Experience of Buying a Second Hand Bike in Thailand

[Kinnock]

I've bought three motorcycles in Bangkok over the last few years - all new, and the process went smoothly, but a friend asked me to help her buy a second hand scooter for her Mother, and that was a very different experience.  So I thought it could be a useful to have a thread about buying second hand to share experience on the perils of the second hand market in Thailand.

 

Here's my own experience ...

 

I started by looking at used bikes on Thai Visa, Craig's List, Bhatsold and Facebook Market Place - first surprise was that compared to UK or US, there's seem to be no concept of depreciation.  Now I know why I always bought new!

 

Then there was the sheer number of scams - especially on Craigslist.  I saw several bikes that looked to be seriously under priced, all with ads in clunky English.  After email conversations with the 'seller' it seems that the owner had gone abroad but that the Green Book had already been signed, and a friend would bring the bike to me tomorrow, so long as I transferred the money today.  Yeah right!

 

I found Google Reverse Image Search very useful - as I could check any suspect ads by finding the original sale using the photo of the bike.  In all cases the scam ads on Craigslist used details taken from legitimate sales from Bahtsold.

 

In contrast, the Thai language ads on Facebook were brutally honest.  "Honda wave, gearbox problems, crashed several times, lights don't work", but they were either one/two year old bikes at near new price, or total sheds.  I found just one example of clocking - so not as many as I feared ..... just how many Km does it take to wear off all the tread on a Wave gear change pedal??  There were also several newer bikes with no Green Book, so I assume not paid for yet.

 

I was originally after a Wave or Supercub as they are tough and very cheap to maintain - but they really hold their price unless totally knackered, so widened the search to any sub 125cc Honda or Yamaha scooter or step-through (she wanted low running costs).  After chasing bikes from the ads was proving to be too time consuming, I headed to some local new bike dealers to ask what they've taken as part ex, and this was a more productive approach.  The first dealer recommended another who'd just taken two bikes in as part ex.  I was able to get there in time to see them as they'd been brought in - with road dirt and documents in place. 

 

The better of the two was a Fino - genuine one lady owner (it was pink, but in Thailand that's no guarantee of a lady owner, but the documents checked out) and the claimed mileage of 22,000 Km looked right.  It had new tyres fitted and an after-market seat,  everything else original and unmodified, rode well, stopped well and all seemed straight and right for the Km's.  It's the carb model, so cheap to maintain, and it starts OK from cold and hot.

Price after negotiation was probably a little high at 15,000 THB but this included transfer, compulsory insurance plus a service with oil change, a new helmet and a Yamaha Jacket.  The 'warranty' seems to last for as long it would take to ride it around the block ?

 

Happy new owner has been whizzing about on it for a week with no issue so far - so job done.  But for myself I'm sticking to buying new in future!

 

 

[jackdd]

It does of course depend on the bike that you are looking for, but especially if you are flexible about the exact model you can find some good offers and save quite alot of money, like 2-3 years old, low km and 40% less than new is quite common for the wide spread smaller bikes. In Europe the prices for used bikes would be even lower, but this just has to do with the costs for maintenance which make it cheap to keep an older bike running here. I prefer https://www.kaidee.com

Edited July 4, 2018 by jackdd

[johng]

Found a New Old Stock  Yamaha Spark 115i   @  Mityon Pattaya 

32,400 baht including registration (1400baht)  3 year or 30,000km warranty  free helmet and jacket,

had 16KM on it from being wheeled in/out the showroom for a few years !!?

some of the repossessed bikes had very high KM's and still loads of finance left to pay...really very poor value.

 

 

 

 

PS  keep a careful eye on the the engine oil  ( check with dipstick)  on all of those scooters that have the engine  hidden under swathes of plastic..they can often develop an oil leak that goes undetected until the engine seizes...engine rebuild can be quite cheap (3000baht) but it will never be the same again..unless you find a mechanic willing to do a proper ( expensive) rebuild replacing all the damaged components

most just get it running again..it will burn more oil..so need to keep checking oil level even more than before.

[BritManToo]

Repairs are so cheap it doesn't really matter, as long as the 'book' is legit.

I've had everything in the engine replaced at Honda for 6k.

And I've had blown valves (oil goes out exhaust in 60 seconds) rebuild for 2k.

 

Cheaper than a new tire in the UK.

Might buy a Stallion m/c this year, new price 70k for 250cc.

Edited July 5, 2018 by BritManToo

[Kinnock]

8 hours ago, johng said:

Found a New Old Stock  Yamaha Spark 115i   @  Mityon Pattaya 

32,400 baht including registration (1400baht)  3 year or 30,000km warranty  free helmet and jacket,

had 16KM on it from being wheeled in/out the showroom for a few years !!?

some of the repossessed bikes had very high KM's and still loads of finance left to pay...really very poor value.

 

PS  keep a careful eye on the the engine oil  ( check with dipstick)  on all of those scooters that have the engine  hidden under swathes of plastic..they can often develop an oil leak that goes undetected until the engine seizes...engine rebuild can be quite cheap (3000baht) but it will never be the same again..unless you find a mechanic willing to do a proper ( expensive) rebuild replacing all the damaged components

most just get it running again..it will burn more oil..so need to keep checking oil level even more than before.

That was a good find.  16 Km!  And the Spark is a good alternative to a Wave.  Good point about the oil - I checked it in the shop, and they did an oil change before she picked it up.

[Kinnock]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Repairs are so cheap it doesn't really matter, as long as the 'book' is legit.

I've had everything in the engine replaced at Honda for 6k.

And I've had blown valves (oil goes out exhaust in 60 seconds) rebuild for 2k.

 

Cheaper than a new tire in the UK.

Might buy a Stallion m/c this year, new price 70k for 250cc.

Yeah - when I was looking for my friend, she was saying that nobody cares about how many Km on the clock in Thailand, as it's cheap to get bikes repaired (especially Waves) - it's just us 'Yeu" foreigners who obsess about mileage.  But I still wanted reasonably low Km's as it should mean less general wear and hopefully fewer issues.

 

The Fino seems to be the general family transport now - so it's in almost constant use.  Rest of the family has Wave's, Sonic's and small cars - but the Fino is now the preferred tool for 7-11 trips etc.

[papa al]

Fino b Funo

[Damrongsak]

I like that Spark!  Nice color and a begging basket up front.

[johng]

I like that Spark!  Nice color and a begging basket up front.

They had a red and black one that I liked better, but the red plastic had faded badly in parts due to UV sun exposure..
So we went with the yellow and black "bumble bee" colour scheme...basket was am extra couple of hundred baht and very useful...though not very pretty ! [emoji6]