole you've dug for your self. You should try to claim the damage, get it repaired, then sell it. Trade in value is even worse than resale. I was offered 3 grand for my bike as trade in on another Buell at one time. Triumph turned me down completely saying that they would never take a Buell as trade because nobody wants them. | ||
| J_s_machine |
About the accident-The woman that pulled out in front of me left the scene, because she never even saw me (my bike never did hit her SUV as it slid towards it. Then there were no witnesses. About a day later when the woman was finally found by cops, she changed the whole story. In other words the police didn't believe my side, and they wrote up the accident report totally different. There isn't no telling how much it would cost to get a lawyer to pursue it, so I just let it go. Isn't it something, that Buells are so desired by people like us, but yet nobody else wants them...I never knew, and I should have checked into it, that nobody wants a Buell, and that the resale value is so low on them. I did kind of do my homework as yall said, but I didn't factor in having an accident on it. Guess I'm stuck with a Buell whether I like it or not...but its not so bad..It is a Buell! I guess if I have to pay this much to have it, and my chances of selling it or getting rid of it are slim due to the damage, I might as well ride the sh_t out of it! I mean isn't that what these bikes do best... Thanks for the lectures--I really do need some guidance every now and then. I lost my dad when I was about 18 and my mom is an addict, I'm sure that if he were still around I would not own a brand new Buell right now lol.. Oh and as far as claiming it, I am screwed there too. Once I made the decision to not let progressive fix it, the claims guy made me sign a piece of paper saying that I would not try to come back and claim it. So, thats out of the question now. Another lesson learned. I have a guy who works with me who had something like this happen to him. He had a bike (a Honda Shadow) that he paid about 15,000 dollars for because he bought it new and paid it off eventually like I am doing. He never even rode the bike. He has had the thing for sale for $4000 for about 3 years now...One day about a month ago, he gets on it, rides down the street and claims he hit a dog...everybody who knows him doesn't believe him, because he has a bad rep for not being able to ride in the first place, hence the reason he never did ride the bike. He busted both of his arms up, got about 20 or so staples in both of his elbows and some bruises (thank God nothing worse)...but anyway -Progressive gives him $6400 bucks for the bike when they totaled it, paid $1500 in hospital bills, paid him $150 to go back and get the staples out, and then another $150 to go back 2 weeks laer and get a check up. Oh and he also made them write up a Document saying that if he ever had anymore trouble out of the few injuries he had from the accident they would have to cover it, form now on. Also he missed one day of work, back the day after the accident. I don't know about yall but for some reason I feel like I got screwed by Progressive... It wouldn't have been so bad if He wouldn't have come to work waiving checks around and bragging about the whole ordeal, after what happenned to me. I guess that is life lol. Oh well. Thanks you for you all's replies. | ||
| Dentguy |
I would agree with one thing Rogue_biker said. Not the part about a dose of reality or the lecture about what you have done. I think you know that already and it didn't need to be repeated. "If your main goal is to lower your monthly payment overall, then you have no choice but to sell your bike at a significant loss and pay the difference either through a credit card or some other loan. At least you will have lower monthly payments by having a smaller loan that does not require insurance." Good luck. | ||
| Leeaw |
Losing a few bucks is always a lesson learned and something you can bounce back from. My brother-in-law finished paying off a brand new GSXR, 4 years after he recked it. I think he had it less than a month and didn't have collision. | ||
| Clutchless |
I dont want to sound like a lecture either, so I wont rant. But this situation, happens to many a Buellers around the world. And this situation separates people who will not stop riding motorcycles out of love, and those who cannot take the risk. Do you love that bike? Ya know, unhealthy obsession? Sounds like it if you were scraping by to get the bike in the first place right? We could go on all day about the will to ride, and the risk. Btw, I'm 23, scraped by to get my harley brand-new. Now I'm scraping by to pay for my Buell. either you pay for it, or get rid of it. decide before its too late. | ||
| Earwig |
Do you have a 401k or anything you can tap into? If you do have a 401k maybe you can take a loan out on it and pay yourself back interest... | ||
| Ccryder |
Even if he does have a 401k, that is real double edged sword. If he changes jobs before it is paid back, he has to pay off that "loan" or suffer some pretty BIG penalties. Saw this happen to a friend going through the big "D" and it cost him $'s in the process. Neil S. | ||
| Aldaytona |
Do what the chopper/custom bike guys do when they want out and realize they can't sell them. Go to Daytona for Bike Week/Biketoberfest and walk out of a bar with your helmet and gear, call the cops and swear it was parked right there a couple of hours ago. Give the police report to the insurance company and presto, it's gone! *Just kidding, that's illegal, and I don't believe it's been done before, here or at any other bike events   | ||
| Thumper74 |
You'll have to fix it and ride for a while untill you get some positive equity in the bike. This isn't too likely if you financed the whole deal. Ride it and learn from your mistakes. | ||
| J_s_machine |
I have a 401K but I just started it about a month ago lol..I guess that's out of the question. I really appreciate the help and the advice guys. | ||
| Lions |
You definitely are gonna take a substantial loss on it and very few peeps are willing to purchase a bike w/out a title in hand...heard some horror stories about new owners in the past waiting months sometimes a year before the former owner actually get's the bucks to pay the full loan off which then leads to legal action by the new owner.... just my 2 cents. How much d'ya think you'd get for a Buell that has been laid down.... good luck with that one.. | ||
| J_s_machine |
Just wondering..Hypothetically speaking, if some of you were interested in my bike, given the circumstances of its condition and what has happened to it, what would you offer me for it? What would it be worth to you? I have pictures of it, If you all want me to post them I will. Right now unless you had been told or knew exactly what you were looking at, you would not be able to tell that it has been laid down. As I said before, the pucks cover the frame marks, and everything that was damaged was replaced except for the headers, which are now wrapped with heat wrap. This was to hide the small dent and scuff. The bike is very well taken care of, always garaged, and has seen rain once. I have put a new back tire on it, and it has a little over 7000 miles. Please read the first of my posts above for other info on the bike. I would really like to know what you all would be willing to offer for this bike if you were interested, that way I can get an idea of what I will get out of it if I try to sell it. | ||
| Thumper74 |
Honestly, I have around $3000 that I would pay. I've had to replace the frame at a bare minimum and that in and of itself would be pricey at $1700 if 'I' do the work. Considering I can buy a clean bike for around $5000, this is more than fair because there are going to be hidden things that will not be found untill the bike is disassembled. It looks bleak. | ||
| Spiderman |
Whats that? Your bike got stolen!  | ||
| Dako |
That's what I was thinking. My work truck got stolen. Even though it was falling apart, I got 3 times what I thought it was worth. Not suggesting anything. | ||
| Rocksham |
I'm a Corrections Officer and I know a couple of guys getting out soon that would like to "borrow" your bike. | ||
| Buellishxx |
Another option is to e-bay it out as you might be able to get more for it in parts than as a whole. | ||
| Teeps |
J_s_machine Posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 I really need to get out from under this payment but I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Another option: go to the lender and negotiate. Tell the lender you can't afford the payment (now) and go from there. Almost everything (in life) is negotiable... Only problem with this is, it might bugger your credit for a while. But if you already own a home (wish I did when I was 23), I don't see credit ding as a big deal. Especially for someone your age. (Message edited by teeps on October 11, 2007) | ||
| J_s_machine |
The lender is harley Davidson Credit. Right after I wrecked it, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it or what the insurance company was going to do. It was right at the time the payment was due, but I still held off a couple of days. When I found out that they were not going to total it, I thought of another option--to let it get repossessed, and that is where I learned another cold hard lesson. The woman from Harley Davidson Credit told me that if I let it go back, they would sell it at an auction and probably get the least amount of money that I could possibly get for it with any of the methods that I would use to try to sell it. So, they sell it for say $3K, and I will end up owing them the other 7K lol. And on top of that it would ruin my credit. I of course opted to not due that, and actually gave the woman a check over the phone so that it wouldn't be late. On top of all this, just because I called and spoke of repossessing, they like red flagged my account or something....I remember the next month I had sent the payment on like the 13th and it had to go from AL to IL, and it is due on the 21st of every month. the 21st fell on a Saturday and those people called me on a Saturday morning at like 7 o'clock and told me that hadn't got my payment. I was very quick to assure them that it was well on its way, but it just p_ssed me off that they would do that, you know, like thinking I was gonna be "just another irresponsible customer"... I have been called about 3 times since and have had to reassure them then too. I may try negotiating with them though. pricks... | ||
| Teeps |
Js Make sure to document each and every time you are called and harassed. Always maintain your cool when speaking to these folks. Always record the date, time, agent's name, and the employer's name. This info might come in handy in the future... | ||
| Nevrenuf |
if i was in your shoes right now i would see what i can get out of my house with a home equity loan. if you belong to a credit union, you can probably get a decent rate. depending on how much you could get, pay of the bike first to get it out of harley's hands. if you can't get that much then get the bike fixed properly and then try to sale it. if you can get more than what the bike needs to pay off than that gives you some working collateral just as long as you don't use the money for nothig else but the bills. once the bike is out of harley credits name your insurance rate can be cut saving yourself more money. then i would start shopping around for another insurance co. for lower rates. try and get a second job and stay off the bike for a while. i'm able to give my son and daughter who are 22 and 25 a chance to get what they want but they have to learn to make good decisions to if they want me to support them. good luck and don't panick. the bank doesn't want that bike or your house no more than the next guy but you have to work with them also if you have to. | ||
| J_s_machine |
I went and checked on an equity loan about three weeks ago. All the lenders I checked with basically told me that I hadn\\'t owned my home for long enough yet (10 months). They said that I would have to have owned my home anywhere from 3-5 years before I could gain any ground that way. Oh yes, they can do it-at a rediculously high interest rate. My credit went from very good to \\"stretched thin\\" because of a house and motorcycle note.. Some of the interest rates I got from different lenders almost made me puke.. I am going to post some pics in a day or two. keep checking back to see them. |
