Questions About Buying A Motorbike.

[marcusmarsh]

Today I went along to the motorbike market near Rimping as I need to buy a good (hopefully) 2nd hand Honda Wave or Dream 100 or 125cc

for running around on.

Is there any decent way of telling whether the mileage showing on the bike is true or not ?

I mean for eg, if one said 15,230 kilometres. I cant be sure thats not 115,230 and that its

already been around the clock can I ?

Obviously one thats been around the clock would no doubt probably look older but before I pop up there

next week to buy one Im just after any pointers whatsoever to look out for when buying a bike here in Thailand.

At a guess Id say these bikes are fairly reliable and the mileage reliable.

Perhaps Im beeing naive ?

Also when buying the bike I need to get the bike book of the owner and a copy of his ID card.

Anything else I might be missing ?

Thanks in advance.

[BWPattaya]

To buy and register it into your name you need a letter of residence from Immigration to allow you to buy. The seller and the buyer should go to the transport office to transfer ownership. Don't hand any money over until it is your name.

Check out the price of a new one before you look at secondhand bikes, just to make sure you aren't paying too much.

Don't worry about the mileage, it is the condition that is important.

[sarahsbloke]

To buy and register it into your name you need a letter of residence from Immigration to allow you to buy. The seller and the buyer should go to the transport office to transfer ownership. Don't hand any money over until it is your name.

Check out the price of a new one before you look at secondhand bikes, just to make sure you aren't paying too much.

Don't worry about the mileage, it is the condition that is important.

The markets don't work like that

You hand over cash on the spot, the market supervisor checks all documentation (about 10 pages and ID card photocopy all signed by the original owner) and gives you a receipt, the pages and the green book.

You can then take all the papers to the transport office (on rubber tree road to Lampun near the traffic lights by hospital and river bridge) or you can give papers + cert of residency + photocopy of passport to lady on another desk there with about 400bht. Or you can just not register it and hand the papers on when you sell it again.

(same as the market at San Patong on Saturday mornings)

ALL the bikes have been clocked (for some reason usually to about 6,000km), test drive + visual inspection is your only protection, they usually all work OK though. These people are not private sellers, they are dealers and sell bikes at both markets each week.

Edited September 19, 2010 by sarahsbloke

[naboo]

Useful thread in the bike section

[Beetlejuice]

Unless I personally knew the previous owner and history of the motorbike, I would not even consider buying a secondhand motorbike or any vehicle in Thailand. You would be buying yourself a load of problems.

I have a Honda Wave which I bought new 9 years, still running strong and have had trouble free motoring since I first bought it.

The basic models are not that expensive and probably not much more expensive then a used bike.

[mrclough]

A friend of mine saw his old bike for sale there today. He sold the bike around a year ago and strangely today, almost a year after it had done 2K less than when he sold it.

I think a local stunt rider had been riding it backwards

[mcgriffith]

If you intend to keep, my recommendation is to buy a brand new Wave from any of the local Honda dealers.

(I'm just repeating what someone said above).

A brand new Wave 100 S, with disk brake (front) no electric start cost me about 34,000 B about 2 years ago. Have no idea what the used value is, or what a new equivalent model would be (I think they are all fuel injected now- i.e. no carburator).

I wouldn't take a chance on a used bike here (as mentioned above). No way of knowing if it has been beaten to death, no oil changes, etc.

New is so cheap compared to the west, with a full dealer warranty and free or discounted service, it's hard to consider the alternative IMHO.

Good luck!

[rickthailand]

now some positive news. we bought a second hand motorbike on rimping market it was a year old honda dream and in good condition we paid

15.000 for it we paid it gave a copy of our id and the lady who sold it to us went to the transport office alone to get us our green book which we

received 2 days later in our own name. now 2 years later we never had any problems with the motorbike. just check the motorbike out take it

for a test drive and use common sence

rick

[MartinBKK]

I also bought a bike there 2 years ago.

Other than the bike having the wrong gas in it when i bought it and having to replace the battery (350 baht) i have had absolutely no issues with it at all.

[marcusmarsh]

Many thanks to all the replies.