Title loans, for a long time, were limited to just cars and trucks. The standard vehicles were easy for most lenders to assess, and therefore easy to provide a loan amount offer to the owners. Now, you can put up just about any vehicle for which you have a title, including motorcycles.

The process is a little different for motorcycle title loan services versus car/truck title loans. That affects your loan offer, too. Here is what you can expect to get in terms of a title loan on your motorcycle based on how the title loan people assess your bike.

Brand of Motorcycle

Motorcycles are not cheap vehicles by any means, but owning a luxury bike like a Harley Davidson means a lot more money. It is a lot more money to buy it, and you get a much larger loan offer when you need a title loan. If you fail to pay your loan, the title loan company can repossess your bike and make quite the hefty profit on it. However, if you just need a short-term way to pay for something, and you know that you will have the money to repay the loan, having a higher-caliber bike will definitely get you what you need.

Vintage, Current, or Right off the Manufacturing Line

Vintage motorcycles that are in excellent shape will give you a bigger loan, too. Bikes that are current, give or take five years only yield small to moderate loan offers because they are commonplace (unless they are luxury bikes). Makes and models that are hot and fresh off the assembly line, particularly if the public cannot get their hands on one, are worth larger loan amounts as well. 

Clean, Shiny, and Extras

Just as you would with a car or truck loan, your motorcycle should be its cleanest and shiniest when you drive into the title loan lot. Put some extra polish on everything chrome to make it look its best if you want to get a decent offer. Also, if your bike came with tons of factory extras, make sure the extras are in good condition too. The factory extras actually bump up the value of the motorcycle and can make the difference between a title loan for $1500 and $2000 or more.

One Third to One Half of the Bike's Assessed Value

In general, you should expect between a third and a half of the assessed value of your bike when presented with a loan offer. A title loan company never offers the full purchase value in terms of a loan. If you were expecting to get a loan for what you would sell the bike for, that is not going to happen. However, you may be able to negotiate for slightly more than what the lender offered, if you are a good credit risk.