The motorcycle and powersports market is showing substantial positive gains in value for nearly all segments this month as the spring selling season gets under way. In much the same way as the unusually mild winter decimated snowmobile sales in most areas of the country, the early arrival of spring in many areas has led to the strong rise in values we are currently seeing at the auctions.

 

The street, cruiser, scooter and ATV segments are up 2.5 to 3 percent. The off-road, on/off-road, jet boat and watercraft segments are up by 3 to 4 percent and snowmobiles, not surprisingly, are down another 4 percent from last month’s values.

 

For the first time in a few years, slightly older bikes, those three to seven years old, have outpaced gains in prices for the one to two year old models that have recently been in demand by value conscious customers looking for nearly new bikes at used prices.

 

The lowered production volumes over the past three years, coupled with an apparently recovering economy, appear to be driving prices up at fairly significant rates for wholesale auction units.

 

Another item to note is that we are still seeing quite a bit more variation in price from auction-to-auction, and region-to-region than has been normal in the past.

 

It is always important to remember that our values are national averages, and your individual market may vary somewhat from the book values. As the economy recovers, some areas of the country are clearly doing better than others, and adjusting for your local market conditions is more important than ever.  MPN