Buying a 996, any guidance please?
 

I've been planning to get a 748 for a while but I'm now in a position to get a 996 so I'm gonna do it... finally! :D

I've seen a red '99 T-reg Bip in a local dealer's for just under £6500. It's totally standard, 1 owner, FSH, originally sold by the shop it's currently in and has just over 6k on the clocks. It looks like it might have been dropped (another side-stand victim) as there are a couple of small chips in the LHS fairing but nothing major was visible.

The dealer said he'd give me £1000 p/x for my Thundercat :o :( and knock £500 off the 996. (I've already been offered about £1600 in p/x at another shop). I asked him how long he'd had the bike in the showroom and he said it had been there since November. Dunno if this is a bad sign or these bikes are just slow sellers at this time of year.

Does this 996 deal sound reasonable? I won't be rushed into buying my bike but at the same time I don't want to miss out on a standard, low-mileage, 1-owner bike either.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot.


Colin

Good Evening Smog Monster!!!!!!!!!!!:lol:

When i was looking for mine virtually everything 996/998 wise was above book value in dealers, including some not so good examples.

Let me know year,reg,mileage and condition and i'll give you book price in morning for the thundercat.

£5k to change sounds a little bit high, though a lot depends on details/value of your bike.

Nice choice to change to, good luck.

[Edited on 11-3-2004 by bigdaftgeordie]

Now then Geordie!
 

The 'Cat is a '96 on an N-reg, 42k on the clocks, 2 previous owners, (I've had it for nearly 6 years now, bought it from Kawasaki Newcastle with 6k on it in June '98). It's got non-standard paint: black with dayglo orange wheels - all professionally done. Scottoiler, Ohlins rear shock, Ohlins fork springs, braided hoses, new front tyre, only 1000 miles covered on the rear tyre, double bubble screen, rear seat cowl. Couple of small scuffs on the engine but generally the bike looks good and clean.

Colin Collins offered me "between £1500-£1700 depending on workshop inspection" against an RSV they were selling on behalf of a customer. (Priced at just under £6k). The salesman said that he'd put mine out on the forecourt for £2199. TBH, I reckoned on getting about £1700 privately, mainly because of the high mileage and lack of a stamped up service book, so when I heard Colin Collins' offer I was pretty pleased.

What I don't want to do is pay over the odds for the 996. Any idea what the book price for the one I've detailed above would be?

Thanks.


Col


P.S. - Smoggie and proud... Europe here we come! :D

Y'see, I don't understand the attitude of dealers like this.

He's offered you £1000 for your Thundercat, which you're not happy with, but will come down £500 quid on the price of the 996. This makes you think you're losing money on the trade-in of your bike and you're not really bothered about the price of the 996 because that's what you want and you wouldn't ask if you weren't interested in it...

Now, if it was me, I would have said:

"Tell you what, I'll give you £1500 quid for your Thundercat. It's a bit more than what we'd normally give but I reckon I'd have no trouble selling it on again. Now, let me just get the keys for the 996 and you can take it for a test ride."

See what happened there? You now think you're getting a fair deal for your Thundercat because it's not far off what you've already been offered, but you're far too excited waiting for the keys to take the 996 out on a test ride that you didn't notice there was no money knocked off the price of the 996.

What it comes down to is that you're paying the same amount of money but it was put across as if you're getting the better end of the deal.

Do the sums to come out with a final figure and if you're happy with that then take the deal. Don't think about getting a price for your bike and a price for the new one, think about the total difference - you might be surprised that it works out as a good deal even if they didn't sell it right!

I don't know ... blinking amateur salesmen! :D

As for the bike itself, yes it is a little bit overpriced I think. Checkout MCN and you'll see a 996 on a T-plate with 8100m on it for 5999 at On Yer Bike (although it is yellow!), a 2000/W with 6300m private sale for 5995 (in Newcastle) and red V-reg with 4600m on it in Woods for 5999.

So it's not far off, but go back in and try haggling - go armed with MCN if you really have to!

Take 4500 quid in cash to the dealer. Tell him that you'll buy it on the spot and leave your Tcat. Take MCN as Antonye suggested and tell him that you were offered over 1500 for the Tcat in part ex.

If he doesn't take it, walk away. There is plenty out there to choose from.

Eccles
 

Colin Collins have been pretty good/realistic in their offer for yours in view of mileage, non standard paint, and lack of service history, BUT YOU DO NOT WANT AN RSV!!

Standard 996 as described should be £5800/5900 area so wise words from the others about go armed with a shotgun, oops i mean MCN and offer £4500 plus the cat.

All Smoggies should be sent to Europe on a one way ticket:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Actually i'm a Mackem not a geordie.

Seriously, joking apart, good luck.

There has been a 996 T reg for sale on the board for a while. Guy called Rocket in Barnsley, might be worth a call. Also Ian has 916bp for sale not a million miles away from you on the board at present, but i'm sure you will have seen that.

[Edited on 12-3-2004 by bigdaftgeordie]

Mr B.D. Geordie :D

You're right, I DON'T want an RSV but I did want to get an idea of what sort of trade in value I'd get for my bike. The RSV is another bike I've considered in the past but my heart says it's gotta be a Ducati! :sing:

Somehow I didn't see the 916 that Ian's selling but I'm deffo interested, going to go and lodge my interest in a mo.

Thanks for the help,


Col

There's a lot for sale on theboard at the moment. Good luck, let us know what you get.

Reds a colour that suits us both.:frog:

Just been to Bob Hill's in Hertford. He's offering me £1400 p/x for the T'cat against a '99 T-reg 996 priced at £4995.

It's a 2-owner, FSH showing 17.5k on the clocks. It's not spotless, looks like it's been dropped although not badly but it's fairly clean. It's also got a set of Termi's on it and comes with the OE pipes too. The price (£5k) includes oil & filter change plus belts. If I wanted to have the full service done to it he said he'd do it for £250.

Does this sound like a reasonable deal for the Duke?

Cheers,


Col :)

You have a U2U mate.

eccles
 

its right money 4 t reg 996 with that mileage and not too bad an offer 4 your cat. depends on how good the 996 is?

Has it got full (good ) service history.

don't be worried about mileage if its been properly looked after.

Bob Hills did my last service and they seemed ok, and even kept the bike in an extra day to sort the fuelling but didn't charge for it!

Total cost of a full service was just short of 600 quid, so sounds like a good price to me.