DOES I T ADD UP?

Up to around 2005 it was possible to buy a presentable scooter from Vietnam, ship it back to the UK and clear customs with change from £1000. For many it was a gamble worth taking, even if broken for parts something was always salvageable.

Unfortunately times have changed. In Saigon the typical price for a rough Sprint is around £700, shipping to the UK adds another £550 and it’ll cost £300 to clear customs. If a courier’s needed to collect the machine another £150 needs to be factored into the cost. At this point your ‘bargain’ Vespa stands you at around £1700 but only when unpacked does its condition become apparent. If things aren’t as expected the chances of a refund are slightly less than zero. Compared to buying a Spanish import from a UK-based dealer, importing a project scooter from Vietnam just doesn’t make sense.

The same principles apply to restored scooters. Paint hides many sins and locals will never buy a restored scooter unless the dealer, or the scooter’s provenance, is well known. There’s a strong local market for classic scooters and good machines are quickly snapped up. A good SX200 sells locally for around £7000, an LI3 for around £4000 and a tidy VBB for £3000 but advertising one for sale is tantamount to an admission that something’s not right.

Ironically the majority of ‘Nammers’ now hail from countries where there’s still a rich vein of raw material such as Indonesia and India. Unfortunately Vietnamese crooks have found another way to part the unwary from their cash. In the past few years several web sites have sprung up offering fully restored scooters at bargain prices. The main offender is a Westerner who claims to have large stocks of restored scooters ready to ship.

Because he’s an English speaker the websites are well constructed and appear to be legitimate, unfortunately the scooters don’t exist. Because living costs are low in Vietnam, the fraudster only has to trick two or three people a year to make a very comfortable living.

Nobody, particularly the staff at Scootering, is going to defend dangerous restorations and outright deceptions. However in this era of instant information it’s hard to feel sympathy for anyone who doesn’t conduct basic research before parting with their hard-earned cash. As the saying goes, ‘a fool and his money are easily parted’.