I'm sitting here in the rain, in the dark, on the Group W Bench.....and these guys want to know what you paid out the door for this Honda.
Mind, me?....I wouldn't ask😊
So what can a lightly used one be had for?
(another great sentence. ...but it's raining on my head...)
Stig
Ah, this is a GOOD question! I thought about whether to answer, and ultimately decided to do so, in hopes it will be of use to others. But first, a bit of context:
As with all financial transactions, the price of anything is determined by WHATEVER THE MARKET WILL BEAR. This is Economics 101. Now, to bring this to the scooter market, we have an interesting situation this year with a couple "new" models available. My ADV 150 is a brand new model in the small scooter class, and the AK550 is a brand new model in the maxi-scooter class. Both seem to be generating good interest in their respective market segments, and as several posters on this forum have noted, inventory seems to be in relatively short supply. It doesn't take a genius to know that short supply and high demand typically yields higher pricing.
With that said, let's also acknowledge what MANY folks have acknowledged on this forum over the years. Every scooter has an MSRP, and then there's the OTD (out the door) price. It doesn't really matter what the MSRP is, because your ACTUAL COST is the OTD price. And you can play with the different pieces and part of the total all you want, but nothing matters except OTD. In other words, you can "negotiate" a price down as low as you want, but if the dealer still insists on marking up the OTD price with a variety of "freight," "assembly" and "prep" fees, it's all for naught.
With my particular purchase, I went into the whole process knowing the MSRP on the ADV 150 is $4,299. Honda also lists a $380 dealer freight fee in smaller print on their website. So, in reality, the lowest advertised price for one of these machines is $4,679. But of course, that still does not include any dealer setup charges, doc fees, tax, title or registration. So, what your final OTD price would be is anyone's guess. I can tell you I was quoted "roughly" $5,400 by a local Honda dealer who has one of the ADV 150s in stock. That seemed quite high to me, and certainly more than I was willing to pay. But, given the newness of the scooter and limited inventory, I imagine they will probably find someone willing to pay that. And I figure the dealer shares my opinion and so was in no rush to offer me a better deal.
In searching on Cycle Trader, I found a grand total of a dozen or so "used" ADV 150s available nationwide. Again, being a new model that made its U.S. debut last summer, there are not that many of these machines out there, and definitely not many used ones available. If you want a PCX 150, you can find them plentiful on places such as Facebook Marketplace, but trying to find a used ADV 150 is kind of like a needle in a haystack. I am sure in another year or two, that won't be the case, but right now they are scarce.
One of the nicest used bikes I found, and the one I ultimately purchased, was listed online for $3,999. As it has only 148 miles, that seemed pretty reasonable to me, especially if you factor in the $5,400 OTD price I was quoted for a new unit. That's a $1,400 savings for 1,40 miles, or roughly a $10 per mile depreciation! I reached out to the dealer and had hoped to perhaps get the machine for $3,700, but not only were they firm on the price, they wanted to add dealer fees that brought the total to $4,600. I told them that was out of the question, and I really did not want to pay more than $4,000. The salesman did the whole "talk to my manager and I'll get back to you" thing.
In the meantime, I called a second dealer in Massachusetts that had a used machine with 500 miles advertised for $4,295. I was able to get the price of the bike down to $4,000, but he insisted that the state requires a $295 "doc fee" on every transaction. I say BS, but bottom line was $4,300 OTD. I tell the guy it's not a bad price; I'll think about it and get back to you.
Then the guy from the first dealer calls me back and says the manager agreed to knock $300 off the price, so $4,300 OTD. So, now I have my choice of two bikes, each at $4,300 OTD. What to do? Do I really want to buy one of these? Am I going to walk away for $300? So, I think about it overnight and call the first dealer back the next day and tell him I'll take the bike with 148 miles for $4,300 OTD.
That means I purchased a 2021 scoot with 148 miles for the actual MSRP of the machine. At first glance, that might not seem like a great deal. But if you actually try to shop for one of these machines, it's actually about the best deal you can get right now. Again, I am sure prices will moderate in time, but if you want one of these RIGHT NOW, I believe that's about the best the market will bear from a dealer. It's worth noting that I have seen just a few of these bikes pop up on Cycle Trader for private sale, and you MIGHT be able to get one for $3,500-$3,900. However, it has to be close enough to you that you can actually get there, and you have to beat everyone else to the seller's door with CASH IN HAND or you lose out. So, again, if you want to be patient and play that game, you can certainly do that and you might get lucky. Or, you can just pay a little more, work with a dealer and get a bike.
One final note worth mentioning is that, since I am buying this bike out of state, I do not have to pay sales tax or any DMV fees as part of the purchase. So, once I get it home to Pennsylvania, I'll have to go to the DMV here and pay the 6% sales tax on what I paid for the bike, plus a $55 title fee and a $20 annual registration fee. That'll add another $315 in order to get a plate on the scooter and be legal to hit the road. Bottom line, that's still $800 less than what I was quoted for a new unit. Granted, I have to drive to go get it, but my folks live not far from the dealer and I'm going to stop for an overnight visit. Haven't seen my mom and Dad since the pandemic started (Dad is 86 and Mom is 80; just got their vaccines) so that's actually kind of a bonus to the whole thing.
FWIW: I arranged for insurance, and that's going to cost me about $150 for a whole year, which seems like peanuts compared to what I pay for my other vehicles.
Apologies for the long-winded answer, but wanted to offer my personal experience in locating and negotiating a long-distance sale in the current environment. One thought I had was that if I found a machine I wanted, I ought to just go ahead and lock it down before everyone received their stimulus checks and started shopping too. I think that, combined with the other factors already mentioned, will keep scoot and cycle prices fairly high this spring. Interested to hear everyone else's thoughts.
