Your experience with Fly-and-Rides
Hello Everyone,
I have been looking into buying a used bike (Wee), and I realize to get one with the right price, and the right farkles, a fly-and-ride might be involved. This makes me a little uneasy, I am not sure if I could buy a bike I haven't ridden yet, or commit enough to buy one that I fly to the other side of the country and get stuck if it isn't what it is said to be.
What have your experiences been?
Thanks,
Mike
I have been looking into buying a used bike (Wee), and I realize to get one with the right price, and the right farkles, a fly-and-ride might be involved. This makes me a little uneasy, I am not sure if I could buy a bike I haven't ridden yet, or commit enough to buy one that I fly to the other side of the country and get stuck if it isn't what it is said to be.
What have your experiences been?
Thanks,
Mike
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I think most states have provisions that allow for return riding of bikes just purchased, as long as you're en route to your home state.
As long as I am insured I should be good, right?
As long as I am insured I should be good, right?
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Ummm...I don't know about licensing and registration issues. You might check your home state and a couple of states along your route. Perhaps short term trip permits from your home state will work. Or maybe just carrying the signed-off title and bill of sale. Check and pls let us all know what you find.
Yes, some states require insurance even for passing through and some don't.
Yes, some states require insurance even for passing through and some don't.
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My state issues temporary plates. But you need a signed bill of sale and/or title in hand to secure those.
MA doesn't even do temp plates. You can't drive the thing until its registered. And you can't register until its insured.
I've never heard of a 'provision' for riding something home without a tag. And I imagine no tag => quite a bit of attention.
MA doesn't even do temp plates. You can't drive the thing until its registered. And you can't register until its insured.
I've never heard of a 'provision' for riding something home without a tag. And I imagine no tag => quite a bit of attention.
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That's what I thought.
I am also interested to hear if anyone has done it themselves, and how their experience with the quality of the bike has been.
Is it as advertised?
Thanks,
Mike
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I wouldn't leave my plates on a bike I sold. My experience buying a bike in Ohio involved getting a 30 day temporary Ohio registration. When I got the bike back to Illinois, I got permanent registration there along with the title transfer. Check with the state where you are purchasing the vehicle for their regulations.
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V-Stroms aren't that rare or unusual that it would pay to take a plane flight. They're also reliable enough that there's not a huge risk of problems.
I did take a train down to ride a bike back but had already seen it. My tolerance for bike pickup is about 200 miles.
I did take a train down to ride a bike back but had already seen it. My tolerance for bike pickup is about 200 miles.
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I wouldn't mind working buying a strom into my fall vacation, though.
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in my state (WA) the plates stay with the vehicle. I know that most eastern states the plates stay with the person and must be turned in. I know this because I had bought a bike with NH plates and reregistered in RI. I hung the NH plate on the garage wall only to be surprised by a property tax bill from NH the following year.
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That could be fun.
The Subaru guys usually find a neutral 3rd party to look at the vehicle.
If a vacation ttp, do it all in advance and bring your own plates.
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Subaru guys?
Mine went great! I had to expand my search circle after not finding an 07-09 Wee with ABS for a reasonable price in 6-8 weeks of searching within 100 miles or so of where I live. Lots of sellers were smoking crack trying to get damn near $7k for a lightly-used bike. That's all fine and good that your bike only has 4k miles, but the fact that you got screwed on the financing and never rode it is not MY problem! For $7k I'll just dig in the couch cushions a little longer and buy a brand new one, thanks!
Anyway, I found my Wee about 500 miles away. Called the buyer on a Saturday. He seemed like an awesome, straightforward guy. Sent me more pictures by email per my request, and seemed more than happy to deal with a fly-and-ride (I had friends in the area who could pick me up at the airport). It was clear from talking to him that he knew motorcycles, vouched for the condition of the bike, etc. I immediately felt comfortable dealing with him, which was crucial.
Bought a plane ticket sunday night for maybe $120-$150, and flew down Monday after work. My friends picked me up, I went to see the bike around 8pm, took it for a quick spin around the block, gave the previous owner cash, and rode off into the sunset.
Had a beautiful ride up the coast the next day to get acquainted with the new bike. Couldn't be happier. Saved $700 over my target $5k price and got a free luggage setup to boot.
Here on the west coast you keep plates on the bike, and it was in-state anyway. I wouldn't think twice about riding the bike with no plates to get it home though. It's been a decade since the last time I was pulled over.. that's pretty low on my list of worries. But hey, if you're worried, look up your state's law on out-of-state vehicles, obtain a trip permit if necessary, and figure out if you should leave the old plates with the PO or bring 'em on the bike with you. If you have the sale paperwork in hand, why would a cop write you a ticket for a straightforward situation?
My insurance company also has built-in acquisition coverage -- even though I only had an auto policy with them, it covered new motorcycles as well! It was nice to have that peace of mind -- I'm 100x more worried about insurance than about license plates.
Anyway, I found my Wee about 500 miles away. Called the buyer on a Saturday. He seemed like an awesome, straightforward guy. Sent me more pictures by email per my request, and seemed more than happy to deal with a fly-and-ride (I had friends in the area who could pick me up at the airport). It was clear from talking to him that he knew motorcycles, vouched for the condition of the bike, etc. I immediately felt comfortable dealing with him, which was crucial.
Bought a plane ticket sunday night for maybe $120-$150, and flew down Monday after work. My friends picked me up, I went to see the bike around 8pm, took it for a quick spin around the block, gave the previous owner cash, and rode off into the sunset.
Had a beautiful ride up the coast the next day to get acquainted with the new bike. Couldn't be happier. Saved $700 over my target $5k price and got a free luggage setup to boot.
Here on the west coast you keep plates on the bike, and it was in-state anyway. I wouldn't think twice about riding the bike with no plates to get it home though. It's been a decade since the last time I was pulled over.. that's pretty low on my list of worries. But hey, if you're worried, look up your state's law on out-of-state vehicles, obtain a trip permit if necessary, and figure out if you should leave the old plates with the PO or bring 'em on the bike with you. If you have the sale paperwork in hand, why would a cop write you a ticket for a straightforward situation?
My insurance company also has built-in acquisition coverage -- even though I only had an auto policy with them, it covered new motorcycles as well! It was nice to have that peace of mind -- I'm 100x more worried about insurance than about license plates.
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I just did one as well. It was GREAT fun! That said, unless you have a desperate dealer trying to unload leftover new bikes or find a truly awesome deal on a used bike, it's unlikely you'll save any appreciable amount of money on a bike as common as a V-Strom.
Our dealers in Sacramento are not very good, so had I decided on a new one I probably could have saved $1000 or so buying in a neighboring state.
A 2004 Wee with (then) 81k miles certainly wasn't anything so special I *had* to fly-and-ride, but the bike was in Seattle where I used to live and wanted to take a vacation anyway. I probably saved $500 or so over a comparable bike in NorCal, but the plane ticket cost $200. Had I slabbed it home, I'd have spent about $60 on gas and $50 on a hotel room. Total savings $190. Not even worth my time. I didn't do it to save money, though.
Besides not having to spend the time to ride up there, added motivating factors were that the bike was set up almost exactly the way I would have done it and that I bought it from the original owner who had gone above and beyond on the maintenance front. I'd personally rather have a bike (or cage) with high mileage and good maintenance than one with low mileage and OK maintenance. Plus, at 12k miles a year you know it never sat for long :thumbup:
I turned the purchase into a week-long vacation, going to Vancouver Island then riding down the coast to Eureka before turning inland to get home.
I did have a backup plan: although I had no reason not to trust the seller, I booked a refundable ticket home just in case.
Registration-wise it varies widely by state. Washington and California (and probably more) plates stay with the vehicle, so it's a piece of cake as long as they're valid. Buy bike, call insurance company, ride home, do paperwork. I even rode mine into Canada without incident.
Insurance should be a non-issue. If you don't have acquisition coverage or if you just want the peace of mind of an insurance card, call the VIN in to your insurance company before you pick it up and you can have an insurance card before you ever touch the bike.
This doesn't help if you're buying a bike in Mass. and don't live there, though. In that case you're basically SOL.
Our dealers in Sacramento are not very good, so had I decided on a new one I probably could have saved $1000 or so buying in a neighboring state.
A 2004 Wee with (then) 81k miles certainly wasn't anything so special I *had* to fly-and-ride, but the bike was in Seattle where I used to live and wanted to take a vacation anyway. I probably saved $500 or so over a comparable bike in NorCal, but the plane ticket cost $200. Had I slabbed it home, I'd have spent about $60 on gas and $50 on a hotel room. Total savings $190. Not even worth my time. I didn't do it to save money, though.
Besides not having to spend the time to ride up there, added motivating factors were that the bike was set up almost exactly the way I would have done it and that I bought it from the original owner who had gone above and beyond on the maintenance front. I'd personally rather have a bike (or cage) with high mileage and good maintenance than one with low mileage and OK maintenance. Plus, at 12k miles a year you know it never sat for long :thumbup:
I turned the purchase into a week-long vacation, going to Vancouver Island then riding down the coast to Eureka before turning inland to get home.
I did have a backup plan: although I had no reason not to trust the seller, I booked a refundable ticket home just in case.
Registration-wise it varies widely by state. Washington and California (and probably more) plates stay with the vehicle, so it's a piece of cake as long as they're valid. Buy bike, call insurance company, ride home, do paperwork. I even rode mine into Canada without incident.
Insurance should be a non-issue. If you don't have acquisition coverage or if you just want the peace of mind of an insurance card, call the VIN in to your insurance company before you pick it up and you can have an insurance card before you ever touch the bike.
If you live in Mass, you can use your old vehicle's plate(s) to drive a new one for a week. Technically you have to have gotten rid of the old one first, but that's impossible to prove on the roadside. The RMV even started printing that section of law and an explanation of why Mass vehicles don't have insurance cards on the back of the registration card. Guess too many New York cops were citing Mass drivers for no insurance card :headbang:
This doesn't help if you're buying a bike in Mass. and don't live there, though. In that case you're basically SOL.
This is the most common setup--new owner goes to get a temp tag to get home. It's great fun for cages in states that require emissions testing on transfer (two visits to the DMV just to buy a car?!). I used to use my Vermont plates (same rule as Mass) to get cars home even in Colorado. I never got stopped.
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Thanks for the advice... anybody done it on the east coast?
great success
Done it a few times and about to do it again.
I get plenty of pictures, copies of any service or parts bills and then get the seller to send me a video by e mail.
get him to put a copy of todays usa today in the frame to show the date.
Talk on the phone a few times and you should be good to go. I pay a $500 deposit via paypal with the balance on pickup. If i do not like what i see i walk. If the bike has been misrepresented i go to paypal for my money back
Done it a few times and about to do it again.
I get plenty of pictures, copies of any service or parts bills and then get the seller to send me a video by e mail.
get him to put a copy of todays usa today in the frame to show the date.
Talk on the phone a few times and you should be good to go. I pay a $500 deposit via paypal with the balance on pickup. If i do not like what i see i walk. If the bike has been misrepresented i go to paypal for my money back
I did this a couple months ago. Maryland to NY, so more like a bus-n-ride, but still. Since this was an Ebay thing, I made sure to get insurance for the bike before heading out. The seller seemed nice, knowledgeable and the bike was intelligently farkled.
We went to the local DMV in Maryland, but even though I had previously read that they issue temp tags, they said that it basically had to be registered normally and taxes would have to be paid in both states as a result.
I ended up riding home with the old plates instead and sending them back to the previous owner. It was my first bike purchase, so in retrospect I should've asked more questions (like whether the auxiliary lights were pulling too much power so as to kill the battery and would leave me with a dead battery halfway home) but overall, I was quite happy.
We went to the local DMV in Maryland, but even though I had previously read that they issue temp tags, they said that it basically had to be registered normally and taxes would have to be paid in both states as a result.
I ended up riding home with the old plates instead and sending them back to the previous owner. It was my first bike purchase, so in retrospect I should've asked more questions (like whether the auxiliary lights were pulling too much power so as to kill the battery and would leave me with a dead battery halfway home) but overall, I was quite happy.
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Thanks for the advice everyone, but I just got one 4 miles from home :hurray:
I ended up with a an 02 V for 3 grand with full Givi Luggage setup.
I ended up with a an 02 V for 3 grand with full Givi Luggage setup.
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