Modern Vespa

I have a lead on a 2008 LX150 that is in ok shape - mostly complete and runs. little over 4K miles on the clock - what is this worth? I have s150 that I can take parts off the LX and part it out maybe? it's been neglected for years now so not sure if its worth spending money to make it perfect... (its in Chicagoland area)

thanks in advance!

Greetings:

Condition is everything to some people. Also riding season beginning/ending and time of purchase.

We ride year-round in Deepinnaharta. I bought a 2003 ET4 about 2 years ago. Cosmetically it was a 6 or 7/10, and kickstarter mechanism was stripped. I paid $1400. My 2010 S50 was a cosmetic 9 with 56-ish miles on the odometer. I paid $1800. Might help to see what the S150 looks like... Hope this provides a ballpark.

It is hard to say without seeing the scooter.

But all used Vespas appear to be selling for 50% to 100% higher than they were a couple of years ago.

I bought a perfect 2005 Vespa GT with 6000 miles on it seven years ago for $2,600.

I could possibly get at least that much for it now. Still almost perfect but now with 36,000 miles and seven more years on it.

But it is not for sale.

Bill

Without a pic, WAG I'd say 500-1000

By description, more toward the 500 range.

I agree with Bill. Before the pandemic you could pick up a clean GTS250 with fairly low miles for a couple of Grand. Now those same bikes are selling for $3,500. Pull up Craigslist and FB marketplace to see what is available, and what people are asking. When it's all said and done the real price is determined when the seller has a handful of cash, and the new owner is riding down the street. Here in Denver, scooter prices drop 20% or more from October to Memorial Day. How long has it been listed? How bad do you want it. You can up your offer, if it is too low.
If he jumps on the first price you throw out, you can't ask if he will take less. Make up a list of reasons (deferred maintenance, tire age, etc...) to whittle away on the asking price. When I buy something, my goal is to get it for the lowest price I can without making the seller hostile.

Good advice from all the above. I shopped for over 2 years before I found the best deal of the year (As far as I'm concerned) $1800 for a Very Clean 2001 ET4 with 3704 miles.

After all the legal docs and insurance and such, and maintenance items to bring her up to snuff I'm up to $2300. I just ordered tires and that'll take me to $2500 more or less to get caught up with any initial needs. I mention these things because they do figure into initial cost.

After that, maintenance and bling. (that'll be the fun part!)

I found the best prices generally happen during the winter and at the end of summer, probably because folks decide to sell them rather than incur another year of ownership expense. Or whatever.

You also mentioned your concern about making it perfect. I have a similar quandary. Is it best to keep a clean bike as stock as possible by using piaggio parts, OEM stuff. Or is it more desirable to upgrade a standard configuration 20 year old scooter to more power and better suspension, etc. by using performance aftermarket parts. I truly don't know. I suspect over the long term a cherry, stock configuration would be more desirable. Who knows?

Oh, a quick addendum: A clean Title and proper set of keys up the price for sure. And, they're worth every penny.

Photos attached. Seller wants $2950 for it at the moment...

2nd photo for reference.

Reason for my question - I just picked up a 2008 S150 with 1.5 miles on it. Some of trim was missing and due to some dealer sell/move scoot ended up parked in a storage unit and never ridden. I changed all the fluids, put a new battery and it started right up. I paid $650 for it and need around $600 worth of trim/plastics/parts...clean title too.

okay, let's start with the obvious...

14yr old scooter is gonna need tires, more than likely. plus a whole host of other maintenance items. so unless you're doing that work yourself, expect to tack another 1K on there.

now, here's the things that jump out at me: ET seat on an LX, seems to be missing the grab rail (unless that's it sitting next to it on the ground), but whatever. left lever is busted. you're gonna need a RH mirror, and if that mirror end is busted off in the master cylinder mount, well let's just say that complicates things. don't know if there isn't rear lights or packing tape is just holding them in? either way no bueno. it's almost like this thing got bumped from the rear.

but sure, all the stuff you seem to be missing is on that LX and will fit on your S if you just want a donor. but it'd be hard to get more than 1K in parts out of that, plus your labor, and then you gotta get rid of the rest.

but 2950 for that lump? HARD PASS

I'd throw something like 5-650 and a slice of ham at it but no mas there's just not enough tasty bits in good enough shape.

All makes sense...I will check this scoot in person and will see what's the next step. Thanks for the info.

This summer, I found my former sister-in-law's boyfriend a 2012 GTS with very low miles for $3k. It was in mint condition and was properly serviced. It even had a OEM Vespa top box (see pic).

I wouldn't pay more than $500 for that hot mess that you're considering. Run, don't walk from that deal.

That's more than I would expect to get from my 2016 LXV150IE and it's running…or it would be if I would put the battery back in and roll it out of the little shed/shop building it's hiding in cuz I decided it was getting too cold for this old woman to keep riding.. and we got colder and then we warmed up and I poured cuz 2nd shifters are riding to work…ok, only 2 of them and I know 1 rides a block farther than my barely 2 mile ride to work….

As Bill mentioned, prices are up. In my area (Charlotte NC), this is also going on. But the scoots I see up for sale are all overpriced 1k too high. Day after day, week after week, they sit there on FB Marketplace and CL. Earlier this year, there was a lot of free money around and easy to sell bikes. Prices started climbing in response. But that's not happening now, The ones priced right are moving. Back to your possible purchase: around here that would be listed for about 2k, but would at best sell for 1k. He wants almost 3k? Dreamer or hoping to get lucky. I would ignore the whole deal and chase down the parts you need for your S model.

Greetings:

If you come over to look at something I'm trying to sell at the highest price, you can bet the item will be clean and presented in its most favorable light. This seller didn't even bother to dust off this obviously neglected and WAY overpriced victim of indifference. What other things might such a person neglect? Maybe there's a back story, but consider the Person with whom you're dealing as well as the Object of the sale. Just me talkin', but I'd hesitate to conduct Any business with such a seller.

I'm with greasy: Appearance-wise it's a hot mess, not sure what's going on mechanically, but for sure the rubber, if original is WAY past due date.

Maybe I'm not up on the local market, but if I had to part with my '07 LX I'd be happy with $2K and it has new rubber, recent maintenance and use and a good compliment of add-ons. And it was actually washed last year.

I think the seller is trying WAY too hard to wring $$ out of that thing.

Take a look at this one: https://denver.craigslist.org/mpo/d/aurora-2007-vespa-lx150/7409260770.html

He's been trying to sell it for months. I'll bet you could get it for $500 at this point. uship.com could get it to you for around $300.