How To Value Your Motorbike

Are you thinking of selling your motorbike, but aren’t quite sure how much money it will go for...how do you value your bike? There are a few different ways for you to get an idea of what your motorcycle is worth. The team at the UK's leading bike trader, We Buy Any Bike have put some points together for you!

Valuing your bike isn’t as straight ward as simply looking it up online. Of course, you would like the highest possible amount for your vehicle, but is that realistic? There are a lot of things you need to consider to get a rough estimate:

• Year
• Condition
• Mileage
• Service history
• Potential damage
• Modifications
• Extras

Online Price Check

Probably the first point of call for most people is taking to the internet. It’s easy and gives you an overview of what’s going on in the market fairly quickly. So what are your top sites people check out? The top 4 most searched websites include:

1. eBay Motors

eBay Motors is a great tool, which thousands of people turn to when price checking their vehicles.  As well as searching eBay the regular way and seeing what is out there, eBay also has a function called ‘what’s it worth’. By clicking Sell at the top of the page, then entering the item name in the box next to ‘whats it worth’, eBay can show you a number of items published in the last 15 days. This gives you the option to look at the average selling price, how long they were listed for and bike details. Ideal!

2. Auto Trader

Auto Trader is used by a lot of people, it's user-friendly and has very specific searching criteria. The site gives sellers a lot of advice regarding how and where to come up in searches. Before putting your bike up for sale they recommend doing as much research as possible about similar vehicles on the market at that time. They advise setting a secret minimum selling price and to think carefully about where you want to appear in the listing.

Obviously, if you want to appear on the first page when listed by the lowest price you may want to undercut the bikes already on the site by pricing more competitively. eBay also suggests trying to set your advert at a round number, the pitch at £4,000 rather than £3,995 as you will appear in more search results. This means when people are searching for £4,000 bikes and under, yours will be included.

3. Gumtree 

Price checking on Gumtree is another good way to see what bikes that are of similar year/mileage as yours are selling for. Gumtree offers a few pointers to help value your bike and lists it correctly, as the other sites Gumtree suggests having good research on the site before listing your bike, compare bike details and prices to work out where you want to appear.

Gumtree advises breaking down your listing into as many sub-categories as possible to appear in more searches. A big one for most people when buying a motorbike is the location, so make sure you clearly state where you are. You can even add a cold map to your advert by inputting your postcode.

4. Preloved

Pricing on Preloved is the same as the other sites really, you need to compare and contrast with what is already on there. Preloved suggests writing down the top price you want for your bike and the lowest, then work out the average price between the two and that should give you a rough idea of what you might take. Doing the research before talking to potential buyers, means you already have the evidence and reasoning behind your price. This will then help if they try and barter you down!

Bikers Know Best

This is a method that seems quite obvious but not many people actually put this into action. Who better to ask for help and advice than fellow bikers? You could access a wealth of information if you get lucky and start talking to the right people.

There are a few ways of doing this, the easiest would be forums. We would recommend getting on as many forums as you can which are specific to your bike, and putting the question out there - what's my motorcycle worth? Upload some photos, list the mileage, condition, any dents or scratches and so on - be honest and clear about the bike.  The people you’re asking don’t have an invested interest, they won’t benefit from your bike sale so you can feel safe with the information they offer you. There are forums for every type of bike available; the members will have great personal experience of buying and selling bikes, meaning they would be able to suggest an asking price. You of course need to do your own checks on the market, but this is another way of reaching a large audience quickly for some advice.

It’s not just about the internet. Are there any motorcycle events coming up that you wish to attend? Perfect! It will be full of other bikers, manufactures, expects and salesman. At biking events, you can chat to people really easily, as most people are there for the love of their hobby and want to talk about it! Take some photos of your bike, and see what others think. You have nothing to lose and many opinions to gain.

Dealerships

Dealership can be a really useful resource when price checking, and it doesn’t take too much effect either! Call as many motorcycle dealerships as you can, email photos of your bike and as ever – compare and contrast.

Each dealer will offer a different price but should all should be around a similar mark. The motorcycle valuation is based on many different factors such as:

• Regional variations
• Possible sales promotions
• Specific dealers perceived view of the condition
• How many bikes of the same make and model the dealer already has
• How fast the specific dealer sold the last bike of this make and model
• Dealer size and footfall

As well as the above points, if you are looking at a part exchange price the dealer will take into account their motorbikes worth and what price they would be happy at doing the whole deal for.

Dealerships tend to use two main price guides, the Glass and CAP books. These are guides that help set the pricing standard for dealers, the prices are based on a single transaction with a bona fide dealer involving the sale of the consumer’s vehicle in part ex. Dealers will use these guides to value your motorbike comparing mileage, age, condition etc to the vehicle specified in the book.

So here are some ways to price check your motorbike... Hopefully they will help when it comes to selling your bike!

Below we have listed some other links which we think might be of use if you are selling your motorcycle:

• Motorcycle News - Sell your bike
• Motorcycle Direct - selling your bike
• EBay - How to sell a motorcycle 
• Rider - Selling Your motorcycle tips 
• We Buy Any Bike - Selling your bike 
• Exchange and Mart - Sell a Motorbike 

Value my bike!

Once you have an idea of the price and the bike value, why not get a quote from We Buy Any Bike!

We Buy Any Bike are the largest bike buyers and bike trader in all of the UK. We buy motorbikes every day of the week. We'll offer you a good price! As well as free pick up from anywhere in England. We offer cash in hand for your motorbike (or bank transfer, whichever you prefer!).

Let We Buy Any Bike give you a quote, it takes just a minute to receive a quote from us and we can have your bike collected within two days of the first contact. Past customers say we are a professional and friendly company to deal with, check out our TrustPilot reviews.