Not sure if this is the right place to post this... But oh well.... So the other day someone came over to check out my ninja 500 2005 that I've been trying to sell for 5 months or so. He came with a bud and seemed like very friendly people. They told me they were returned LDS missionaries so I had some trust towards them. So they liked how it all looked and wanted to take it out for a test ride, normally I prefer cash in hand but I took his Audi keys instead to hold while they rode and felt very uneasy. The guy who was the friend took it out, and rode it and said it was really nice. Now the second guy took it, and he had never ridden a bullet before. Right then I should've told him no since I didn't have cash. But I was a sucker and let him. He killed it about 4 times before he even moved. And when he finally did get rollin, he had no idea how to brake, or steer for that matter, and went straight into the curb for a 15mph lay down of my pristine condition ninja. He told me not to worry at all and that he would talk to his wife about it and most likely purchase it. I said ok and let them leave only having his full name.... Another problem... So I talk to him the next day and he says he doesn't want to buy it, and will pay 200$ for the damage. I tell him the damage is far above and that we will talk in person the next day and I'll have a contract for him. After that day I've never heard from him again, about 3 days ago. Am i a moron or what? I was played big time, and now have a bike with basically every piece of the right side scraped up... Any ideas of anything I could do to get a hold of this guy??

 

Well i dont know if id let someone test ride my bike without cash in hand, id consider it if i had his car keys though. Id probably only say you were dumb for letting a guy thats never ridden one before get on it. It was an even bigger mistake not to get him off of it after the first, second, third, and definitely the fourth time he stalled it. I wouldve just asked why they both need to test ride it, i dont see any reason that. But thats all irrelevant at this point i guess. If hes ignoring your calls and wont pay for the damages or the bike you can always try finding where he lives or works or whatever and confront him in person but that might not be a good idea and could always turn out badly. Its a civil matter at this point though so if you still cant work it out with him within a week or so the only way you can settle it is in court. So if its worth it id just go that route or at least see if the threat of legal action will get him to be more compliant and pay you. Before i did any of that though the first step would be to get an estimate for the damages of how much it will be to repair/replace everything. If you can get ahold of him show him proof of those costs and see if hell be reasonable. If not only then would i get a lawyer.

 

That's rough man, but unfortunately, I'd say this is on you. I wouldn't take anything, but cash as collateral. That's always how I've sold and bought bikes. Then if the person goes down, you can just say "well, enjoy the new ride!"

If you don't get any money out of him, I would just sell the bike scratched up as long as that's all that was damaged. New plastics will cost much more than the hit you will take for dropping the price on the bike a bit to cover the damage.

 

I got to agree with Mike on this one. It is a crappy situation and I feel bad for you but in the end even if you do find out where this guy lives, which I don't know how you're going to do that, it is his word against yours. His buddy will back him up. The only thing you could have done is not gave the keys back until he gave you cash but too late right. The guy that bought my F4i never rode a bike in his life so I was not going to let him ride mine but thankfully he didn't ask he just gave me money and he's already wrecked it. I think the only thing to do is either try to find a cheap fairing to throw on there or drop your price and move on with a new lesson learned. Sorry bro.

 

Sorry to hear what's happened to you & your bike. Your story serves as another cautionary tale of what can happen w/o properly protecting yourself in this situation.

Not trying to kick you when you're down, but unfortunately, I think you've learned a valuable lesson in that, never letting *anyone* test-ride a bike w/o cash in hand.

Additionally, my view is to have a prospective buyer sign a Bill of Sale, which can be torn up upon safe return of the bike after test-ride.

If above conditions are met...& bike is returned undamaged, they get their money back & BOS torn up. If they damage it, you've got your money & BOS, & they've now got/purchased a motorcycle.

What can you do now to recoup damage costs you ask? Really, there's not much that you can do to get money for the damage. You can bring a small claims suit against him but the burden of proof is on you. Unless you had a witness that saw everything that happened & will testify to it, you're really out of luck. Do you have that witness? Do you have photos of him on the bike...especially laying it down? Can you get him to actually admit to doing the damage in court? Its not expensive to file a small claims suit but your chances or winning or actually getting a judgment are slim. Nevertheless, better than nothing.

You are to be commended for your good nature & "trust". However, business is business...trust no one. Trust is only good w/ accountability (i.e. protection & recourse).

Good luck in selling your Ninja.

 

you should have called the police non emergency line and have a accident report done. That way there's no way of the guy saying it never happened. but it's too late now. Now you'll just have to find him and steal his car.

 

Yeah i F'd up big time here. Thanks guys for all your input. I just barely got a hold of him luckily, and I was trying to sell it for 2300$ and actually had 2 people that wanted to buy it for that. Now they have lowered their prices too 1700 and 1500. The guy that wrecked it said he would pay the difference to the 2300, but now, he is saying that I should be able to get a lot more out of it than that much, which I know is most likely not true, but I don't know whether to push him to give me the 600 difference or not? On the phone, he would not give me his address, and seemed like he was playing it really safe... Any other pointers on what to do now?

 

So i'm guessing you have his full name and phone number. Is there a way you could find his address through his service provider?

 

Well dont sell the bike until you get him to sign something saying hell pay the difference kinda like gotcbr said. If he does then sell it for 1700 and get the 600 from him like hes saying hell do. If it all works out youll get the $2300 you wanted and someone gets your perfectly running bike for $1700. Just keep in touch with him and try to get it resolved as quickly as possible. with stuff like this usually the more its prolonged the harder/less chance there is of it ever getting resolved.

does his or your insurance cover any of it?

 

Unless the culprit acknowledges that he actually did the damage, the OP won't be able to recover those funds via culprit's insurance.

IF the OP could get the culprit's insurance info (culprit cooperating), OP could file a claim using his own insurance co agent. OP's agent would seek recovery thru culprit's insurance co.

OP could file a claim on his own insurance for the damage. It might would get his bike repaired but the claim would go against him on his own policy.

The tricky thing about filing claims on motorcycle damage is that, if the "damage" assessed by an adjuster is higher than the motorcycle's book value, the insurance co will want to 'total' the bike. Its one thing if you want to keep the bike w/a 'salvage' title. However, if you're trying to sell a bike that could now have a salvage title, its going to make things more difficult getting a better price.

As Nick mentioned, time is off the essence.