Did I pay too much for these scooters?

I bought a couple of scooters from my old room mate last year, one for Taipei and one for Dasi where we had an apartment. At the time neither of us knew much about scooters so we based the valuation of the scooters on his judgment alone. Since living in Taiwan and looking at other scooters I have began to think that the price paid was way too high.

I bought a Heroism 125 scooter for 10,000 NT

and a red Cabin 50cc for 6,500 NT

Can you please give me some idea of the valuation of these bikes, as I want to get rid of them and recoup some cash? Did I pay too much?



No papers? Hell yeah! You paid way too much! They’re both completely worthless. If you don’t mind waiting for the bust (which you’re sure to get eventually travelling form Daxi to Taipei) then they’re worth it. But if want to sell them on, you’ll have to blag it – i.e., con the buyer into thinking you’re not ripping him off. It’s easy enough to do.

Welcome to the site, Havana. Well, I don’t want to give you the customary harsh Forumosa welcome but I think it’s unavoidable in this case. The thing is, I wouldn’t pay any money for a paperless bike (even the one that has papers that can’t be transferred is still effectively paperless).

Check out these two threads for reasons why quite a few people on Forumosa feel the same:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=47822
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=44832

You probably could find someone who’d pay a few thousand for them. Personally, though, if I were in your situation I’d just get rid of them if I wasn’t going to ride them. Especially the first one, as you don’t know its history and if it’s been reported stolen in the past you could get in big trouble.

[quote=“joesax”]Welcome to the site, Havana. Well, I don’t want to give you the customary harsh Forumosa welcome but I think it’s unavoidable in this case. The thing is, I wouldn’t pay any money for a paperless bike (even the one that has papers that can’t be transferred is still effectively paperless).

Check out these two threads for reasons why quite a few people on Forumosa feel the same:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=47822
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=44832

You probably could find someone who’d pay a few thousand for them. Personally, though, if I were in your situation I’d just get rid of them if I wasn’t going to ride them. Especially the first one, as you don’t know its history and if it’s been reported stolen in the past you could get in big trouble.[/quote]

Thanks for your advice, it confirmed what I thought. I took them to one place to get the plastic body repaired and the assistant said that the 125 was “a classic” in that he “hadn’t seen one in that bad condition for a very long time” and told me to throw it away. Again most of the garages have said the same thing. I’m reluctant to sell them on as I don’t want to rip anyone off…

Guess I’ve learnt an important lesson about buying scooters!

Get them papers or else get the seller to give you the machine free of charge. Peace of mind. Its worth a fair bit.

Hell yes, you paid too much!

I really don’t think any vehicle with no papers is worth anything, especially a run down old scooter. Besides, you could easily find a legitimate scooter for around 10,000 and it wouldn’t be in anywhere near such a poor state as yours. Oh, my golly gosh! I can’t believe a vehicle like that can actually be ridden without having some sort of terrible thing happen. It looks like the remaining parts are actually only being held together by will alone.

I remember selling my spouses 1998 BWS 100cc scooter (with papers) back in 05 for like…5000NT?

Next time you go shopping for transportation either bring a friend or some KY…

[quote=“Havana”][quote=“joesax”]Welcome to the site, Havana. Well, I don’t want to give you the customary harsh Forumosa welcome but I think it’s unavoidable in this case. The thing is, I wouldn’t pay any money for a paperless bike (even the one that has papers that can’t be transferred is still effectively paperless).

Check out these two threads for reasons why quite a few people on Forumosa feel the same:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=47822
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=44832

You probably could find someone who’d pay a few thousand for them. Personally, though, if I were in your situation I’d just get rid of them if I wasn’t going to ride them. Especially the first one, as you don’t know its history and if it’s been reported stolen in the past you could get in big trouble.[/quote]

Thanks for your advice, it confirmed what I thought. I took them to one place to get the plastic body repaired and the assistant said that the 125 was “a classic” in that he “hadn’t seen one in that bad condition for a very long time” and told me to throw it away. Again most of the garages have said the same thing. I’m reluctant to sell them on as I don’t want to rip anyone off…

Guess I’ve learnt an important lesson about buying scooters![/quote]

I’ve been told you can check with the cops as to whether a vehicle has been reported stolen. Would be worth doing that as a minimum precaution. There’s nothing to connect you with them so it shouldn’t be risky, just say someone offered you them, or they might be abandoned, etc…

How can you tell? From a quick glance, its got (OK, rather a lot of) broken, non structural, plastic bits, but if the keeper doesn’t care about them (and the lights, which ARE a bit worrying) and keeps it maintained, it could be OK mechanically, no?

This is the sort of predjudice that condemned out of hand my lost 20K truck, (In THAT case, sight unseen.)

There are probably a few illegals who would be willing to pay decent money for a ride without papers. Short term back packer types and whatnot.

Paperlessness aside, if “Black Beauty” over there runs incredibly well and is in top internal condition, you might’ve only overpaid by around $3,000. As for the Cabin, well, you also overpaid for that by maybe $3,500… paperlessness aside.

It’s definitely best to not ride around a paperless scooters, as others have already mentioned, but I don’t think it’s unethical to sell a paperless scooter to someone if you let them know up front.

As canucktyuktuk mentions, there are indeed “illegals” who would be willing to pay for paperless rides. For example, you could sell it to a freshly arrived English teacher who cannot get a license because he or she doesn’t have an ARC or their ARC is not over the one-year license-getting requirement.

You could also sell it to one of the many overseas Chinese who have been visiting Taiwan for so long that it seems as if they’ll never depart…

If neither keeping them or selling them suits your fancy, then may I suggest that you buy a papered scooter of the exact same model and you can use the ones you already have as spare parts (if they’re in decent condition). Many scooters also share the exact same internals, so it’s most likely that the Heroism shares parts/engine with other SYM scooters.

Your last option is that whenever you come across a scooter of the same model as yours, switch plates with it. This way, eventually everyone in Taiwan who rides that model of scooter will have jumbled-up plates and the police will never catch you!

I just looked at the pics for the first time. Jaysus! Some guy conned you into giving actual cash MONEY for them? :astonished: Now I can see how some people can get bent out of shape when you won’t offer half-price for their junked old Ikea furniture!
OP, yer man there turned you around, pulled down your trousers and RAMMED you up the arse, but GOOD! He must laughing like a drain, still!

Ya i have to say both of those scoots really shouldve been junked. Most people wouldve paid money to get rid of them.

It takes a lot to get a scooter all smashed up like that. You can pay about Nt 3000 for a brand new plastic body…but without papers, why bother. Look on these forums to find better looking bikes, for around the same price…and legal.

I once bought a little Sym Dio for NT7000 (50cc) and I rode it around for 4 years…and my school was an hour away. And it was fine. Make sure you don’t add to pollution though…

In my experience it’s hard to get a scooter (100cc+) below 20,000NTD from a mechanic. But there are foreigners leaving all the time selling scooters for approx 10,000-15,000 NTD with papers.
You lost a bit of money but what the hell, they still work.

Why bother anyway? Its a scooter, FFS. Who is going to be impressed? And IIRC, YOUR Hartford scooter doesn’t even HAVE any plastic bodywork, just some DESIGNER shopping trolley mesh, and you love it to bits.

If its a choice between spending 3 grand on new plastic that’ll just get broken again, or holding it together with duct tape, I’d hold it together with duct tape.

Or maybe parcel tape. No point in wasting good duct tape.

Dont pussyfoot about, man! We Fahkin Jocks have a reputation for plain speaking which such courin, timid, mealy-mouthed “politeness” puts at risk.

Those scooters reminded me of “futuristic” looking vehicles in old sci-fi shows.

Like “BOB” from The Black Hole!

I had a crap Cabin just like that one and I replaced the bodywork for under 1000 bucks. Found it at a junkyard. easy enough to do.

OK - having been to another mechanic, who said that these were not worth repairing, he told me of a scheme that Taipei government does where you can give the plates and scooter ID in exchange for a little cash and they will recycle the scooters. He said you have to pay an annual tax for scooters (something I didn’t know about) if you have paid this you can get money for recycling. Anyone know about this…??

I am wiling to let these go at any price…so if anyone is interested in a bike to do up, let me know…any offer accepted haha!!!