I heard from one of the close friends of the owner of one of the Harley dealers here in Denver, where I bought my RKC and where I've had a long term relationship... that the dealership will be making TONS of money reselling the used bikes now being traded in for the 2014 Rushmore models.

We all see folks taking huge depreciation hits on their trade-in bikes that are less than one year old to barely three years old.

If they have the money to burn and want current satisfaction with the new 2014's, I say... power to them!

I like others tend to buy bikes of a proven model year, don't go chasing the newest thing on the market and keep 'em for quite a few years to enjoy.

YMMV.

 

I also traded my 13 in for $20,500 and paid MSRP on the 14. I purchased the 13 at $1500 under MSRP and it had 3800 miles on it.

 

Mileage on the '13s you traded?

 

dealer offered me 15 for my 12 Limited with 12k miles trade in on a 14 limited. said those old bikes werent worth very much anymore I asked him if they werent worth anything they why did they have one on their website for sale for 22k? phone got very quiet. he said he hped we could work a deal sometime. I told him we might one day but I dont think hell will freeze over any time soon.

 

I just dont see the attraction in the 14's to justify trading a 1 year old bike...but I dont buy new anyway. Ive got less than 20 grand in the 2 bikes I have. I dont plan on ever selling either of them.

 

When I traded my 11 Limited for the 13, I was amazed the dealer gave me within 1K$ of what I had paid for it. I had put 35K miles on the bike.

It's funny, but I've got the 13 in for warrantee repairs right now and the dealer gave me my old 11 for a loaner while they work on the 13.

Anyway, there's no way I would bend over for a 14. I'd have to take a beating on the 13.

It's weird to me that I have always gotten good trade in value from my bikes, and I put a lot of miles on my bikes. I traded a 08 Street Glide for the 11 Ultra. The Street Glide had 61K on and I don't remember for sure, but it was about 8 or 9K to boot on the 11.

It works well for me to run the crap out of them before trading.

 

Off topic for sure, but I traded my 2006 Street Glide for a 2014 ultra. Low mileage (14k) and some toys and options on it. I did not get a good number at $11500, but I got a new bike. Vehicles are not investments and I could have done a lot of things....removed toys and options, sold it retail, waited, etc. I chose to have a new scooter. I'm happy!

 

It comes down to what the difference between the two is...

Two guys have the same identical bikes with the same mileage. They are both looking at the same identical new bike. One guy goes into his dealer and gets a trade in value of $20,000.00. The other guys goes into his dealer and gets a trade in value of $18,000.00. Guy #2 feels cheated and his kicking himself until he realizes his out of pockets was $4k and guy #1 had a $6K out of pocket. Who got the best deal??? It's a numbers game.

They make profit on add on accessories. They make profit on extended warranties. They make profit of interest financing. I have seen first hand a car dealer get a customer approved at 6% only to tell them they are HAPPY to let them know they have them approved at 8.5%.

There are too many factors to just look at what someone was offered for their trade.

On a little different note, when I first saw the 2014's my first comment to my wife was that the value of our 2010 just dropped! The dealers will ride the wave and upcharge where possible because there are enough folks wanting the new bikes. That means a surplus of used bikes driving down prices.

Just my 2 cents

Ride safe

 

In your scenario, both bikes are identical. How can there be a 2K out of pocket difference if there is NOTHING different between the bikes traded and the bikes purchased?

Shakey

 

I guess I don't understand why someone would trade an essentially new bike in for a "newer" bike. If a person is going to chase the newest model year that's fine but don't bitch about trade-in values. They suck, we all know it, add-ons add nothing, or very little to trade-in offer. Taxes, title fees, interest on the loan, etc. do not fit in the equation and you ain't getting them back. If a person pays more than msrp then you ain't getting it back, ever. Never.

I have the 11 FLHTK with a sizable amount of functional adds. Not a whole lot of bling to it. Some like the LED lights that adorn it could be removed, the handle bars would be too much trouble. If I ever got into a situation where I felt I had to trade in, I know I am getting nothing for the adds left on the bike. I am at 30K miles and climbing so I would expect a hit on that too. The other day was picking up some soft ties and was going to ask the salesman I worked with on 2 recent purchases what kind of trade-in I could get on my 11. It was a curiosity based question, not something I was planning to do. He wasn't there so didn't get to ask the question. Just as well cause I am sure I would not have liked the answer. To the OP, ride your 13 another year or take it in the shorts on trade and don't complain.

Have a safe ride.

PS, I like my bike colors netter than current offerings, and black is BORING