BMW R1200R Owners in Canada be very aware

[fiveo]

The past few days I have been contacting dealers about trading in my 2009 R1200R to go to a dual purpose bike. I came back from riding the Dempster hwy to Inuvik on my 650 V Strom this June and having a dual purpose bike that does it all now appeals to me. As you read further bear in mind I am talking about being in B.C. Canada. My bike a 2009 model year was purchased with all the bells and whistles that came to approx $18,000 before taxes. Fast forward two years and the bike has 11,000 km on it and is in pristine condition all the way round. I now look into the possibility of trading up and I am being offered $8,000 for my bike. That is a $10,000 hit in two years. The dealer does not mention this at the time though as nobody in their right mind would buy one. What you get is the story of how the Beemers hold their value and how reliable they are. So my message is simple. If you are going to go the R1200R route then be damn sure you are going to hang onto your new R for a long time or you will get hosed should you decide to change over to a different bike. What perplexes me is that you hear so much about BMW resale value and I am now finding out the hard way that the resale value is just not there.

regards,

JP

[rockbottom]

I suspect that amount of depreciation will be the same for any high end motorcycle. The Kelly Blue Book retail on a 2009 is about $11K Canadian. $8K for trade in is the Blue Book amount.

[TAG-Caver]

Yes, one of the worst things you can do with your money is buy a motor vehicle, especially a new one. Speculating in the collector vehicle market could be an exception. I had never heard that BMWs hold their value any better than the other brands and they don't from what I've seen. Personal experience for what it's worth is buy a Harley if you want some semblance of resale value. Me, I'm happy with my R1200R and DR650, valueless as they may be.

[sky_sailor]

Just to compare (apples to oranges?) I paid 6K for my '07 650 Bandit, new. Just last week I was sniffing out a new Yamaha FZ8. The Yamaha shop offered me 4.5K for the Bandit. Do small Suzuki's hold their value better than big BMW's? It would appear to be the case. For what it's worth, the local BMW dealer said they'd give me 4.5K as well towards a new F650GS or Tiger 800. Again, there are just too many late model large BMW's out there looking for new driveways. Wonder what the H-D dealer will give me for it if I decide to become a pirate! AARRRRrrrrrrr
Lyle

PS...I'm in Canada as well.

[rockbottom]

Like I said, higher end ones depreciate more than lower end ones.

[ka5ysy]

The general rule is that very expensive vehicles take a huge depreciation hit quickly. Low end stuff takes the hit too, but is relatively less to residual valuation.

A friends wife purchased a high in Mercedes coupe that priced out at $95,000. After two years of her eating $400 tires (she has a lead foot!) she wanted to get something else. Best trade offer was $45,000 and she is having a fit. Husband is having fun saying "told you so!"

So, I am waiting for a one to two year old K1600 before I get interested. It should be down in the reasonable range about that time!

[Woland]

Hardly surprising.

I thought everyone knew that you take a hit of about 40-50% in the first 3-4 years of ownership, you´ll get very little if anything for optional equipment like ASC or ESA and farkles are worth next to nothing when you trade in.

Another common misconception seems to be that you would get more for your bike when you use it as trade in for a new vehicle rather than selling it privately.

This is why I would never buy new, but I really like the folks that do, cuz then I can pick up their bikes a couple of years later for half price and usually with very few miles.

[angellr]

The general rule is that very expensive vehicles take a huge depreciation hit quickly. Low end stuff takes the hit too, but is relatively less to residual valuation.

A friends wife purchased a high in Mercedes coupe that priced out at $95,000. After two years of her eating $400 tires (she has a lead foot!) she wanted to get something else. Best trade offer was $45,000 and she is having a fit. Husband is having fun saying "told you so!"

So, I am waiting for a one to two year old K1600 before I get interested. It should be down in the reasonable range about that time!

Funny how great minds think alike. Will wait for those posers who ride *maybe* a few hundred miles a year want to sell their 1600GT (want somewhat of a naked bike feel without all of the extras). Personally, its tough to beat the R12R in anyway, shape or form!

[jkhomes]

I always buy used bikes. 1200R's are a great value (to purchase) low mileage used. I sold my 97 1100RT on Craigslist for $2,000 more than the dealer would give me for trade in, and it was still under blue book and went fast. I am sooooo happy I went to a 1200R!

[sky_sailor]

We buy our cars this way. Four years old, light on the miles, off lease. I've always been a little leery of BMW's that are out of warranty. The engineering, while intriguing, can be mighty expensive to keep up with. My yard stick (for you Yanks, up here it's a metre stick!) is paying 50-60% for a four year old bike of the price I'd pay for the same thing new.
Lyle

[deilenberger]

My R12R was the first "new" vehicle I'd purchased in about 30 years.. usually I buy 1-2 year old cars that were used as "executive" cars by BMW (they require their employees to drive a BMW, so they give them new ones every 6 months or so..)

Difference was - there were no used R12R's when I bought mine. And I don't regret it a bit.. I've put every one of the 45,000 miles on the bike (except for the 14 test miles it came with) and have done all the wrenching except for the 600 mile service. I know it's been maintained like I would since I did the maintenance.

Given the choice now, I'd probably look for a low miles used bike (and may be if my plan for becoming bi-coastal works out..)

I recently also purchased a used Porsche Cayenne.. 4 years old, 50k miles on it for 33% of new cost. That's the high-end depreciation, but what happens after it hits a certain point - it gets to a plateau - where price drops very little with miles and age. A 6 year old Cayenne will bring 25% of new price - even with 80,000 miles on it. I've had the same thing happen with BMW cars -and have seen the same thing with BMW bikes. Some actually reverse direction and start going up (my M-Coupe is "appreciating" and a used excellent condition R69 BMW brings many times the new price of the bike, even taking inflation into account.)

One consideration on trade-in vs sell privately (aside from the PITA factor of selling a bike..) is - in some states like NJ, if you trade in a vehicle with a dealer, you only pay sales tax on the new vehicle for the amount of the difference between the new and old vehicles. IE - if you paid $15,000 for a new bike, and the dealer gave you $8,000 for the old one, you pay sales tax on the $7,000 difference. If you sell the used bike yourself - and buy the new one outright, you'll pay on the full $15,000.

At 7% sales tax - this can balance out the difference between wholesale (trade-in) and selling it yourself. BTDT, and it made no sense for me to try to sell the bike myself.

YMMV depending on your state (country), phase of the moon, etc..

[Caroanbill]

I think the (now) myth of BMW bike resale value dates back to the days of limited range, low volume sales - and higher price inflation. Plus (here in Australia at least) the police bikes crashed the whole big-BMW-bike market (so glad a few of our Sate police fleets have now gone with Kawasaki or Yamaha!!). Price for used BMWs were quite close to new bikes and the dealers could afford to be picky as well as pricey ... that attitude kept me off BMWs until I found a friendly dealer to sell me a new one.

I traded my 1985 K100RT in 1994 with 100,000km (61,000mi) for $7,000 AUD - exactly what I'd paid for it new (and cash), and its only farkles were upgrades on replacement items - BMW Comfort Seat, topbox and Koni shock (remember them?). Allowing for inflation and exchange rates, it'd be a lot less than the nominal 100% retained value!!!

I traded my 1994 K1100LT in 1998 with 40,000km for $15,000 vs $20,000 new (inc taxes). 75% retained value after 4 years. Farkles taken off and sold separately.

I sold a 2003 R1150RS in 2004 with 12,000km for $17,500 vs $26,000 new (inc taxes). 67% retained / 33% loss after 15 months! About 75% retained / 25% lost excluding taxes. Farkles sold with the bike (too busy to sell them separately)

The problem with my 2007 R1200R is that its list price was $18,750 before options but after ABS, ASC, OBC, panniers, rack, etc etc it was $25,000 (plus major farkles) ... but my resale would still be based on the bare-bike price and looks to be about $13,000 plus maybe another $2,000 or so from parting out the farkles ... that's 50% in 4 years, or at best 60% after taxes and stripping the farkles. Inh my case , I knew when I optioned the bike up and then farkelled it up that I'd never get my money back - it was only and ever about the joy I'd get from the bike (and I do!). I've no intention of selling this bike until it gets to 10 years old unless (a) BMW do the 'next' Roadster with the Multistrada style multiple motor, suspension, ABS and ASC mapping and (b) I get a windfall big enough not to care. Frankly, my best bet on resale price is significant increase in the price of the new Roadster offering (eg mandatory ABS would help!!).

But I still like buying new bikes!