Good time to sell a vectrix, or wait.....

So if say, due to change of circumstances I needed to sell my Vectrix, what is the consensus on - is it a good idea to wait a while to see what happens, or sell now for a reasonable price to an enthuiast, or someone who wanted to have a spare for parts useage / sales?

The question is: Are you prepared to return to internal combustion engines? If so, maybe then.
I still have the hope of doing at least 80000km with her... Difficult I know, but I will try... I become addicted to EV's, no way I'm gonna do a step back...

To me is more than just fun but I do not have problems with recharging. I also appreciate the green feature and the (theoretical) lack of maintenance and no gas expenses.

Until it becomes a highly sought after collector's item from way back in the 2010 era, I don't think "reasonable price" is going to be part of the equasion unless an SUV runs over it while talking on the cell phone! (preferably in a parking lot while you're inside shopping)! ;-)

You could probably find a buyer, the real question is how much do you expect to get for it?

Now that dealers are offering at closeout prices, around $5000US

From my Insurance payout, they estimated a 1 year old Vectrix to be worth $6500US

You would have to beat these prices less the amount of any additional depreciation.

Plus I don't think prices are going to get any higher for original Vectrixs. Even if someone bought the company and continues to market under the Vectrix name, even if they still supported the original bikes with repair parts and other upgrades, I think the current models of Vectrix can be safely assumed to be discontinued, and therefore will continue to depreciate.

One could argue that there would be a little bump in the value if a company stepped up to support the bike, but how long do you have to wait for that bump? I fear the depreciated value of the bike would overwhelm any continued support spike.

So, in conclusion, in my opinion, if you have to get rid of the bike, you should try to sell it sooner rather than later.

I say: Once we know for sure that Vectrix Co will not be bought out of it's misery by another brand, and you would want to get rid of it: dismantle it!

Over some amount of time, you will find no problem selling most of the parts of it, and you will have more money than you started with too, I'll bet!

I guess if one of the following parts would fail on my bike, I'd be glad to get them for 1000€ (or more):
-Motor
-main board
-charger
-battery pack

and most of the individual body parts must be worth up to several hundreds of €..

throttle mechanism, head/taillight, seat, mirrors, wheels/tires/brakes/gears/axes... the list goes on and on..

we'll all end up needing these parts sometime in the future, and there are 3000 of us!

Does anyone have an overview of the actual prices of such parts? That might help us all at making such a decision.

D

oh no no no man .
these machine are the beez neez
and they will be collectors soon .
ance mikky mik does his stuff
and i do my thing you will regret selling cos the mantance issues is gonna get easy.
and the range is soon to be blown out of the sky just watch this space
mine is soon to be a low rider yehh man .
check out low rider scooters on youtube ..
come on we need to stick together what ya sa.kev

Here's my take on this issue. My guess is that the price is artificially depressed right now because you have a bunch of dealers unloading their remaining stock and are now willing to take losses. However, it seems that this is the best available bike of this type on the market. Current Motors is coming out with a model that looks similar but based on a video I saw of their shop, my guess is they are an under-capitalized operation that even with better funding will take a few years to get where Vectrix was.

So until a better bike comes out I think there will be strong demand for the Vectrix, and I expect the price to actually rise as the closeouts get around and people see them and their friends want one. Therefore, I could see the price going up 50% from where it is now. I really don't see many used ones on eBay and this gives me a guess that owners are hanging onto them, and once the new ones run out, there will be demand requiring a price increase to meet it. But, I really don't envision a collectible thing too much because eventually better bikes will appear and who will want the old technology.

However, this is all based on the condition that we can keep the bikes working. My guess is the technology is good enough that there will be a buyer who eventually steps in and buy the rights. Whether Vectrix bikes will be supported, probably not, but I would guess there will be users (like us) that will figure out how to do it using some help from ex employees. However, if these bikes turn out to be unusable after a few years, they will be worthless. I heard from a dealer that they uncrated one, and it was dead and not sure how hard they have tried, but so far they haven't been able to resolve the issue. I'm guess even charging requires microprocessor control which is tough to do with a dead battery. So a word to the wise, don't let your batteries drain completely dead. So if we can't keep them working then I think even the spare parts will be worth little, and my above comments shouldn't apply.

So in answer to your original question, wait till you stop seeing new old stock for sale by dealers and wait three to six months after that. I think that time frame would give you the best return provided you don't mind risking having your bike have a major failure in the meantime. Because if it does, you may lose significantly trying to hunt down spare parts. So if you can wait, probably next Spring would be best.

People
Last year when I was dithering about buying one or not, when I was saying that money was tight and it was going to be my only means of transportation I was getting the " oh just get one for god sake it's going to save you money and all that Green jazz". Now I'm hearing all this garbage about getting rid of it while you can.
I could puke just by reading some of these messages.

if any body got a vectrix for sale al make you an offer if ya in england ..
av got some ideas up my sleve ..chears kev.
ps carn.t get enough of em.

See a brand new one on ebay right now (01 AUG 09) with 26 bids on it. Shows interest mentioned throughout above thread; but current bid is $4100 US; and "reserve not met." Looks like a new one from that dealer who had all the hassles with State of Maryland (near Washington DC) here in the States. Still has 8 days running on ebay, see if reserve gets met and sells; will have a sort of current value in the US.

BTW, I was mulling over many of the same thoughts above, when I first heard the news. No matter how it unfolds with potential 'buyer' or other such angel, or the 'trust' that Mik brilliantly suggested; any of us 3000 right now would either need to sell immediately, or really think in the long term.

After my own mulling this over the past several weeks, decided to go for the long term thinking. I'm still getting back and forth to work, and errands around town, exactly as I was before Vectrix went under. Think about what having the very first street legal, fun, and fast all electric 2-wheeled vehicle will mean in 10, 15, 20 years. Look at the Company in Texas who bought up the remaining inventory from Delorean. They'll still build you a new "Delorean" from their stock; have access to all parts; and all those owners with one that works and is in good shape can get about 4-5 times what they paid when new & available.

Just for the record, if I hadn't crashed mine, I would have kept it. By the time something fails there would probably have been a solution and if not, part it out.