Kawasaki Vulcan Forum banner

Finally done with insurance

5K views 46 replies 14 participants last post by  Infinite_Day 
#1 ·
60 days to the day of my crash i have finally no longer the owner of a vulcan 2000, well not yet, gonna put whats left in the credit union with the hope of buying a bike in jan/feb time frame
 
#2 ·
Dontcha love beuracracy?

Gonna go with another V2K or do you have something else in mind?

(Glad you're doing good, by the way!)
 
#3 ·
So far still looking at v2k, possibly a roadliner, kicked the c109r because i have read and know people who have issues with c109/m109, long shot maybe a bmw 1200gt sport tourer.
 
#4 ·
Glad things are over for ya. I would still keep an eye out for a good deal though. This the time of year when people decide to sell for one reason or another.
 
#6 ·
Thats what i love about motorcycling, for some of us its in our blood, and for the rest its part of middle age crisis, so its just a temporary thing, my v2k has super low miles when i purchased it, within 2 months of having it i doubled the miles the other guy had even though he had it five years. So always looking out for the next sweet deal.
 
#7 · (Edited)
There's all different kinds. You've got the 'weekend warriors' who take their bike out on a nice sunday afternoon if the weather is mild and dry. Others who commute with their bike rain or shine, still others who don't even own a 4 wheeled vehicle!

Heck, I even know people who NEVER commute but have over 100,000 miles on their bikes, which are only a few years old, because when they go out on the weekend, they really go somewhere!

My 900 had 8,000 miles on it when I bought it in September of 2011, and it's an '06! It's got 21,000 miles on it now!

Nothing against the people who don't ride very often, but man, I guess, I just can't imagine not putting a lot of miles on your bike! I don't commute to save money, I commute with my bike because I love the fact that on a busy work day I can STILL get a little riding in! (Plus I like to take the long way home to unwind!)

Although, seeing cruisers and stuff like that with low miles is one thing. Seeing mega-tourers like a Goldwing with low miles is really a head scratcher. Dealership I bought my bike from had a 1995 GL1500 on it, being sold by the original owner, with 5,000 miles on it (FIVE THOUSAND, not a typo). So you spend that kind of cash for that kind of bike and don't ride it? Different strokes I guess!

But +1 on the buyers remorse buys. A guy I used to work with got a killer deal of a Harley softail. It had 300 miles on it, and was a 2010. Lady bought it to upgrade from her sportster, rode it a few times, then finally sold it. She just didn't like it as much as she thought she would. (And you know how some of that Harley crowd is, there are tons of awesome mid sized cruisers out there that she could handle, but, if you ride a Sportster, the next step is a Softail, no way would they be caught riding a metric!). Basically brand new, but for the price of used!

When I was a freshman in high school my mom bought a car like that. Had 1800 miles on it, and was a previous model year. Got a KILLER deal on it. It was a Honda Accord, the two door one with the sport engine in it. Someone bought it as a mid-life crisis mobile, but then decided, they really needed a sedan. Came back and traded it for the 4 door Accord. Got a sweet deal!
 
#8 · (Edited)
Romans, as you know, a lot of times it comes down to the time of life. I got back to riding mid season 2009. Before that, simply took 15 years off due to family constraints.

My 04 vulcan was owned by PO until July 09 and he put 3K on it. I kept for part of 09, 10, and 11 seasons and traded it this march with 16K on it. Just over 5K miles a season for me.

This march got the 06 connie with under 5K on her. I have put 8K on this year.

Two of my sons now drive. Youngest is 12. BIG difference than what my miles would have been 10 years ago when I was coaching 3 hockey and baseball teams!!!

I know some guys get a bike and simply don't ride much. A lot of times, it has to do with time of life, family situation, and how much free time it allows.

Great news for those of us that don't mind buying barely used bikes - because there are many examples to find usually...

BTW, I hardly ever commute. My miles are day rides and overnights chasing the the curvey roads.
 
#10 ·
Yeah that IS pricey.

The Dealer will, of course, tell you different. But, on a motorcycle, low mileage doesn't increase the value. The NADA value on that bike is around $7k~$8k, and I cannot imagine spending more. In fact, there may be issues with a 4 year old bike with 170 miles on it, that wouldn't be present on the same bike with say 4,000 miles on it (not hard to find) that you could get much cheaper.

If they were both the same price, I'd go for the lower mileage one (and start changing out fluids as soon as I got it!), but, I definitely wouldn't pay $9,400. I might offer $6,500 and hope they counter with about $7,500, that wouldn't be a bad price.
 
#11 ·
Actually looking at 2 v2ks i saw online, both under $6000, a third is actually $4000 but its an ugly green color i cant stomach
 
#13 ·
Buy the one for $4,000, spend $1,000 on a cool custom paint job, and come out $1,000 ahead!
 
#16 ·
If you're handy enough to take the parts off yourself I bet you could get that painted for under $2,000 and have a bike in your price range that looks exactly as you'd want it to. Whatever color you want, not just the two or three options Kawasaki gives you!

That's usually my response to people who tell me they bought a Harley for the extra color options. For the money you saved with a Vulcan you could have gotten a CUSTOM paint job and still have money in your pocket!
 
#17 ·
What romans said is very true.

After owning the bike for 8 years, i decided this year to custom paint it.

Living just south of Houston Texas, i had a very large amount of shops to choose from. I spent over a month researching them..and one thing I found was a HUGE difference in price AND quality.

I found the smaller shops were better overall.

There was a HUGE difference in price. The small shops were much cheaper. As much as half the price. When I had finally chosen one, i was asking him about that. Why did some of these shops want over twice as much as he did..for the same work?

He explained it was over head. Those big shops, the painters are not the owners. They just work there. Well, they get paid of course. And, well, so does the owner. And a receptionist. And so on...

The shop I went with, the painter IS the owner. He's also the ONLY painter there. Sure, he has guys working for him. They do the "prep" work, sanding, buffing, etc. But only HE does the painting.

And that brings up the next point. I found the quality of the job was better in these smaller shops. And it makes sense. It's HIS shop and HIS name on the line. Push out a crappy product, and He's the one who takes the hit.

I also found that the "better" ones own their own shop. Their quality of work is good enough to support it's own business. My painter is not JUST a painter, he's an artist. If that makes sense.

And like Roman said, if YOU take apart the stuff, it's also cheaper.

And it's VERY easy to take break the gas tank "down" and take the lights off the rear fender. If "I" can do it, anybody can...
 
#18 ·
Actually looking at one thats only 41 miles away as opposed to being in WI or Florida, $6000, customs pipes, power commander, new tires, mustang seat, saddlebags, sissy bar, and only 29000 miles a 2004 limited with cool ass headlight(althoughs kills my dream of getting a batwing. Dont have enough left from insurance after paying bills, hoping the credit union can give me a loan.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Sometimes the dealers have good financing but, yes, usually you're better off going to a bank or credit union. Point being, don't automatically discount them until you've checked for sure. Likely though the dealer's best rate is going to be on a new bike. Friend of mine got a Vaquero. While obviously not a V2K engine, in most regards I think it's a nicer bike than my LT Classic.
 
#26 ·
Just watch how many hard inquiries they try and see what the 'default' rates are of the places they are going to run. Anything more than 2 or 3 hard inquiries at a time can detriment your credit, and some of these dealerships will run your credit a dozen times trying to find a good rate. If you want to go through the dealer, make sure you don't have them waste a hard inquiry on a financier that has awful rates.

i don't know if they do it anymore, (I bought my bike back in spring of 05, long ago), and don't know if it only applies to new.

But I bought both my jet ski (in 04)and my bike (in 05) from kawi, with the "good times roll" credit thingy. Was something like 2% interest.
I believe that only applies to new. Got the wifes bike similarly through Honda because it was brand new (albeit a 2011 leftover). Kawasaki is going to make their money selling you the brand new bike, the 2% interest is just icing on the cake. They aren't going to make any money off of a used bike, the dealer will make a few bucks but that's about it, so they don't have any motivation to provide those rates.

They do offer it USED through their credit card, but that has a few disadvantages. For one, it IS a credit card, NOT an installment loan. An installment loan for say, $5,000, if your debt to income ratio is good, won't hurt your credit much and whatever it does go down will bounce right back with a couple on time payments. A revolving line of credit (Credit Card) that is MAXED OUT at $5,000 can really drop your credit score until it's paid off. That, and, the promotional rates are only for the promotion period. If you google their good times financing you'll find all sorts of people who were really burned with thousands of dollars in interest because they paid it off a month after the promotional period or whatever.

You're right though, the dealer CAN offer you some good rates, but I would just check with them first. If I had checked with my dealer first, I would have found that they use a couple local credit unions and the Kawasaki Good Times credit card. I wouldn't have had them apply for the credit card, and I could have found that those credit unions have very high 'powersports' interest rates. In fact, they likely charge a higher rate for people who get the loan through the dealership, as a 'one stop shopping' convenience.

Your best bet is to find someone who gives the same rates to motorcycles as they do other auto purchases.
 
#27 ·
They guy at my local bank told me that he goes by the book (AKA the NADA Book). He has not the first clue about motorcycles and their value or how long they last or anything else. Just as along as you can make it look good on paper you can get the loan. He also said that said bank chain (very small local chain) treats drive campers, cars, trucks, ATVs, Motorcycles, ... all the same and any one who charges higher rates than they would a car is just taking advantage of some one wanting a "toy".
 
#28 ·
Same with my bank. They take the NADA value of the bike and give you 90% of that. Which usually means a 10% down payment (which is typical) but I never had a down payment because I got the bike well below NADA value, so the bank was able to write a check for the full amount without a down payment!

They check the little boxes in the NADA guide for accessories, which might add a couple hundred bucks, but that's about it. They don't care about miles or anything else, doesn't matter! I was on a Harley forum, and suggested the same thing. The response from one member was "Why let some banker who doesn't know anything about your bike write the loan when you can get it from Harley Davidson, they really know the bikes!". Um, cuz the interest rate and the bank is substantially lower and the money is just as green! Who cares what they know about it, just write me a check, that's all they have to do! I don't take it to the bank for service!
 
#30 ·
yeah I don't know about the "Bigger City" culture. The county I live in down here in VA only has around 14K people. So as you can guess everyone know everyone, good and bad.
 
#36 ·
I was actually going in to look at the 900's and their used selection. When the sales man said to hold on a minute and he said he might have something he thought I would like better. He took me and show me the V2K. And (no offense to you 900 guys) I thought to my self why get a 900 when I can get a V2K.
 
#37 ·
If it wasn't for the fact that the 900 was my first bike I'd have done the same! Dealer had a V2K for around the same price as the 900. Although there are some advantages to the 900 (MPG, Parking lot maneuvers, etc.), I'd have to agree, those V2K's are an excellent value used.
 
#39 ·
Cycle Trader.

Do a search for new bikes only. They are dealers you will be contacting, so the best thing to do is call them, don't email them, because you want to talk directly to the salesperson.

Be patient, because I looked a LONG time to find my bike, but I got the exact model and year I was looking for. For a REAL good price. They want to move old stock. The bike had been on their floor since 2006, so these things may be out there and not advertised, so you may want to call dealers in states with longer riding seasons or more bike owners per capita (Ohio has the largest number per capita according to my research), and just ask if they have any V2K bikes sitting around that are new.

People are not buying the ultra large displacement twins these days, which is why Honda and Kawasaki dropped their biggest cruiser engines in favor of liter class product lines. Yamaha has done well in that category with their 1300 cc bikes, which are lighter, as I believe Kawasaki has with their 900 product line.
 
#40 ·
The 900 is Kawasaki's best selling Cruiser. It's definitely the 'hot' market right now, the 1,000cc-ish market. Their 1700 is their flagship line but they sell tons of those 9's! I think a big reason is there is a huge influx of new riders and returning riders. Those 1000cc class bikes are perfect for that. Light and tame enough for a new rider, but big enough to actually be a bike worth riding a few months down the road. I blame the influx of new riders on the economy, they want to save gas, AND, the middle class can't really afford to take big vacations anymore, but they still have some leftover for their vacations, so they decide to do what they always wanted; buy a motorcycle! Some buy the 1000cc class bikes, ride them for a while, then jump on the big twins. Most seem to buy them, ride them very little in several years, then sell them.

It is interesting though that since the end of '08 (when the market crashed), motorcycle sales have increase a LOT. Kind of a 'shuffle the deck' economy we've got going on!
 
#41 ·
Found my V2K on Ebay in October 2011. It was a new 2009 Classic LT. It was an auction at Cycle World of Cherry hill New Jersey. I won with a bid of $9400. had it shipped to me in Florida for $250 with UShip. I felt that I got a great deal. haven't stopped riding since its arrival.
There is a V2K for auction on EBAy now. A 2008 I believe. Only 2100 miles. Check it out!
 
#43 ·
Sadly I did not get approved for a loan, and didnt have enought left from insurance to buy a new bike, been a rough year financially had a few late payments, but I will pay off one credit card in a few days, and one in January at which point i will try again. Should have about $3500 put away by then too
 
#46 ·
Been there. It's not fun but you will get you another one when ya can. Having a piece of mind financially (no matter how small) has more satisfaction than owning any other bike. I had to get rid of my Meanie and 4 years later i finally got me another bike.
 
#47 ·
I used my bank, a credit union, for the used 900 I just bought. They do MC loans just like auto loans so the rates are good. They will only finance a certain % of a used bike depending on how old it is, however, and will only finance a vehicle up to 6 years old, I think. I didn't go that route - I had plenty in savings but didn't want to drop it down any. I just used my own money as collateral and I'll pay it off in a few months. 2% interest rate and they just put a hold on your savings for the amount of the loan. The money's still there you just can't use it and it frees up as you make payments. This makes things easier if I should need to sell it quickly because there is really no lien on the bike and I have the title. I'll should have it paid off by next spring.

I sold my last bike - an SV650 - to get rid of a payment I didn't need at the time since my wife wasn't teaching full time yet. Had to sell an R6 because of financial reasons before that. I know what it's like to have to sell the toys or go without when times are tough. You'll get back on the horse soon enough mistoffeles. Sorry to hear you had a crash.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top