Used motorcycles have shifted from a “nice to have” to a true backbone of profitability for the best-run dealerships in the country.
While new unit sales are still a big piece of the puzzle, smart operators know that the flexibility, margin, and buying control of used inventory makes it one of the most powerful levers in their business.
In this article, I’m breaking down the used inventory strategy I shared during the Motorcycle & Powersports News Power Player Spotlight. Including where to source bikes, how to organize your acquisition efforts, how to price properly, and how to convert website visitors into real, trackable leads.
Margins on new units continue to get tighter. The supply chain has improved, but pricing control has not. Used units, however, give you the ability to make decisions based on local demand, market velocity, and your reconditioning capabilities.
The key to used inventory success in 2025? Buy right. Price right. Move fast. And track everything.
In the MotoHunt Ultimate Used Inventory Playbook, we lay out five proven channels for acquiring quality used motorcycles. Here they are, explained:
1. Wholesale Deals With Other Dealers Plenty of dealers are sitting on trades they don’t want. Whether it’s a Harley store with a metric bike or an automotive dealership with a side-by-side, building wholesale relationships with other dealers is fast and effective. But it’s competitive, you have to answer them quickly and be organized.
2. Auction Buys Auctions like NPA offer bulk access, but they also come with buyer fees & shipping costs. It’s a great strategy for bulk buying or filling gaps in inventory, but you still need to appraise correctly to avoid overpaying in the moment.
3. Service Department Opportunities This one is overlooked and underused. Every day, customers are dropping off their machines for repairs they might not want to pay for. Many of those customers would be open to a conversation about selling or trading up to a new one. Train your service team to flag these opportunities, and create a process to follow up.
4. Private Sellers Garage-kept, one-owner bikes from local riders are some of the best inventory you can get. But Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are noisy and crowded. Use tools that streamline the outreach and help your team filter the best opportunities.
5. Website Trade Leads Your website is your biggest digital asset. And most dealers don’t realize how many potential sellers are visiting it. With tools like TradeCycle, you can turn that passive traffic into potential trade appraisals, and conversations, all tracked and integrated into your CRM or Motohunt buy center.
A dealership can’t win at used inventory unless they treat it like its own department.
This means having a dedicated person (or team) responsible for sourcing, appraising, and following up on used bike opportunities across all five of the channels above. That person needs systems.
That’s why we built the MotoHunt Buy Center. It pulls in auction targets, private party leads, website trade-ins, and even service repair orders, giving your team one place to manage everything.
Think of it as your used sales desk in reverse.
You don’t make money when you sell the bike. You make it when you buy it right. That starts with great data.
We created a pricing tool we call the "war chest", a one-page view for any used vehicle that combines:
Local comps, JD Power book & NPA wholesale
Average days to sale
Market saturation
Pricing trends
National visibility
It doesn’t tell you what to do. It gives your buyer the confidence to make an informed decision and move fast. It’s the difference between guessing and knowing.
Dealers that succeed next year will:
Treat used inventory as a profit strategy
Use data to drive pricing decisions
Build a real follow-up process
Track leads from every source
Download the Ultimate Used Inventory Playbook and learn how the best dealers source, price, and sell smarter: https://dealers.motohunt.com/ultimate-used-inventory-playbook