BMW shop of James Sherlock in Devon
 

Hello

I,m looking at buying a motorcycle at James Sherlock BMW shop in South Molton in Devon , England.
Was wondering if someone local knew what there reputation was like as I are going to take the risk of buying without testing.
Unfortunately I won,t have the time to go around the UK testing out bikes and then waiting on ownership papers and Insurance before getting on the road.

Does someone know what they are like?

They are a known acessory supplier and internet shop. Didn't know they sold bikes but I am 300 miles away.

Are they lending you an address for the tax and insurance? The rules here are totally against visitors, so if you havn't considered it have a really good look. There is a thread somewhere, the basic conclusion of which would be to start in Germany.

Andy

Both Tiffany Coates and Sam Manicom use him for servicing if that is any recommendation and a friend of mine once bought a second hand bike that proved to be a good buy. He does have the reputation of being a bit grumpy at times but as far as I am aware an honest trader, I would say do it.

Hello
thanks for the replies , I,ve owned several bikes before in the UK and as before bought them all in the week of arriving with mixed results.

As with anyone selling any vehicle at least privately any sort of real honesty or ethics seem to disappear when dollars ( pounds ) are concerned.

I have a longtime friends address this time for the paper work which is better than ones I had before.

Waiting on a reply from the shop currently , whether they took my e-mail seriously or like a lot of business,s disregarded.

That's a sad reflection on the UK nowadays.

If you are after a BMW bike specifically then there are others selling via the likes of ebay, such as "Motorworks" who advertise therein regularly.
The latter advertise that they will ship overseas so they may have a bit more understanding of your needs.

My impression of ebay, and I watch it regularly, is that many private advertisers expect/ask a price very close to that of the dealers - the latter of course will deliver an amount of customer service within their pricing.
It is all subject to the time of year of course.

There is at least one dealer on ebay who advertises a "sale and re-buy later" aspect to their second hand bikes; that used to be done by many dealers years ago but it is much less common nowadays.

I have dealt with Sherlock's a lot.
I have never bought a bike from them, but servicing and supply of parts is excellent, and in my experience, always a pleasure to deal with.

Hello
Had a Reply from the James-Sherlock shop.

Seems they have had bad experiences selling bikes the way I was after and aren,t interested in selling a bike.

My first two BMWs when I was much younger came from BMW dealers and both had 100,000 more than the dealer said in New Zealand.
Don,t think it matters where you are too find people willing to sell you anything , probably since the wheel was invented .

Have to keep on looking.

What exactly are you after? There might be someone on here who can help.

They may be interested in selling a bike to you ... but in a way that is suitable for them. Up to you if that suits you.

I,m after a 650cc bike , something I can cross small rivers with and pick up in the river if necessary .
Been looking at BMW F650s and Suzuki DR650s ( if those ever come up) or similar.
Priced below 2500 Pounds.
seems to be plenty of 90s BMWs going cheap but wanting something newer.

Also Wanting to have the paperwork sorted nearly before I arrive so I can be straight off across the Channel ( Been to the UK nurmous time before and will be back ) as have committed to be somewhere by a date.

Sorry , haven,t checked for a thread yet but is it still the old system of posting off too Swansea and waiting by the letter box for ownership papers?

Yes it is.

ownership papers arrived
 

Hello
Thank you for the help of my questions, I thought I,d end the thread that I started with the results.

I bought a 2001 BMW F650 GS Dakar with 27,000 miles on it at Budget Motorcycles in Swindon , England for 2300 pounds.
Also previously spent something like 250 pounds traveling up to Bradford on the train from London just too see a few BMW F650s that were painted over that I did not like.That includes a night at a hotel.


They ( Budget Motorcycles ) did the ownership change online with the DVLA and the tax ( 45 pounds? Six months? ).
I did the insurance online for six months of third party for another 130 pounds.
Then a ride to Lands End and within four days of buying the bike was across the Channel into France.

Bought the Bike on the 22nd of June and somewhere along the line the Paperwork from DVLA didn,t arrive and maybe a second lot of paperwork finally arrive at my friends postal address on the 19th of August.

No one has stopped me for paperwork yet and but on the edge of the Border Zone now where They could start asking , Croatia.

Bike has gone perfectly so far.

Cheers
.

Glad you got sorted.

Hope you had a decent Yorkshire Curry while you were with us.

Andy

Risk taker
 

Hello
Guess I could be inviting comment on lack of paperwork.
Actually been doing Volunteer ( workaway website ) work in Europe waiting for postage of ownership papers , so limiting my risk , quiet rides in afternoon and in weekend. Not flying around everywhere.
Been real nice to be able to park up and visit places without all my gear exposed and riding around light.
DVLA has taken a lot longer than I planned.

cheers