Battery died a week after you buy a bike... what now?

drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
I'm posting this strictly out of curiousity. As some people know, I sold my SV to someone on craigslist last week. The bike was advertised with a dead battery, but I gave the battery a charge the day before the bike was sold, hooked it up, and the bike ran great.

The buyer had come to see the bike when it had a dead battery and (again) it was advertised as such.

Now, about a week later and after a handful of rides, the battery just died on this guy. Sucks. But as dissapointed as I am that the battery didn't survive, I'm not going to drop the $100 to buy him a new one. Just like I wouldn't expect the previous owner of my bike to buy me a new battery if the bike that I bought yesterday died.

Curious on your take: how would you feel as a buyer or as a seller?

Disclaimer: I'm never going to buy a new battery for this guy. I'm just curious, as I mentioned.
 
Aluisious

Aluisious

Well-known member
Uh...if you said it had a dead battery, and he charged it and it died...well...yeah. That's what dead batteries do.

Of course you wouldn't buy him a new battery...?
 
Duffil

Duffil

Hack
^^ troof. You are free and clear. Ask him if he has any preference as to which orifice you insert his battery in.
 
Flying Pig

Flying Pig

Still learning to ride
They might want to test it electrically to make sure that its not just the battery.
I know that often times induced by crashes, stators tend to become faulty. And if that's the case causing the battery to not charge through normal riding, that will be a more expensive fix.
(Tossing in a new battery and having it die because of a broken electrical component won't do anything.)

If it really is just a crapped out battery, have the guy invest in a trickle charger, or just shell out the $$ for a new battery. Either way, you advertised it with a dead battery.
 
Mechanikrazy

Mechanikrazy

The Newb of Newbs
You were upfront and he bought it. He bought it as-is. Caveat emptor even if the battery worked that day. No reasonable person would demand a new battery
 
Aluisious

Aluisious

Well-known member
If it's even a faulty stator or any other component that you didn't know about at the time, it's still TS for the buyer. Common sense should tell him to check for the cause of the dead battery BEFORE he buys it.
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Yeah, I haven't even approached the alternatives as I'm confident that it's the battery. It sat for a month and died. Prior to that, it never ever had a problem. And the bike's never been crashed, so I don't have to trip on that stuff.

In the end, I was hoping after the initial charge and him riding the bike that it wouldn't be an issue. It didn't work out that way, which I agree sucks. But these things happen.

Thanks for the feedback so far. Appreciate it :thumbup
 
Kestrel

Kestrel

Well-known member
In that case, if it was just the battery dead from sitting... You disclosed it prior to the sale, and because of that it is no longer your problem.
 
Burning1

Burning1

I'm scareoused!
I've driven some cars with old batteries. Although you're generally supposed to replace the battery every 4 years, I usually only had to replace it when something else went out on the vehicle, or I killed the battery through abuse (E.g. left the lights on for 3 days.)

If there's a dead battery, my first assumption is that the charging system has a problem.
 
drizz

drizz

it's monkey madness!
Kestrel said:
You sure the rectifier isn't toast?
Click to expand...

Unless something changed in the last week, yes. It ran and held a charge for the last 5 years minus the time where it sat, unstarted for a month. then it sat for an additional few weeks before I charged the battery and sold the bike.
 
budbandit

budbandit

Well-known member
Seller - well, that sucks

Buyer - well, that sucks and either fix or pay someone to fix bike

drizz said:
I'm posting this strictly out of curiousity. As some people know, I sold my SV to someone on craigslist last week. The bike was advertised with a dead battery, but I gave the battery a charge the day before the bike was sold, hooked it up, and the bike ran great.

The buyer had come to see the bike when it had a dead battery and (again) it was advertised as such.

Now, about a week later and after a handful of rides, the battery just died on this guy. Sucks. But as dissapointed as I am that the battery didn't survive, I'm not going to drop the $100 to buy him a new one. Just like I wouldn't expect the previous owner of my bike to buy me a new battery if the bike that I bought yesterday died.

Curious on your take: how would you feel as a buyer or as a seller?

Disclaimer: I'm never going to buy a new battery for this guy. I'm just curious, as I mentioned.
Click to expand...
 
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