Sellers unwilling to sell their bikes certified.. frustrating | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Sellers unwilling to sell their bikes certified.. frustrating

Read the fine print on the UVIP.
It is not worth the paper it is written on.

When buying a bike I don't care if it has a safety or not. I will let a mechanic I KNOW go over the bike.
The last three bikes I bought with safeties were failed by my guy. Two were obvious fails.

What were the fails?
 
I think some of you are missing the point of the MTO Safety Certification.

The safety cert is not intended to protect the buyer from purchasing a crappy bike, it's to protect everyone else on the road. So the safety cert ensures that the headlights, turn signals, brake lights work, so others can see you and know what you are going to do. It makes sure that the bike will stop when you pull the brake lever so you don't run into anyone else. It makes sure you won't leave a trail of motorcycle parts behind you on the road that will cause an accident.

The safety certification will not check if the valves are leaky or the oil hasn't been changed in years. It won't show if your blinker fluid needs to be topped up. That's not the point of the safety cert.

So yes, bring it into your mechanic to get it looked over to check for all of the above. But you're not doing that for the safety cert anymore. That's a more comprehensive inspection that's got nothing to do with a safety cert.

The point is: You get the safety cert to get the government off your back so you can register it without any hassle. I wouldn't care who performed it. Your mechanic, my mechanic, Canadian Tire, who cares? Just get that piece of paper signed and then do your own due diligence to determine whether the bike is mechanically and cosmetically up to your own standards above and beyond the very narrow MTO Safety Cert guidelines.
 
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2 things that are important when buying a bike

Ownership and UVIP.
you need to make sure the names matches. if theyir name is not on the paper, then baiiii.

some sellers dont include safety cuz
- they cancelled insurance at the end of the riding season and now they wanna sell it during spring. at this point they need to tow the bike to a shop, pay for safety and tow it back. that's $300 right there plus how much extra he thinks his time is worth. if they don't sell it before the time the safety expires, then they just wasted over $300
- if i was the buyer and the guy doesn't get it safetied but says it will pass (and you know it will) drop the price by at least $300, for the reasons above) if he's willing to safety the bike for a deposit - in trust that he will pass it and that you will pay the remaining balance, do it.
 
I haven't certified any of the bikes I've sold. Buyers flake out so I never put any faith in them until I see cash. I would certify with a deposit but no one has asked. If someone demanded I drop the price $300 because it wasn't safetied they would be shown the door.
I've also known many people to flip bikes and never transfer title into their name. Find a good deal, buy bike, find an even better deal 2 days later and buy that bike also. Sell one for a profit. Happens all the time.
 
I think some of you are missing the point of the MTO Safety Certification.

The safety cert is not intended to protect the buyer from purchasing a crappy bike, it's to protect everyone else on the road. So the safety cert ensures that the headlights, turn signals, brake lights work, so others can see you and know what you are going to do. It makes sure that the bike will stop when you pull the brake lever so you don't run into anyone else. It makes sure you won't leave a trail of motorcycle parts behind you on the road that will cause an accident.

The safety certification will not check if the valves are leaky or the oil hasn't been changed in years. It won't show if your blinker fluid needs to be topped up. That's not the point of the safety cert.

So yes, bring it into your mechanic to get it looked over to check for all of the above. But you're not doing that for the safety cert anymore. That's a more comprehensive inspection that's got nothing to do with a safety cert.

The point is: You get the safety cert to get the government off your back so you can register it without any hassle. I wouldn't care who performed it. Your mechanic, my mechanic, Canadian Tire, who cares? Just get that piece of paper signed and then do your own due diligence to determine whether the bike is mechanically and cosmetically up to your own standards above and beyond the very narrow MTO Safety Cert guidelines.

^This...

I mean hell, I bet you could get a bike safetied with an engine that doesn't even run.
 
No - it has to run enough for the testing mechanic to ride up to 30 kmh and do the brake test.

To be fair, one could reach 30kph on a fairly shallow incline in neutral and a running motor is not required for brake actuation.

It’s entirely feasible to have a valid safety inspection on a bike that threw a rod through the block.

Safety inspection =/= Guarantee that the bike is in good running order.
 
Read the fine print on the UVIP.
It is not worth the paper it is written on.

Disagree. In most situations it's of way more use than the alternative of nothing at all. You can at least see if it's actually registered to the person selling the bike, you can see a mileage history, previous registered owners (so a 10 year old bike that just magically showed up registered in Ontario 6 months ago might be a red flag, for example), and of course, lien information.

Arguably the lien information could be outdated (IE, seller got UVIP one day and then used the vehicle as collateral the next day with a lien registered) but in this sort of situation you're probably dealing with a professional scammer and there's no system in the world that can 100% protect you...but there's apt to be other telltales something is fishy.

Again, better than nothing.
 
Disagree. In most situations it's of way more use than the alternative of nothing at all. You can at least see if it's actually registered to the person selling the bike, you can see a mileage history, previous registered owners (so a 10 year old bike that just magically showed up registered in Ontario 6 months ago might be a red flag, for example), and of course, lien information.

Arguably the lien information could be outdated (IE, seller got UVIP one day and then used the vehicle as collateral the next day with a lien registered) but in this sort of situation you're probably dealing with a professional scammer and there's no system in the world that can 100% protect you...but there's apt to be other telltales something is fishy.

Again, better than nothing.

I think the UVIP shows the date it was printed?? If it was weeks or months old I might be concerned.
 
I think the UVIP shows the date it was printed?? If it was weeks or months old I might be concerned.

It does, and yes, I'd be concerned if I was presented with one that wasn't fresh.

If someone is really concerned or something seems fishy all you need is the VIN from the vehicle and anyone (not just the owner) can do and buy a new one at any Service Ontario themselves for $20. Potentially cheap insurance IMHO. I'm a firm believer in CYA.
 
Ha! I once had a mechanic look at a used bike I had purchased uncertified. He walked by, squeezed the front brake lever, muttered "nice bike", then sat down and wrote the safety. He was happy, I was happy.

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It is the beginning of April, I highly doubt the seller is worried about having trouble selling his bike. If you were willing to pull his full asking price chances are his price was fair to begin with.

If it wasn't listed as "sold certified" what makes you say that its frustrating that he doesn't want to certify it?
I have changed my bike every year in the past 5 years, and every time I sold the bike without a safety, not because anything is wrong with them (last one I sold was a 2017 SV650 that I barely even got a chance to ride) but rather, I would just tell any buyer interested and "Need" a safety, I'll do it for about $300, maybe 200 if I was in a good mood, not because I need to tow it or anything but to cover the cost of having to pay for the safety AND take time to go to the mechanic and possibly taking time off work. If the buyer doesn't like my terms he is welcome to shop somewhere else. I always list my bikes at reasonable price so I can do that. Second guy who saw it came with cash in his pocket, and a pickup truck. gave him a couple of hundred bucks off for not wasting my time and he picked up the UVIP from a few blocks away, and I gave him stuff that wasn't even listed in the ad. Him and his girlfriend drove away happy proud new owner.

Keep in mind, bringing a bike to a shop for a safety as a new owner, its an exciting time for you, but for a selling... it could be a boring, dreadful few hours.

So take the advice of others, maybe bring someone knowledgeable who can advise you.

Good luck and safe riding.
 
To be fair, one could reach 30kph on a fairly shallow incline in neutral and a running motor is not required for brake actuation.

It’s entirely feasible to have a valid safety inspection on a bike that threw a rod through the block.

Safety inspection =/= Guarantee that the bike is in good running order.

Good luck with that (LOL) !
 
I’ve been riding for about 7 months now and am comfortable buying a bike without safety.
It’s not hard to tell when a bike has been mistreated or taken care of.
My new bike, which I thought was going to fail the safety after I bought it because of no license plate light and no reflectors, passed.
There’s not much to a bike, so as long as you check for obvious things like leaks, proper lighting, signals work, etc.. then you should be clear.
 
I’ve been riding for about 7 months now and am comfortable buying a bike without safety.
It’s not hard to tell when a bike has been mistreated or taken care of.
My new bike, which I thought was going to fail the safety after I bought it because of no license plate light and no reflectors, passed.
There’s not much to a bike, so as long as you check for obvious things like leaks, proper lighting, signals work, etc.. then you should be clear.

Pretty sure reflectors are not needed.
But a white license plate light is a requirement.
 

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