The great "Harleys aren't worth that much anymore" observation

By now or at least by tomorrow I thought I would have been riding my new Touring...sadly it isn't to be at this time.

Before the 1st of October a "wholesaler" in south Florida was offering me $16,000 for my trade in. The $11,000 in accessories weren't worth anything (figured I might get a penny on the dollar....nope....not even that) so my $34,000 plus Harley was found to be not quite the "holds its value" type of bike they have been sold as all these years...unfortunately...I learned it the hard way.

At the $16,000 trade in price I was ready to go (wasn't too happy about it but I wanted to get back on a Triumph so I made "allowances" and swallowed a lot of pride).

Apparently after October 1st the 2014 Harleys were "rolling" so the price dropped to $15,000...this started to put me in a bind as I had enough money the way the "deal" was originally structured...now I was $1,000 short. We tried to get the local HD dealer in Pensacola but they were only grudgingly putting up only $14,500....same excuse....the 2014's were rolling.

So now just about every HD dealership is preparing for a huge saturation of used HD's so that the "faithful" can trade in their overpriced bikes (and find out what they are really worth...I would almost hang out at the local dealership to see the look on their faces when they find out what their rides are really worth).

Harley is putting a lot of faith in this new Rushmore project (three models...one of which is a trike...that have water cooled heads) which basically is a new radio and new controls to run the radio and a new look for the old football shaped air filter cover...but this will be at the expense of a big "beat down" in trade in values as they are banking on a good number of the old riders trading in their bikes....thereby flooding the market. Which is where I find myself now caught up in a bike nowhere worth what it was a month ago because of the new bike roll out.

I am still going to get the new Touring but it may be a little longer to get more money together to do it and at least I have had it dramatically driven into my aging skull...don't ever buy a "black hole" of a motorcycle and expect to get much of a trade in value for it...to think I wasted $11,000 cash down on this pig with nothing to show for it.

I have learned my lesson....never again.

Dennis

Just my $0.02 - but the "sell it for what you paid" ethos died pretty much when they stopped using carb's.

I traded a 2002 Softail in for my R3. The dealer mentioned that being a carb model he'd offered me more as it'd shift in less than a week. 48 hours actually.

That's a big black hole alright. Very frustrating for you. Not saying that Rockets necessarily hold their value much better but at least they're a lesser investment to start with and, better still, a bike you won't mind hanging onto.

I think if you keep them long enough you will get your money back but that pretty much applies to anything if you look after it. I paid $14711.00 for a 1990 Softail kept it 20 years and sold it with 4 days rego for $14750.00.

Sorry to hear that Dennis I guess I will have to wait a wee bit longer for another breakfast.
As a lot of people discover any extras you put on your bike are worth squat when you try to sell it. That is why I have a wall full of Rocket parts which I will put back on when I trade or sell the big boy in.

My 2 cents worth: One way to minimize the loss is to remove those extra bits and pieces and to adertise/sell them individually. Yes, it's both frustrating and time consuming, but it works! At least it worked for me: seats, pipes, carbon covers and guards, bolt-on chrome accessories, etc.

Best wishes Dennis.

The bottom somewhat fell out of the used Harley market up here, too, too many around.

Current ride:
2012 1648cc Harley Davidson Ember Red Sunglo Road Glide Ultra...

Is that what you are trying to trade-in? If so, private party sale and you'll get more than that. Too pretty of a bike not to find another "sucker" to take it off your hands. Sale off a few of the accessories first.

The folks who have suggested that you remove accessories and sell them separately (ebay works well in my experience) are on the right track. You never get your money out of accessories, and if you include them in the trade, you really get reamed. However, you can usually recover at least half the cost of accessories when they're removed from the bike and sold separately. There's one disclaimer though .... if the bike you have the accessories for is not a popular model, then you may have trouble moving the accessories too. There's got to be a market for what you're trying to sell, and fortunately for you, there are a lot of H-D's out there.

As for the value of Harleys on the used market, it looked to me that the value was established during the period when H-D was trying to ramp up production. When there was a shortage, and people were waiting a year for a new bike, then the used bikes had great value. Once H-D was able to meet the demand for the new motorcycles, the used bike values fell. The other factor in play is that the baby boomers are, for the most part, now finished with their mid life crises, and those were the folks who were buying. The ones who are still riding, have moved on to other marques. Lots of low mileage Harleys are still sitting in aging owners' garages, and they'll be sold when the owner dies, or needs more space.

I bought a new Ultra in 95', put 16k miles on it while watching it sit in the shop everytime it got wet (electrical). I rode it to New Orleans, Houston, and back home going through a complete oil change on the trip. When I got back I went to my nearest Honda dealer and traded for a new 97' Valkyrie and drew $2700 and was **** proud to do it.

Like the suggestion above I pulled all the add ons and sold them for about 70 cents on the dollar and got another $1500. I will NEVER own another Harley, that was my first and last.