Why dont people have bike looked at before buying?

I think we owe it to the future of our sport to do all we can to get prospective buyers to have knowledgeable eyes look at what they are considering buying, but how????
Recently had a phone call in Service from a Dad calling for kid who just bought a 1981 KZ440. Runs great, just wants fluid change, look see. (At least it is the right time of year for this kind of call.) Told him to bring er on down. Kid shows up and no, doesn't exactly "run great", will only shift from first to second about once in 25 tries. Clutch cable a mile out of adjustment, adjust in parking lot, slightly better, I can finagle it past second and into third where there is drive. Won't go into second up or down. Rest of the bike so-so, Kreem in fuel tank starting to peel off, tires 30%, rotors grooved, fork seals weeping. Checked on Kawi website, shift linkage, drum, shift forks, etc. all discontinued. tell kid bad news, approx 1.5 hrs to check clutch and externals, add from there if case split to inspect. Kid has no money, spent $1500.00 on the bike!!! From a strict dollars and cents basis, I probably should have checked in the bike, got a couple hours labor to tell him he is hosed, give him back the bike in boxes. (At least that way he would have trouble selling it to some other sap.) From a long term business standpoint, plus having to deal with my conscience I can only hope he comes back when he has the means to buy something in better shape.
Not an isolated incident, deal with similar weekly during the season, required repairs well exceeding the value of the bike. To me, new buyers in this fix are considerably different than long term owners who have neglected their machines.
And in a not entirely unrelated note: Why have I only had 1 contact on my WRX I'm selling? Is $4500.00 that unreasonable for a 2010 with tons of farkles?

railbird wrote:

And in a not entirely unrelated note: Why have I only had 1 contact on my WRX I'm selling? Is $4500.00 that unreasonable for a 2010 with tons of farkles?

Because it is not worth that much.

Owners look at things with sentimental attachment and the understanding of how much money they put into something. The farkles you installed may be very important to you but to others they may actually lower the price they are willing to pay. For instance, you may have a nice running bike with an FMF Q4 exhaust but I am looking for a quiet bike with a stock exhaust. In my eyes the value of your bike has just dropped relative to a 'stock' one.

I have recently seen a 2008 WRR go for $3000 with some farkles on it. In the end it is not what you think your bike is worth but rather what people are actually paying for the bikes.

True, but I've got most of the stock parts I would figure into the deal if the buyer wanted.
How do I determine "value" when it doesn't seem there are any WRX's in the marketplace at
this time?
Believe me I understand budgets but my point was why pay $1500 for a 34 year old bike with
numerous concerns obvious to the knowledgeable person vs more for something that is going
to be more reliable. And how to make newbies more knowledgeable.

railbird wrote:

True, but I've got most of the stock parts I would figure into the deal if the buyer wanted.
How do I determine "value" when it doesn't seem there are any WRX's in the marketplace at
this time?  
Believe me I understand budgets but my point was why pay $1500 for a 34 year old bike with
numerous concerns obvious to the knowledgeable person vs more for something that is going
to be more reliable. And how to make newbies more knowledgeable.

You have a point on the 34 y/o bike but as PT Barnum said - there is a sucker born every minute.

As far as the value of you WRX goes you also need to consider you are in probably the worst time of the year to sell a bike.

If you can wait you may want to list it in the Spring at your current price and you may get a couple of nibbles. I would imagine you have a drop dead price in mind so I would start high and just drop it every couple of weeks and gauge interest.

Prices for motorcycles seem to be widely based on what is available in your local market. In my area, a WR can fetch a pretty high price if one even comes up for sale. And yeah, in the winter is a horrible time to sell a motorcycle here.