Paying for a motorbike over the phone.

valkynaz

valkynaz

valkynaz

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I passed my CBT over a week a go and I currently have all of the equipment I need to ride a motorbike, I just need the bike itself! Due to this being my first bike I am only willing to purchase from a dealership.

However I'm in a position where I am unable to travel to any dealerships nearby and ride the bike home due to distance, inexperience, and my availability. As such my only option is to purchase a bike online and have it delivered, however this leaves me with one problem. All of the dealerships I've came across so far take debit details over the phone and I really don't feel comfortable passing said details over the phone for a £1500+ purchase without any sort of assurance that a purchase is being made.

Is there any sorts of methods in which I can get some sort of assurance/guarantee that a purchase is being made rather than "ok mate I've took the money and I'll get it sent out for delivery now, ta".
 
valkynaz said:
I really don't feel comfortable passing said details over the phone for a £1500+ purchase without any sort of assurance that a purchase is being made.

Is there any sorts of methods in which I can get some sort of assurance/guarantee that a purchase is being made rather than "ok mate I've took the money and I'll get it sent out for delivery now, ta".
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It's the same thing as buying anything over the phone with a card. You're essentially handing your bank card to a stranger, the fact that your item is £15 or £1500 means nothing, the card details you're quoting are going to be the same regardless.

It's a fact that many call centre operatives will write down your details and sell them to criminal gangs for a bit of extra cash. Because there is no shortage of card details out there, half the time they will never be used fraudulently and the card will simply expire, it's a risk you either take or you don't take.
 
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Use a credit card and you're about as covered as you can be, it's not exactly unusual practise though.
 
I'd always want to see a bike before buying it - the best way would be to go a view a bike, haggle, buy it (with debit card) and then get them to deliver it. Most dealerships will deliver either free or for about £120.
 
I wouldn't buy anything with out at least seeing the bike and sitting on it and starting it up to make sure it runs and you're happy with the feel and seating position.

I had to pick up my bike just over 90 miles away near Brands Hatch so I hired a van and used a couple of straps like these to strap it down in the back.

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If you have a tow-bar or access to a car that does you can hire motorcycle trailers for not that much a day. Would be easier loading wise.
 
Surely there's a more local dealer so you can have a look around and see what you fancy?

Most shops deliver anyway,and your pretty safe if you pay by visa debit or credit card
 
It would be worth checking to see if the dealership will accept card payments over the phone.

After passing my CBT I tried to buy a bike from two dealerships, but they wouldn't accept card payments over the phone for items of such a high value. I'm guessing due to the possibility of the person using stolen card details.
They'd only accept bank transfer. This was an immediate no for me.

I ended up buying from a dealership about 15 miles from me. On the day of picking up my bike, I got my gear on and used uber to get over there (free £15 first drive :D)
 
I bought my Honda from a dealer in Birmingham without seeing it. I paid the deposit with a credit card (£150) so my whole transaction was covered and the rest by Bank Transfer. I'd try to avoid that in the future but it wasn't too much of a risk.
 
It wouldn't bother me at all using a card over the phone to buy a bike. That said, as above you could always ask them for their bank details and just do a bank transfer. You probably have more comeback if you use a credit card though.
 
If you don't trust them with a card payment don't go anywhere near a bank transfer as you've go no come back at all if the whole transaction is done using it.
 
tom_e said:
If you don't trust them with a card payment don't go anywhere near a bank transfer as you've go no come back at all if the whole transaction is done using it.
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Agreed. The benefit of purchasing through a dealer is the amount of comeback you have but I still do my best to check dealers out. Make sure they've been trading for years and see if you can find reviews. Still there's always some trust involved and that's a bit uncomfortable when there's so much money at stake. I remember wondering if some rogue staff member could be getting me to transfer money to their account but they e-mailed me an invoice after I put a deposit down on card.

m4rkw7 said:
Why can't you go to see the bike in person and pay on the day and then if needs be get them to deliver it after that.
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With mine it was in Birmingham and I'm in London. With a car I'd have ignored it but with bikes you consider it as the delivery cost is less than the cost of going there.
 
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I paid a £200 deposit over the phone and paid the rest when I picked it up
was meant to pay the rest when they delivered it, but they couldn't get it to me for a week, so a mate drove me to pick it up.

Cant you just pay a deposit ?
 
I ended up just going for it and paying on the phone and I ended up getting the bike delivered today:

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Really happy with it so far. Taking it for a spin tomorrow with a friend.
 
wazza300 said:
Congrats ,looks lovely just be careful on it
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I've already had a stern talking from the family regarding safety. I have no interest in ragging around on it just getting from A to B for work. Nor do I have any interest in filtering through traffic, I ride quite defensively. So hopefully riding on the roads in my area won't be any trouble.
 
valkynaz said:
I've already had a stern talking from the family regarding safety. I have no interest in ragging around on it just getting from A to B for work. Nor do I have any interest in filtering through traffic, I ride quite defensively. So hopefully riding on the roads in my area won't be any trouble.
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those tyres look new, be carful with them as you need to crub the coating off of them as they will be slippery to begin with.
 
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