Haggling for a new moped - yes or no?

im-lost

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Do you work for a chinese crap importer?

Of course anything will break if abused but I bet the chinese stuff breaks first.

nope, just stating some facts....

messes

The dealer does have a somewhat understandable viewpoint regarding used scooters. I would presume they are talking from some experience. The more sporty looking scooters may well have been ragged everywhere and poorly maintained by a young new owner.


Consider looking for a private sale from someone using a scooter just like you want to. That should save some money.


Rather than haggle on price, see if they can throw in any gear instead.

Nodding_Donkey

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

With the cheapest Sym at £800 on Autotrader, for up to two years old, and Piaggio starting at £400 for a comparable bike, clearly not. Especially when you consider the difference in the new price, and think what the hit with depreciation on the Piaggio is by comparison.

You must be looking at a different autotrader to me lol

the £400 Piaggios are
1 A 2004
2 A scam
and
3 Spares or repair.

londonTiger

With so little foresight by these chinese manufacturers in not supplying service/repair parts, I wonder if they have even bothered to consider safety and test before selling them to a gullible chancer in the UK whose happy to resell them on.

After all, lack of parts only means one thing to me, lack of commitment to stay in the business in the long term. So why would they give a toss about safety?

I've bought a chinese pushbike before that had terrible braking - used some weird metal on metal friction system that I never saw before. Well at least with a bicycle you can decamp if all else fails - on a moped if the brakes fail on a give way you're doing to be salami.

ElkyElky

I had a Piaggio before I started driving lessons. Was pretty much perfect, not a single problem went wrong but it was only 1 year old when I bought it.

I came off it a few times and this encouraged me to learn to drive quicker than I had planned. Two times I came off the moped was because of another driver and was injured quite substantially.

You may understandably trust your daughters driving but for the love of god, invest in body protection for her - include this in your budget.

Sanday

The lack of replacement parts would cause concern for me.

Although I would assume that as you are buying new from a dealer that some form of warranty will be offered? If that's the case then you can request a replacement scooter if it does need to go in for repairs!

At the end of the day however you appear to have done your homework and if you would prefer this new ped at £1099 then go for it and see how much free stuff you can get!

Haggling is ALWAYS a good thing

Nodding_Donkey

When you think about it lack of spares will cut down the warranty claims if the ped is off the road for three to six months each time awaiting spares.

BillJones

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Do you work for a chinese crap importer?

Of course anything will break if abused but I bet the chinese stuff breaks first.

I suspect that you are basing your advice on the bikes of five or so years ago. Back then, the budget Chinese brands were like the first Japanese cars that we had. By all accounts (and they are regularly reviewed in the mainstream bike magazines) the Chinese imports nowadays are pretty much up there with the lower priced Japanese and European models (many of which are made in China...)

I still prefer German bikes, or Italian scooters, but can't see any problem with the better Chinese brands when budget is an issue.

burlington6

Buy cheap, buy twice!

Jo_F

When I went for my CBT 18 months ago, I was told not to get a Chinese scooter as they were so unreliable.

The other thing to bear in mind is servicing. A new moped/scooter/bike needs a service not long after buying (I think it's either 3 months or 300 miles) and a heck of a lot of places that service bikes won't touch them.