Modern Vespa

Hey Guys,

I wanted to ask the opinion of the community if you would purcahse a scooter like this.

Its a 2007 with 11,000 but it has side damage on it. The buyer is asking $1600 for it.

http://imgur.com/a/kRA3L

Welcome to the forum.

The legshield damage could be greatly improved with new trim and some touch up paint. The cowel, not so much. It's beyond stickers too. It wouldn't be cheap to repair. ~$1000. If you can live with it so much the better. The price seems OK.

There is a reason why modern Vespas with extensive damage to the metal body sell for low prices. Professional repair is very expensive and resale of a damaged bike is difficult. What are you going for here? A rat bike? Or a restored bike? If the answer is fully restored, then the bike won't be much of a bargain in the end.

Personally, cosmetics aren't a huge issue for me. I can't get to the image you posted, but if this is your first scooter, if you don't care about cosmetics either, if you want to save money and still have a good performing scooter, all reasons to buy one that is damaged cosmetically.

Also, if you plan on trying to ride with a pillion, or lend it out, or ride in theft-prone areas, or heavy traffic or place where folks just don't respect others' stuff, all the more reason to go for it.

Couple of questions for you:

1) Is this a salvage or rebuilt title? If so, then the scoot will be impossible to insure for theft or collision, and will be difficult to sell.

2) It sounds a little high for a price to me. Figure (in good condition) it's worth $3k (I'm guessing at numbers here) and insurance paid out $2400 and left him with the scoot. And then he scores another $1600? Even if he was paid out $2k, it still puts him ahead.....

3) The legshield damage can be repaired a bit to make it more palatable, but the cowl damage is ugly.

4) Before you do anything to commit money, make sure a scooter shop measures it to make sure the frame is straight. Ugly but straight scooter is good, Pretty but bent scooter is not.

Aloha and welcome to the forum from Hawaii. It looks great otherwise. What's the mileage? You might be able to get the bodywork done for cheaper than a grand (if it bothers you) but some other things to look at are the age of the tires,have the fluids (oil,brake and hub oil) been changed. Belt shoukld be changed if it's the original. Rubber degrades over time and the bike is old.While $1600 seems low a bunch of work needs to be done on it for it to be a safe ride before you even think about the cosmetic stuff. People drop them and them don't ride them for years and think they can recoup their money. Wrong. That said that bike is a great bike. John has one (same color) and it's still going strong (well he has carb problems because he doesn't ride it enough). He has 2 other bikes and they really like to be ridden. I have the son (LX 150 in plum) and he has almost 39,000 miles on him. In the end if they won't come down a bit i'd still get it. Great bike. Good luck

i think the biggest problem is that it's a 200. Carb'd moderns pale in comparison to fuel injected bikes.

The side trim you can replace yourself quite cheaply if you're handy. The dents on the side can't easily be fixed but you could cheaply touch up the paint. My own GT has similar damage to the rear cowl but it doesn't bother me at all. It certainly doesn't affect how it rides. The more modern GTS is a little bit faster off the line but I enjoy riding both my bikes. Personally I think £1600 is a little high - have you looked to see what other GT's in your area sell for?

If it's up to date on it's maintenance and has relatively new tires then the price is almost right. Most of those old 200's haven't been kept up and it gets real expensive, real fast.

I bought a 200 with similar damage and mileage for $400 with a salvage title. Did the work to get a rebuilt title and all the maintenance, sold it 6 months later for $1400 after I realized it wasn't a good scoot for me.. I didn't make a dime. Keep in mind that I work at a shop and get dealer pricing on parts - it needed that much work.

EDIT: To add, the lesson I learned was that if you want a modern Vespa, save your pennies and buy a nice one. They really don't respond well to abuse.

Thank you guys for the response. I was going to offer him $1k but noticing that its a arbitrated + all of the damage I think I'm going to stay away, I was going to save up some money and buy one in the winter but I thought this would be a good deal in the mean time. I'll pass for now. I really appreciate all of your input!

Good call!

With the depth of that cowl damage I'd think it took an pretty serious hit. I'd worry what else got tweaked.

You will see me again here, going to save up and buy around winter time for the best price. Unfortunately the prices for Vespa's in Chicago at too high around this time.

Look in Wisconsin. Big Vespa following up around Lake Geneva and they have a Vespa dealer there.

http://www.scootjockeys.com/

It's only a couple hours and you may get better prices and more options.

Wise move. Just keep watching Craigslist and be ready to jump when the right one comes around.

This exactly, when you first look on Craigslist it seems like there are tons of deals that disappear before you can respond to the ad, but more will pop up. Just de diligent.

i wouldn't jump on that. that damage is pretty gnarly.

just search craigslist every day and one will pop up. i scored a gt200 with only one tiny scratch for $1700.

just be patient my friend

Good. While i love the 200's even if you paid a $1,000 for it you'd have to put a lot if money into it. Like Harvey alluded to,there might be some frame damage. I'm betting it's bent. Can't fix that easily or at all. Keep looking

offer 1100 and ride it!