Buying a motorcycle in another state?

coremaster21

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
341
Location
Texas
Anyone have experience with this process? I am looking to buy a motorcycle in the California area (Rocklin) and have it shipped out to me in Oahu, Hawaii. I found the bike on Cycletrader and on their site they advertise a shipping company called "Uship" where you can make a bid and a shipper can accept it. I priced my bid slightly above the average at $800 to get a bid sooner but I'm not really sure how long the process can take. I looked at a more definite site called "motorcycleshippers" and their quote was $2600 so I definitely do not want to do that.

Another question I have - The bike is coming from a private seller so I'm also not sure how the transaction would take place to make it even for both parties. I suggested paying him half at first and then the other half when I received the bike but he didn't like that idea. I definitely do not want to pay him the whole price in hopes he won't scam me so I was looking to see if there was any good third party websites to act as a middleman for the transaction. We both have Zelle and that was brought up but not sure if that would work for what I need.

If anyone has any suggestions or done this before please let me know and thank you for the help!
 

SHOdown220

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
1,978
Location
North Carolina
What kind of motorcycle? Something in particular that you can't find local to you? I would be hard pressed to buy something out of state from a private seller that I've never seen in person and has to be shipped on a boat to me.
 

Adower

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
2,799
Location
SAC
Anyone have experience with this process? I am looking to buy a motorcycle in the California area (Rocklin) and have it shipped out to me in Oahu, Hawaii. I found the bike on Cycletrader and on their site they advertise a shipping company called "Uship" where you can make a bid and a shipper can accept it. I priced my bid slightly above the average at $800 to get a bid sooner but I'm not really sure how long the process can take. I looked at a more definite site called "motorcycleshippers" and their quote was $2600 so I definitely do not want to do that.

Another question I have - The bike is coming from a private seller so I'm also not sure how the transaction would take place to make it even for both parties. I suggested paying him half at first and then the other half when I received the bike but he didn't like that idea. I definitely do not want to pay him the whole price in hopes he won't scam me so I was looking to see if there was any good third party websites to act as a middleman for the transaction. We both have Zelle and that was brought up but not sure if that would work for what I need.

If anyone has any suggestions or done this before please let me know and thank you for the help!

I actually live 20 min from Rocklin. If you want me to go check the bike out I can. I would definitely use something where you get buyer protection.

My wife did her undergrad on the big island. She said she shipped her car via boat but doesn’t remember it being that expensive. Maybe look into some other companies?
 
Last edited:

coremaster21

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
341
Location
Texas
What kind of motorcycle? Something in particular that you can't find local to you? I would be hard pressed to buy something out of state from a private seller that I've never seen in person and has to be shipped on a boat to me.
Its a BMW S1000RR, there isn't much to choose from in Hawaii.
 

coremaster21

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
341
Location
Texas
I actually live 20 min from Rocklin. If you want me to go check the bike out I can. I would definitely use something where you get buyer protection.

My wife did her undergrad on the big island. She said she shipped her car via boat but doesn’t remember it being that expensive. Maybe look into some other companies?
Okay I will let you know, thank you that's awesome!
 

roy_1031

roy1031
Established Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2011
Messages
4,796
Location
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Its a BMW S1000RR, there isn't much to choose from in Hawaii.

You’ll probably get from one side of the island to the other in like 2 min.. Why don’t you just fly here, check it out make the deal in person then ride it back home and have a sweet road trip back?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

11sec Guy

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
230
Location
Detroit
I have used U ship to ship 3 motorcycles to Michigan. From California, Arizona and Wisconsin. Never had any issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Blackoyote

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
2,034
Location
Matthews, NC
UShip is great...when you make your auction listing, wait for a solid 24-36 hours and the bids will go down SIGNIFICANTLY.

That Escrow site has a lot of bad reviews, so tread carefully...lots of stories where people had to fight for them to release their funds for months. I was looking into using them to buy a dirt bike on the other side of country but ultimately we didn't do the deal.
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top