Advice, Please! BMW R1100S

[kilgore_trout]

There's a guy two hours away from me who is desperate to sell a 2001 BMW R1100S with 22000 miles on it. It's a great looking bike, and I've come to realize that I've developed a thing for boxers.

My concern is that it has a salvage title. The seller explained that the bike was stolen and recovered with next to no damage. I haven't been able to see the bike yet, and I'm wondering if it's worth the two-hour drive to look at a salvage bike. I'm sure I could knock him down on the price, but would it still be risky getting a salvage bike?

He's got it on eBay for 4500, but also on Craigslist for 4000.:don'tknow:

It looks clean overall, but there are a few rusty bolts in the pictures.

BMW : R-Series in BMW | eBay Motorcycles

Should I run away or take a chance?

 

[Nelly]

Ask him to ride it to a halfway point, this reduces your travel and also gives the bike a run out.

Neil

 

[Ssky0078]

Ask him to ride it to a halfway point, this reduces your travel and also gives the bike a run out.

Neil

Good idea and if he could scan (redact - block out detailed info) and send you a copy of the salvage title report/insurance repair estimate/shop parts & labor documents). That way you can confirm what he's saying.

If he's got rust I believe that is just the by-product of living in the "live free or die" state.

 

[kilgore_trout]

Thanks! I'll ask about the report and go from there.

 

[callmegandhi]

For that price I'd drive 2 hrs for a look. Be careful and watch hard to reach and see areas for water damage or signs of a flood.

 

[Motogiro]

I agree with get salvage info on the bike.

 

[fb40dash5]

I bought my '094 with a salvage title. Had I known it had a salvage title before I drove 5 hours and spent the night in a hotel, instead of being told it had a clear title, I probably would have passed. The seller also had some (possibly BS) story about how it got totalled by being tipped over during initial assembly at the shop. Maybe true, maybe not, I don't really care. I got a pretty good price on it, there's no apparent damage not consistent with a 0mph tipover, and it hasn't given me any trouble.

On the flip side, resale value is pretty screwed. Likewise, so I hear, is an insurance check if it gets totalled. My advice (after doing your due diligence to look for hidden damage) is to get it cheap enough that you're not going to be sobbing if it gets wadded up and you don't get much back out of it. What "don't get much back out of it" is on a big BMW, I haven't a clue. Considering what I paid for my bike, the use I've gotten, and what I could probably get parting it, I wouldn't be that upset losing whatever part of $2k I'd be losing.

The new seller with 0 feedback on ebay would scare the hell out of me, though.

 

[kilgore_trout]

Well, I asked the seller to send me a photo of the report he got from the dealer who totaled it. He said he can't because he doesn't have it electronically (wtf? -- take a picture with your phone!), and I should just come see the bike and compare it to the report. Sounds a bit fishy.

If he still has the bike by this weekend and is that desperate, I might make the drive to check it out. If I end up making an offer, I'll low ball the hell out of him.

 

[kilgore_trout]

Update:

The seller's story was that the bike had been stolen and recovered, and that the only damage was a scuff on the valve cover. I had been doing some more research on the model, which lead me to the website of my local independent BMW mechanic. The guy is great--he posts tons of pictures and videos of everything he does to every bike he sees.

Surprise, surprise--the bike in question had been at that shop! The photos and videos explained that the bike had been hit on the right, and then went down. They showed a lot more damage to the bike, including that the forks were raked to the side.

That convinced me to not buy the bike. I sent two e-mails. The first was to the seller, simply thanking him for his time, and saying I'm going to pass because of what I see at this link. The dude went nuts--sticking to his theft story, insulting me, and even saying that there was no video (even if I had just watched it). He went on about how the shop owner was greedy and wrote an inflated estimate. Totally unstable wacko.

The second e-mail was to the owner of the shop, whom I had never met. I thanked him for being so thorough with his records because it saved me a lot of money and headaches. I told him the story and he was dumbfounded; he showed me records showing that the guy had wrecked it, taken a tidy insurance payout for the bike being totaled, and then bought it back so he could fix it later. The owner said he was going to have his lawyer send the seller a letter telling him to back off. If the shop was involved in insurance fraud, they're doing a piss poor job covering their tracks!

So, alls well that ends well. I didn't get sucked into a potentially unsafe money pit, and I've gained a new friend in a really knowledgable mechanic. Handy guy to know.

Thanks for listening and offering advice!

 

[regder]

Good thing you backed out of that deal, sounds like it would have been a mess.

Keep looking though, I have a thing for those bikes as well. That undertail exhaut... :rockon:

 

[banjoboy]

Why would you wanta R1100s, BMWs suck! :BLAA:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Yep, his story doesn't add up. The insurance company won't total bike for scruffed valve covers...

A bent front end, much more likely.

If its got a salvage title, it received at some point, damage not worth fixing vs the bikes worth(in the ins company' opinion).