We have an ATV business in East Africa (10 vehicles now-need to add another 4). The tax authorities here repossessed 3 vehicles from the dealership for non-payment of the import duties and sales tax (more than 50-55% of the invoice price once you get the vehicle here). The vehicles have not ever been driven and have been sitting near the Indian Ocean for 7 years. They are

2011 Sportsman XP 850
2011 Touring 850 EFI
and 2012 RZR 800.
We have a chance to buy them at auction for a fraction of the cost of importing new ones over. Should we do it or are we asking for constant repair headaches with too many spare parts to replace?
Thanks in advance!

 

Sitting 7 years. This plays the devil on engine,diff and gear case seals among other things.Plus at auctions they're yours,no warranty.May end up costing you more in money getting them up to shape and the headaches involved rather than buying new.

 

Thanks for confirming my "gut feeling". It's sometimes tough to pass on what appears to be a real "bargain".

Unfortunately, we are 16+ hard hours from a crappy dealer, so the 6 month warranty on new vehicles essentially means nothing.

 

I would much rather own one that had been driven normally.

 

Thanks for the input hydrex. We'll find out tomorrow what the minimum bids will be. If the minimums are really low, what do you think about picking up the vehicles even just for spares? I guess even the tires are degraded by UV rays by now to be useful as a spare?

 

If you can get them for a ridiculously low price,then may be worth it if you already have the same machines and can make use of the parts. If any of the 3 turn out to be a parts machine only,this can save you time and money down the road on mechanical and electrical parts. Tires are probably dry rotted,but calipers,rims,electrical parts,etc aren't cheap if you have to order them.