I know not all used cars or quads are junk, but not eveyone has the knowledge you need to spot the problems. When a dealer says that THEIR certified mechanics checked it out, it means squat. And I know you can take it to another mechanic to get it checked for $100, but you won't want to check many of them out for $100 a pop. If you're a non-mechanic like me, it's better to buy new with a 6-year warranty, even if you have to wait to save up the money.

 

I searched for several months before buying my new sportsman 500. There is a huge difference between buying a used car and a used atv, waverunner, or anything else that is bought to be abused. I have been burned on buying used before. Besided the price difference of one that is a couple years old isn't worth the risk.

Polaris is offering some sweet financing 3.9% for 72 months and a free winch. You don't have to put anything down but i put down $1900 and my payments will be $112 a month for 4 years. Can't beat it and don't have to worry about getting someone else's crap.

Good luck.

 

purchased a used 02 500 today. one owner...has 55 hours on it and seems to be pretty solid....paid 3800 for it. think i got a good deal and seems like the guy was trustworthy......time will tell

i now have two trailboss 325cc 2002's and the 2002 sportsman 500. next is to find a 50 for my daughter.

i looked at an arctic cat 50, but worried that speed will be too slow....is there anyway to increase the speed??

what is the down and dirty for maintenance. is there a place to check out when to change what??

thx for all the help

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: nmoore89

I searched for several months before buying my new sportsman 500. There is a huge difference between buying a used car and a used atv, waverunner, or anything else that is bought to be abused. I have been burned on buying used before. Besided the price difference of one that is a couple years old isn't worth the risk.



Polaris is offering some sweet financing 3.9% for 72 months and a free winch. You don't have to put anything down but i put down $1900 and my payments will be $112 a month for 4 years. Can't beat it and don't have to worry about getting someone else's crap.



Good luck.</end quote></div>

I don't know man. You will have paid 7276 dollars for that Sportsman 500 after you get it paid off. I've found a lot of 2007 sportsman 500's for around 5000 dollars used.

I've bought a ton of stuff used and haven't had any problems. Its easy to tell if something has been abused and if it hasn't. There are those times where you couldn't tell, but they are rare. I've had 5+ used cars in the last 4 years and haven't had problems with any of them. I usually buy low miles/low hours. I wouldn't buy a 4wheeler with over 1000 miles though.

Just look for on that has low miles that someone got but couldn't afford to keep. They probably only took it out a handful of times. You can really sale a ton of money. After paying retail price + all the add ons like registration, doc fees, destination, etc PLUS sales tax on top of that you are really looking at a huge price difference between used and new.

 

I would think that there must be some way to compare the miles to the hours that might give a person an idea if it was mostly trail riding. I know when I first got mine I put on a lot of hours but harly any miles because i spent the first 3 months plowing with it.

I figure if a bike is mostly trail ridin then the abuse is probably at a minimum.

 

The digital displays are nice because you can check and you just divide your miles by hours. If it says 1000 miles and 50 hours, 1000/50 = 20 mph average. Mine is only 10 mph, because it's mostly 15-20 on the trails and the rest of the time plowing or idling. I don't get to go WOT very often. If one was averaging 50 mph I wouldn't buy it because it was racing constantly. And if it was 5 mph you know it was probably working hard all the time which isn't much better.

 

Thats what I was thinking. Not sure I'd want a bike with lots of hours and little miles.

 

I purchased my 500 HO for under $5000.00 tax included w/Winch. I can't imagine bying a used machine when a new high quality proven quad can be purchased at this price point.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Mongrol

I agree with sheepdog; For the price a new one is, you can't go wrong. Read some of these posts and you'll bet an idea of how some guys treat their machines. Could be the one you're looking at.</end quote></div>

I bought all my sleds and ATVs used and never bought a bad one. Its easy to spot one in good condition with low miles and to tell if the owner abused it or not.

Everyone on this site who likes there machine has to remember they are all considered used and you think a person who buys it of you would not be happy with it also?

I can tell you if a person bought my ATV off me he would have a trouble free machine thats thousands $$ less than a new one.

A few thousands miles on a used ATV does not bother me because if I bough a new ATV it would have a thousand miles on it before I knew it anyways.

I just do not see the logic of paying a extra $3000 to but on the first 150 hrs on a new machine. Even if the ATV has some trouble I think I could do a lot of fixing with $3000.

 

yeah, some has to do about gamblin,i picked up a junker for $1000 put $800 in it(thanks to ebay).now i got a thou profit,40 hour of labor ....