Need some advice motorcycle purchase

waamo

Jay_rs wrote: »

Got. Call from my mechanic and turns out the engine is seized, Will need a new engine, he said it wasn’t worth fixing as price would surpass purchase price

You tested it and it ran fine. Proving he knew there were issues with it will be tricky I fear

shinytop

Jay_rs wrote: »

Got. Call from my mechanic and turns out the engine is seized, Will need a new engine, he said it wasn’t worth fixing as price would surpass purchase price

You have my sympathies, that's really bad luck. A 2nd hand engine will probably be your best option but that has its risks too.

Davy_Jones_II

I can understand how upset and disappointed you are, and I do think it likely the seller knew what was going on, but I can’t see that you will ever manage to get any money out of them without massive time, effort and expense, so unfortunately you are going to probably be best going down the new engine route.
If it’s got hot enough to seize then it’s likely that you’ll have had warning from the temperature valve. It’ll either have risen into the red, or, if the water loss is sudden, dropped to show stone cold. There’s a chance that had you stopped when you saw this it’d have been a much cheaper repair.

All ai can say is don’t be put off, most sellers are honest, most bikes are reliable nowadays, and having had such bad luck or being cheated is not a sign that it is likely to happen again on the next bike.

If it’s a Burgman is it quite an old or high mileage one? Although not a tiny sum of money, it’s not a lot for a big scooter.

New_World_Man

Your mechanic should have been looking at it before it was bought, unless you knew what to look out for. I bought a dodgy car many years ago. Painful lesson learned.
Sounds like the seller knew what was coming. Must have been his lucky day when a rushed buyer turned up late at night.
Was anyone with you when you looked at the bike? If there was, his excuse about liquids from washing (if you could prove it) might just swing a balance of probabilities if it went to court. Perhaps I am clutching at straws but courts can take the full facts and circumstances into account. Disguised signs of a leak and breaking down immediately afterwards would be a suspicious coincidence.
That said, a successful test ride would count against you in any event.