When the temperatures start to warm, it’s not uncommon to see people break their motorcycles out of the garage.
Motorcycles may seem more dangerous to drive than a standard car.
However, if you’ve ever looked at the market, then you may face some surprise when you look at the price tag.
In most cases, a motorcycle is actually cheaper than a car.
It may make you wonder why more people aren’t driving motorcycles instead.
Aside from big-name brands like Harley-Davidson and custom-built bikes, motorcycles usually cost around $5,000 to $10,000.
For some car owners, that’s practically the down payment on a car.
Here are 10 reasons motorcycles are cheap.
Why Are Motorcycles So Cheap? (Top 10 Reasons)
1. Small Gas Tank
One of the reasons motorcycles are cheap is that the cost of owning them is cheaper.
Motorcycles have better gas mileage than standard cars.
The average gas mileage of a motorcycle is around 44 miles per gallon or MPG.
A standard car’s gas mileage averages around 24 MPG.
That’s almost half of the fuel efficiency of a motorcycle.
There may be a few reasons a motorcycle is more gas-efficient.
The first is that a motorcycle is smaller and lighter than a car.
As a result, it takes less gas to propel the vehicle forward.
There’s less resistance dragging it along the road.
Another reason may be engine technology.
Motorcycle engines may simply be more efficient than car engines.
They’re also built with travel in mind.
While cars are commuters, they tend to go only a few miles back and forth.
Most motorcycle owners ride their motorcycles over long distances.
They need a gas tank to match their nomadic proclivities.
This makes a motorcycle cheaper because you end up paying less gas, overall, by driving a motorcycle.
You spend less money every year on a motorcycle than you do on a car.
Thanks to their gas efficiency, motorcycles are cheap.
2. Small Size
Another reason motorcycles are cheap is their small, compact design.
Cars are large.
Even cars designed for two people are larger than a motorcycle.
That’s because cars are a modern-day version of a wagon.
They’re built with storage in mind.
Most people use their cars to make purchases somewhere, then haul them back to their homes.
They’re not made for simple excursions.
Since motorcycles are smaller, fewer materials are used in their production.
It takes fewer materials and less time to build a motorcycle compared to a car.
As a result, the cost to build one is lower.
Since the cost of production is low, the price is also low.
You may notice that bigger motorcycles tend to sell for higher prices.
That’s because, since it’s bigger, it costs more to make.
Most motorcycles are on the smaller side, however, and reflect a smaller price tag.
Motorcycles are cheap because they’re smaller than a car and take fewer resources to make.
3. Used Prices
If you’re looking for a deal on a vehicle, then you likely take a look at the selection of used vehicles available.
Whether you’re looking for a car or a motorcycle, used vehicles always sell for a lower price than their original retail price.
The only exception is if the vehicle in question is a collector’s item.
However, used motorcycles are considerably cheaper than used cars.
Used cars can even sell for around $20,000 if they’re in decent condition.
Used motorcycles, on the other hand, tend to go for a few thousand dollars.
If they’re in poor condition, then you can even find some selling for a few hundred dollars.
There are a few reasons used motorcycles are so much cheaper than used cars.
The primary reason is the original retail price.
Motorcycles usually only sell for a few thousand dollars when they’re brand new.
When someone drives them around, their value starts to decrease.
As a result, if something originally cost $10,000, then you can usually expect it to sell for around $5,000 depending on how much use it saw.
Used motorcycles are cheap because their original retail price tends to be on the cheaper side already.
4. Maintenance Costs
Another reason motorcycles are cheap is that their maintenance costs are significantly lower than car maintenance costs.
Motorcycles don’t use as many fluids as cars do.
Since they’re smaller, they need a lot less.
This also means they have smaller and fewer components.
One can almost think of a motorcycle as a streamlined car.
It has the important bits without too much of the extra stuff.
As a result, there’s less to replace and repair over time.
The biggest cost associated with maintenance for a motorcycle is the tires.
If you use your motorcycle a lot, then you can expect to replace your tires more frequently than you would a car.
If you live in an area that sees harsh winters, then you might not end up replacing your tires as frequently since your motorcycle sits in the garage for a portion of the year.
Even if you are replacing your tires more frequently, it’s still going to cost less than a car.
That’s because motorcycles only have two wheels to replace while cars have four.
Comparatively, motorcycles are a lot cheaper because they take on fewer maintenance costs.
5. Insurance Costs
The cost of insuring your motorcycle is also a lot cheaper than a car.
This makes owning a motorcycle even cheaper.
Like any other vehicle that you drive on the road, you need insurance.
The insurance policy helps cover any medical or automotive expenses as a result of an accident.
The good news is that motorcycle insurance tends to be cheaper than car insurance.
The average cost of motorcycle insurance is $721 a year.
That breaks down to about $60 a month.
Car insurance tends to cost around $100 a month for the cheapest rates.
If you want full coverage for a car, then you can expect to pay a lot more.
Sixty dollars a month for a motorcycle, on the other hand, gives you complete coverage.
There are a few reasons motorcycle insurance is cheaper.
The first is the size of the vehicle.
Motorcycles are a lot smaller than cars, so there’s simply less to cover.
Insurance bases its rates on a few parameters.
One of them includes the cost of coverage for the size of the item.
It’s also why, if you build an addition on your home, for example, you can expect your insurance payments to increase.
There’s simply more to cover.
Another reason motorcycle insurance costs less is that there are usually fewer people involved in an accident.
In most cases, the maximum number of people allowed on a motorcycle is two people.
Since insurance only has to cover two people, it doesn’t need to charge a motorcycle driver more money.
A car, on the other hand, can have several people in it.
The insurance company has to base its rate on the average number of people who might be in the car during an accident.
Owning a motorcycle is a lot cheaper because its monthly insurance costs are less expensive than other vehicles.
6. Parking Costs
Another aspect that makes motorcycles cheap is parking.
Motorcycles are slim and compact.
This means several of them can occupy a parking space where only a car or two could instead.
Because more motorcycles can fit in an area, it means more people can use the parking spot.
As a result, the price for parking a motorcycle tends to be cheaper than parking a car.
If you live in a city, then you know how much parking costs can eat up your budget.
A motorcycle can alleviate some of that cost by taking a reduced rate.
Parking lots charge by size.
Since cars are larger, it means they’re unable to make as much money because their parking lot fills up faster.
As a result, they charge higher rates for drivers with large vehicles.
Motorcyclists, on the other hand, don’t take as much space.
This means that the parking facility can bring in more drivers and earn more money.
They offer a reduced rate to encourage motorcyclists to park in their facilities.
If you want to save money living in the city, then a motorcycle can help when it comes to parking prices.
Motorcycles are cheap because you get a discount on parking rates.
7. Fewer Bells And Whistles
When you buy a car, you’ll find that it usually comes with a bunch of different features.
It might have tinted windows, a smart interface, or a rear-view camera.
It may even have essentials like air conditioning and heating.
Perhaps even the seats can heat up if needed.
All these additional features cost money.
A motorcycle often lacks these luxurious features.
You can pay more money for a decent seat, but it’s highly unlikely you’re going to find a motorcycle with heated seats.
Motorcycles focus on the essentials.
You get a radio, sometimes, and all the necessary equipment to operate the vehicle.
That’s it.
Some motorcycles come with a type of air conditioning unit, but many of them rely on the circulation of air you receive while driving to cool you down.
Others give you the chance to use portable air conditioners to make driving in the summer or through a desert a lot more comfortable.
Since motorcycles have fewer features, it takes a lot less to make them.
Motorcycles have simplistic designs, which means they’re a lot cheaper to make and buy.
8. Few Safety Systems
Another reason motorcycles are cheap is because they have fewer safety systems than a car.
One of the leading selling points of a car is its safety.
You often see car manufacturers discuss the new safety features that the car provides.
They often appeal to customers about how safe the car is for families.
That’s because they know that families are more likely to spend more on a car that’s advertised to be safer than one that isn’t.
Those safety features cost a decent amount of money to implement and install, too.
The company usually needs to invest in better and more expensive materials to make the car safer.
The car then has to go through several stages of safety testing.
If they’re not seeing the results that they want to see, then the car goes back to the drawing board.
A motorcycle doesn’t go through this process.
Manufacturers will implement basic safety features in a motorcycle, but because they leave the driver exposed, there really isn’t much that they can do.
Most of the time, a rider’s safety depends on their own skills as a driver and the equipment they use.
A helmet, gloves, riding pants, and riding jackets are all essentials to the safe operation of a motorcycle.
Since the manufacturers don’t have to spend a lot of money on safety equipment or testing, that’s a large cost that they can completely cut out of their production process.
This means that motorcycles are cheaper to produce.
Because motorcycles don’t have a lot of the safety features that cars do, they’re a lot cheaper to buy.
9. Transmission Costs
One of the pricier points of vehicles is the transmission.
The transmission is a vital part of any vehicle.
It helps bring the required amount of power to the wheels when you’re speeding up or slowing down.
It’s similar to shifting gears when you’re riding a bicycle.
When you need to scale a hill, you increase the gear.
When you’re riding down a hill, you decrease the gears.
Transmission systems for cars are large and expensive because the car is large.
It has to give enough power to push the entire vehicle forward.
Because of this, transmission costs for a car tend to be very high.
That includes transmission fluid.
Since the transmission is larger, it needs more transmission fluid.
This is the opposite of a motorcycle.
Since motorcycles are smaller and lighter, they use smaller transmission systems.
It usually takes less power to shift between gears since there isn’t much weight making it difficult to get power.
Since the transmission system is smaller, it also means that it needs less fluid.
The smaller size means it’s cheaper to make and install the transmission on the motorcycle.
This leads to a reduced price tag.
Motorcycles are cheaper because their transmissions are smaller and require less transmission fluid.
10. Seats
A final reason that motorcycles are cheap comes down to the price of seats.
Car seats can become extremely expensive, especially when the manufacturers use high-quality leather.
Cars tend to use more fabric since they have at least two seats in them.
That isn’t the case with motorcycles.
A motorcycle has a single, extended seat.
It’s kept long so that the passenger in the back can sit comfortably, too.
In some cases, motorcycle manufacturers will include a small second seat which is significantly smaller than the driver’s seat.
Although it varies, in most cases, a motorcycle’s seat also doesn’t include a back.
You only get the bottom portion of the seat.
Even if the motorcycle manufacturer used high-quality leather, they’re using a smaller amount of it than they would in a car.
As a result, the seats on a motorcycle cost a lot less than on a car.
Since it costs less, the price of the motorcycle is also less.
Motorcycles are cheaper because they use less material to make their seats.
Conclusion
Motorcycles are cheap because of their small and lightweight design.
They need fewer parts compared to cars, which means the production costs are significantly lower.
The biggest expense you’ll face with a motorcycle is its tires since they need replacing often.
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