Immaculate or Not

Rod Bromfield, Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Not sure you’d call this a news item but more of a ‘I wonder why‘.

I wonder why motorcycle dealers have this knack of describing bikes as something they’re not.

I was looking for a Yamaha Tracer 9GT and saw quite a few on Autotrader I liked the look of.

One in particular took my eye so arranged a viewing. The thing was it was a 160 mile round trip and before I went, I asked for a in-depth video walk round to ensure it was worth my while doing the trip. From the video it looked the business.  Unfortunately, after arriving at the dealers and upon on my closer inspection, it appeared not to be so. I took it for a ride anyway, just to see what these machines handle like. Quick shifter, wow what a game changer, more toys than Santa as standard and easy to ride in my opinion.

Anyway, walked away from that one.

Second one, well let’s just say after asking for another video walk round that was discounted.

Decided to do a list of bikes that looked good, dealers had good reviews, with lowish mileage and no more than 80 miles away.

5 bikes made the list.

An in-depth enlarging of the photos and most seemed good.

One stuck out from the rest and it wasn’t too far away, in Milton Keynes.

I decided to go and look without any prior arrangement.

As soon as I saw that one, I knew the search was over; it was just as described In the video on autotrader. They showed everything and all was good.

I asked what they’d give me for mine, they looked at my Autotrader ad and offered me a fair price. I bought it there and then.

Actually I tell a lie there.

I was only going to look at the bike, with no intention of buying straight away, so therefore I hadn’t brought the wallet. My wife, however, always carries hers, so we bought it on her credit card. We now await the bill. Haha!

The point here is that I wish dealers would be a bit more honest when advertising bikes or at least know the difference between pristine, immaculate, good condition or clean.

The problem i suppose is that everyone’s opinion of said descriptions are open to everyone’s personal interpretation.