Cheapest way to motorbike?

[castletone]

I've been renting motorbikes for the past year living in PH mainly because I've been hopping around so much.   It's usually between 8k - 15k a month, depending on location.  Everyone here tells me that I'm crazy for renting and "You can just pay 3k per month for a new motor sir and just return it when you're done".

That sounds ideal but the research I've done into this is revealing it's not really that simple, but I keep hearing different things so I'm confused at this point.    I don't really want to shell out full cost in cash for a bike and be stuck trying to get my money back on facebook marketplace when I move.

I am staying in my current area for awhile now, and I want to get rid of the 300P/day rental asap. 

Some have suggested that my girlfriend can help me complete this transaction for a new bike.

Me:  1. Yes, PH license  2. No PH Bank account

My filipina gf : 1. No PH license  2. Yes PH Bank account

Does anyone have any advice for this situation?

 

 

[hk blues]

24 minutes ago, castletone said:

I've been renting motorbikes for the past year living in PH mainly because I've been hopping around so much.   It's usually between 8k - 15k a month, depending on location.  Everyone here tells me that I'm crazy for renting and "You can just pay 3k per month for a new motor sir and just return it when you're done".

That sounds ideal but the research I've done into this is revealing it's not really that simple, but I keep hearing different things so I'm confused at this point.    I don't really want to shell out full cost in cash for a bike and be stuck trying to get my money back on facebook marketplace when I move.

I am staying in my current area for awhile now, and I want to get rid of the 300P/day rental asap. 

Some have suggested that my girlfriend can help me complete this transaction for a new bike.

Me:  1. Yes, PH license  2. No PH Bank account

My filipina gf : 1. No PH license  2. Yes PH Bank account

Does anyone have any advice for this situation?

 

 

A new GF?

[Mike J]

I would not be surprised if you can buy a motorcycle without a license.  The dealer would not care, but I suppose the bank might?  Maybe have your girlfriend give the bank a call.   This assumes your girlfriend is employed and her salary is sufficient to make payments even though you would really be paying.  A potential problem is that the bike would be in her name only.  Lose the girl and you lose the bike also. 

[Gator]

47 minutes ago, castletone said:

I've been renting motorbikes for the past year living in PH mainly because I've been hopping around so much.   It's usually between 8k - 15k a month

Moving around within the Philippines? If yes, then I fail to understand why you didn’t just buy one and take it with you. You would have saved a substantial amount of pesos already. It’s easy enough to take your bike on ferries between islands or have it shipped. 

If you do buy a bike, I strongly advise staying away from the Chinese brands as they don’t tend to be as reliable or hold their value as well as the Japanese brands.  If you don’t want to buy new, you could look into buying a repo from a dealer or a used one with low km’s on it. 

[BrettGC]

So I'm guessing that you want to finance a loan for the the bike?  This very strongly depends on the visa you're on.  

Just over two years ago my wife and I financed a loan for a car.  We both have our licences, wife has a bank accounts, I didn't at the time.  I was on a tourist visa and only recently arrived in the country.  I could prove income, my wife couldn't as she hadn't worked since the beginning of 2020 for obvious reasons that loomed large in our recent past.  They did a credit check on her and it was impeccable - as to how deep they dig, no idea, but they did come and check that our house actually existed and in my wife's name. 

My credit rating from Australia meant nothing, just as any credit rating outside of its country of origin means nothing, so no surprise there.  The only way they'd approve the loan was with wife as the main signatory and myself as secondary.  Joint names on all the car registration/ownership and insurance documents. They stated I couldn't be main signatory on the loan as I was on a tourist visa with no local credit history.  It all adds up to a great big ball of contradiction but hey, I took it as my name was where it counts.  It's a secured loan with the car itself as the collateral. 

I suspect this may not work for you if you're on a tourist visa as you're not married but it may work if your GF has steady income.  Unlike many of our countries of origin, despite what the law says, many Filipino institutions don't see common law relationships in the same light as having a piece of paper to say you're married.  The thing that may be in your favour is the amounts involved for a bike are far less than for a car.  

Short answer:  Give it a shot and see what happens or pay the full amount.  Bikes are far easier to sell second hand here than cars. 

Edited March 28 by BrettGC

[Mike J]

14 hours ago, BrettGC said:

Joint names on all the car registration/ownership and insurance documents.

We bought a new car about two weeks ago.  Apparently the rules have changed and only a single owner/buyer can be listed on the paperwork.  Wife wanted my name, but I convinced here that in the event of an accident, regardless of who was driving, it would be better to have the car registered to a Philippine citizen as opposed to a kano.  Wife is actually a dual citizen.

[BrettGC]

31 minutes ago, Mike J said:

it would be better to have the car registered to a Philippine citizen as opposed to a kano. 

I hadn't thought of this, but it's a great point. 

[Gutenberg]

What kind of motorbikes were you renting for 8-15k? If its like a Honda Click 125cc that's definitely ridicolous as they are available 2nd hand for 40-60k.

Edited March 28 by Gutenberg

[Sailor Jerry]

21 hours ago, castletone said:

I've been renting motorbikes for the past year living in PH mainly because I've been hopping around so much.   It's usually between 8k - 15k a month, depending on location.  Everyone here tells me that I'm crazy for renting and "You can just pay 3k per month for a new motor sir and just return it when you're done".

That sounds ideal but the research I've done into this is revealing it's not really that simple, but I keep hearing different things so I'm confused at this point.    I don't really want to shell out full cost in cash for a bike and be stuck trying to get my money back on facebook marketplace when I move.

I am staying in my current area for awhile now, and I want to get rid of the 300P/day rental asap. 

Some have suggested that my girlfriend can help me complete this transaction for a new bike.

Me:  1. Yes, PH license  2. No PH Bank account

My filipina gf : 1. No PH license  2. Yes PH Bank account

Does anyone have any advice for this situation?

 

 

Firstly @castletone Welcome to the forum. There is a few experienced heads of long time Filipino residents on here that can help so good move to ask. I hope you sort out your issue.

For me, five years ago I travelled from recently arrived Angeles to see a friend living in Puerto Galera on Mindoro & while there his American friend who owned a bike rental co rented me a newish PCX Honda (155). After a week I loved to ride it and as I'm a bigger fella as it suited me well. One day my buddy mentioned that the guy wanted to get rid of it as many tourists didn't want to rent it, they said it was a little bigger & he was charging more than the others (because it cost more than his others he said) & he was also concerned it would cost more if any damages occurred. He had a lot of bikes. Long story short, I checked the new price which I would never have considered back then & ended up getting this near new pristine looking machine with less than 2k on the clock for 60k less.  I put it on the RORO ferry & (with no Google maps:) rode it back to Angeles via an overnight stop in Makati. After that I took it away on ferries many times for trips & it never let me down. whenever I went overseas, I'd leave it with a friend.

Although now I'm settled here & have a home & car, I still have my scooter & use it daily. It's still in great condition & a pleasure to ride. My suggestion is you look around and buy a scooter that suits you, with a decent used one probably only costing 60k. A lady here in Angeles has a good business buying & selling scooters to foreigners from foreigners and I've seen some good ones.

The only piece of advice I can give you is to make sure you buy it somewhere you also are living at the time as waiting for different LTO registration offices to do their part of the paperwork then go to the next office is frustrating & can take months. If you get it where you live it's pretty straight forward. Good luck.