BRAND NEW Bike, Untitled, but very limited warranty....

I just ran into something that all buyers should know when looking to buy a bike. Any bike!
Some back ground, I shop my best bike deals nearly all over.
My local dealer is a power seller just to land bonus from Yamaha for most sales etc. My other good buddy dealer who I have traded w/ before & openly refer buyers to also sells Yamaha & Kawi but at a little less than MSRP.

Point, I get ready to buy an 08 NEW untitled from the power selling dealer. But something is a bit weird on the vibs out of the owner.
I get his final very good offer OTD, hundreds lower than anywhere, w/ 20% off on parts for this bike only. I go home for the cash & as a friendly gesture I phone the friendly dealer & tell him the break down of the OTD cost.
He divides it up to the real cost of the bike alone. WAIT! he says, "are you sure this is not a retitled bike because of the buying cost of the bike is below the cost to a Yamaha dealer".
He asked for the vin on the bike & I read it off to him. I can hear over my phone, him typing it into the key board in his office. He then tells me beware, that 08 has a "mechanical warranty only". You will have zero coverage on electrical, brakes, shocks, seat, smog divice, & the list went on.

I ask how is this bike not being covered but the regular full Yamaha warranty. He then called someone on the hard line phone & I heard him explain the costomers buying cost & he was asked the vin. After a couple of waiting minutes, he comes back on & says this bike is an auction bike from another dealer that either was closed down by Yamaha or the dealership went out of business or the dealership just wanted to get out of the Yamaha line.
AGAIN Point, Yamaha made known to power dealers that a number of new bikes were up for grabs at a reduced buying cost to the dealers only. A bit was made & the highest bidding dealer gets the bike(s). Here is where it gets nutty. Yamaha will NOT offer complete coverage to the title buyer. Title buyer is you & me. So if you're getting a sweet deal your bike may be not covered, as it would be covered if the bike had not under gone this dealer auction thing.
Another thing, I paid cost of bike, tax & tag only. No admin fees, NO set up, NO shipping nor any of the other profit making BS terms that the dealers like to insist "just cover the cost".
When I question wheater or not this bike, that I was buying carried full Yamaha warranty, I was lied to twice. The sales person & the office manager. I then asked to talk to the owner. "He's not here now". Fine, I will wait till I talk w/ him. I leave the office after saying good-by politely to the manager & walked out. Half way to the door, on the show room the owner comes out of another office. He said what do I want ? In an annoyed demeanor. I just want to know the warranty status of the 08 that you are selling me, I reply. The manager says something to him & then I see red on the owners face. I think they already know. After all they bid on the bike & snagged a good deal from Yamaha. We sit down & the office manager enters the vin in his computer & it says "Mech warranty only".
Office manager writes in electrical & hydraulics coverage included, then initals it.... All this time I have a buddy w/ me listening & taking it all in. He then ask if an extended warranty will cover everything. Manager goes to the computer & after a bit say yes w/ unlimited miles.

All I am saying here is to ask about the warranty & remembver even if the bike has never been titled, you could be getting a very limited warranty. So when someone says Hey its never been titled, that means nothing concerning full warranty. My bike in the industry is referred to as an auctioned bike. It can easily be sold for less than another could sell it for because the dealer paid less for the auction bike than a regular bike that was not returned to Yamaha. Returned means in the paper work form & not phyically transported back to Yamaha. But sometimes they do go to a storage area & wait for a while. The dealer doesn't seem to have to notify the buyer about the limited warranty.

I am not bitching about a thing here. I just want you riders to know something that could cost you dearly in repairs. All dealers can pull up the vin & properly refuse you warranty as Yamaha will ONLY pay for the mech coverage. Ask your dealer about this & besure when buying you get the entire truth about the warranty coverage. Putting it in writing is best. I have made copies of the sales paper & will always carry it w/ this bike.

Please understand this is not a rant, only a friendly warning from someone that, at first, didn't know what he was buying.

Very good info. Thanks for the heads up. I'm sure others who are shopping for bikes will appreciate knowing this. I'm pretty tight with my dealer. In fact the service manager is my neighbor and an old friend. My bike came in the crate, untouched by anyone since it left the docks in Japan. I put it together myself and have full warranty, plus I bought the extended.

I'm sure the auto dealers do the same type of thing. Especially with all the GM and Chrysler dealers closing their doors lately. Buyer Beware! It pays to do your homework before laying out your hard earned coin for anything new these days.

My bike arrived at this power seller dealer in its original up opened box. It just has a strange foster child history of being removed & relocated under back door rules.

What you have is like child birth. You go to screw around & make it work out for the better.
By the way how many screws does it take to hold a wr together?

And to make it really interesting, in some jurisdictions - maybe even most - unless some notation was made on the paperwork or the buyer was otherwise advised, case law is that the warranty implied by Yamaha and the dealer for new, never-sold-before motorcycles will be the warranty you get i.e. the full meal deal.

I ran into something somewhat similar a few years ago. Ended up having to go through small claims court. Wasn't hard finding lots of case law that essentially said that unless the consumer was specifically notified otherwise, the implied warranty that the common man would assume applied, does in fact apply.

On the other hand... who wants to go to even small claims court if you can head it off to begin with.

And if you really want to stir the pot, there's a reason that in most cases your warranty also says something like "you may have other warrantys". Case in point is automotive paint. Most automobile manufacturers warranty their paint for what? 5 years? In Canada at least, the Supreme Court has held that a factory paint job should be durable enough to not peel or fade for at least 15 years. So people walk into the dealership, point to the peeling paint, and the dealership shrugs and points at the date they bought the car. Knowledgeable owners then show them a copy of the case law. In most instances it gets settled on the spot - worst I have heard is at the doors outside the courtroom. Manufacturers don't like being punished by judges for not getting the point...

But again... who wants to have to go to small claims court unless unavoidable.