Buying Used eMTBs: Finance/stolen checks?

[Deleted member 1275]

Hi All,

As some of you may know, I'm currently in the market for my first eMTB (thanks for the advice received from here so far) and while I will buy new for my first bike so that I have dealer support and manufacturers warranty for my piece of mind, I was thinking about the future and the possibility of buying used to save some cash.

Due to the significant financial commitment (or at least it is for me) of buying an eMTB and lets face it you can buy a nice used car/motorbike for the sums we are talking about here I started to think about what checks can be done to help ensure you are aren't buying a stolen bike or one that is on finance - like we all would do if buying a used car for example.

Is there a company with a reliable and well-curated database of bike serial numbers for example that list finance and police interest status etc?

Apologies if this has been asked before.

Thanks

 

[Gary]

stolen? use common sense and caution. The more you know about bikes the better here. perhaps take a friend who does if you don't. if the seller seems even slightly dodgy or you have an incling it's not theirs go with your feelings.
finance? Who cares. it's not a car. has no registration and debt will still be with the financee whatever they choose to do with the product or the money they get from selling it.
Biketowork scheme is technically slightly different but you're extremely unlikely to find an expensive emtb bought through the scheme and they're unlikely to ever recover a resold bike despite the terms of the scheme stating they own it until the end of the hire period.

 

[highpeakrider]

If your buying the first one new this really isn’t an issue yet unless you buy the wrong first bike and have to sell it quickly.

I’d focus on getting the first one.

For every bike I’ve sold I’ve always produced the receipt, plus the person selling it will always know about the bike in detail - if they don’t walk, the other option is to buy end of season where you my get 20% off new. Although this does come at risk and you need to be flexible on model.

 

[Gary]

For every bike I’ve sold I’ve always produced the receipt

I've bought and sold over 200 (100% legit) personal bikes over the years and never once even considered producing a reciept for the seller. Partly as I've never paid full RRP on a single full bike and if the buyer knew what I had spent they might not feel what I was asking was as great value. and partly as many were full custom builds (again nothing bought at full RRP) so if a seller isn't keen to show you reciepts it doesn't always mean they are dodgy. More obvious stuff like clipless pedals but not having the shoes to fit them, or not knowing how the suspension/dropper, shifters etc. work can raise alarm bells. look for anything that's not quite right or even worn parts and ask questions. Generally the owner of a used bike (especially an expensive one) will know all about it, how it's been treated and maintained. You do get the odd legit seller who's just spunked a fortune on an off the shelf bike they know very little about on a whim ridden once or twice and just not gotten into in the way they expected. But if a bike's price seems too good to be true it probably is. If you're a good judge of character this will help you loads buying S/H bikes.

 

[Gary]

There are stolen bike register websites. Google to find them

 

[highpeakrider]

Just do what Gary says.....

 

[Gary]

Just do what Gary says.....

New sig right there for me

haha

 

[Deleted member 1275]

Thank you gentlemen. Good advice there.