Brokers have come for the Honda Motocompacto

Classic Honda Motokombo Loved by automotive journalists, JDM enthusiasts, and anyone else with a penchant for exotic transportation. When its successor, the Motocompacto, was launched, we all rejoiced – finally, a compact folding scooter for the modern age. Many of us at Gallups have thought about getting one for ourselves.

But then, the market hit. Like the PlayStation 5 and Nvidia 3090 before it, the Motocompacto has been besieged by scalpers — sellers listing scooters on Facebook Marketplace for hundreds more than their Honda's MSRP. Every week, while I search the web Dobst carsI see post after post for Motocompactos, all at a good profit margin for the seller.

What's strange about this is that Motocompactos don't seem to be in short supply. I can head to a Honda store now and add one to my cart, without any warnings about inventory issues or lead times. I've reached out to Honda to see if there are any restrictions on supply behind the scenes, but have yet to hear back.

However, Honda dealers seem to have easy access to new scooters. I called three nearby dealers and while two of them didn't seem to know what a Motocompacto was He wasThe third had a demo unit ready to try and said they would have more scooters by the end of February. I know I'd rather wait a couple of months than pay 1.5 times the MSRP, but maybe some people are impatient.

Scalpers usually appear when there is a shortage of an item, artificially restricting that supply to make some profit, but that does not appear to be the case here. Are they just hoping people don't know how to get their hands on a Motocompacto for MSRP, and that the process of buying online and picking up at a dealer is too complicated? Are they relying on those early reports of canceled orders and reduced production, hoping people aren't privy to the more stable supply chain we have today? One thing seems certain: I want one badly and Rory won't let me afford it.