| Author | Message | ||
     Johnglover |
I know everyone here has had to transfer a title at least once before. I'm in that situation where I bought my bike from a guy who bought the bike from a guy who bought the bike from another guy. I got it for a steal and the I fell in live with my Blast and couldn't say no. Well, through countless attempts I can't get ahold of the original owner. But I have the clean title and his signature on it. I've finally got all my sh*t together to get it registered to me, I plan on signing for the fellow and all that. .but on the transfer document it asks for the sellers drivers license # (which I have no way of getting) So long story not so short, has anyone ever run into this problem and how can I get this done finally? Thanks | ||
| Skntpig |
Before you sign for the fellow look up the definition of forgery. Maybe you have power of attorney. If not you probably need him to sign. I think the fact that the second guy in the chain did not pay the fees for the transfer is another hold up, unless he has a dealer license. He probably only had 30 days. I could be wrong, just guessing. I'm certainly not an attorney or expert. Call your DMV office. They should have your answers. They may have a lost or incorrect title process if you don't have the correct docs but I hope you have both bills of sale from 1-2 and then 2-you. You may have purchased a good parts bike. | ||
| Skntpig |
Edit....all the bills of sales 1-2, 2-3, 3-you. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out and what you did to get a clear title. | ||
| Pikeben08 |
I ran into this with my sailboat. Although that was a little different since it doesn't have a title (it's only 14 feet) but you still need a bill of sale in order to register it. I applied for a claim to the vehicle at the secretary of state (what we call the DMV in MI) and they ran a stolen vehicle report on it. Took a day or two but ended up being ok. Don't just let them turn you away though. The lady I talked with at first poopooed by request at first but I didn't give up and she finally caved and did her job. | ||
| Crackhead |
Depending on the state, you might have just bought a parts bike. | ||
| Teeps |
Take a trip to the state DMV office. Tell them what you want. Show them what you have. Let them tell you what you need. I'm guessing if the bike has not been registered for a few years. DMV will only require a bill of sale with the vin & engine numbers included. I have found that soft spoken humility serves me best when dealing with DMV. | ||
| Swampy |
"Title Jumpers! All of you Title Jumpers!" Had a Secretary of State employee say that one time, then said "I'm doing you a favor" The licensing agency usually gets a transferr fee and sometimes use or sales taxes each time the title is transferred. Usually there is a way, do what Teeps says... | ||
| Johnglover |
I appreciate the answers. I'm more along the lines of, how do they know the original owner didn't sell me the bike? There is no harm being done here, I bought a piece of merchandise from a party and I wan't to do the responsible thing and get it all legal. The registration system is to protect from theft, and to collect taxes. It's not stolen. And I'm willing to pay the fees and taxes. I just need a way around the burocracy. So forgery smorgery, parts bike, blah blah blah. I appreciate those who understood the question. I'm going to head to the dmv tomorrow and hope I get a nice one. Future browsers of this thread: have you been in tgis situation? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yes. Won one (got title) lost two (never did get title). And come to think of it, there was also one truce (have bike, no title, have frame with title that will always be sold with bike and that could have every part swapped if necessary). It is not a given that this will just work out. The bureaucracy is not there to use common sense or solve problems. | ||
| Pmjolly |
It's not difficult to get a driver's license number in Texas. I don't know if it's legal to use it like that.... | ||
| Reepicheep |
If you want to insulate yourself, a lawyer (or maybe private investigator) could probably advise you (and get if it is legal) the drivers license number for the original seller. Having a signed title will for sure help. It varies hugely from state to state, in Ohio a signed and notarized title is pretty much all you need (though a bill of sale is a good idea as well). Here are the ones I won and the ones I lost. Ohio made a mess of this because these are all dirt bikes, and for the longest time Ohio didn't require them to be titled or registered, so older ones aren't and not many people bothered with the newer ones for a while. KY is even worse, as they keep changing the rules. 1: 1995 KDX-200 no title bill of sale. Did lots of documented research proving non responsive sellers and previous owners, gave that to the DMV during a window in history where local DMV deputies were empowered to "fix things", and they fixed it and I have title. 2: 1990 KX-60, no title bill of sale. Never did win this one. DMV won't or can't "fix it" these days. 3) 200? TTR125. Bought from a friend. He researched it and found previous owner had loan on it, loan company had title. Previous owner paid all but last payment ($65 or something) to avoid having to pay tax on title transfer or something... loan company won't let anyone else pay off remainder and won't spend the time clearing up the title. So we bought another frame with clear title and it just gets sold with the bike. If any of us ever have to do a full tear down we will switch all the parts. 4) 1996 KX-80 bill of sale no title. Again, no title and DMV will no longer help me sort it. These are pure off road bikes, so it's not that big a deal to me. In Ohio, it just means I can't ride them on state lands on days when rangers might check stickers (well, the fine for not having a sticker is less than the cost of one sticker for the season, so I suppose it means I can't get caught without a sticker more than once a season). Given there is only one 50 acre state riding area within 2 hours of me anyway, this is no great burden. The whole title system is screwed up in Ohio. I bought all these bikes (except the TTR) broken and in buckets and pretty much rebuilt them from the ground up. I am ultimately just giving up a lot of time to keep them out of landfills and put cheap bikes back into circulation. If it turned out they were stolen, and somebody is willing to go under oath asserting that and have police follow up if they want and risk perjury charges if they are lying, I'll hand the bike back them, tell them "God Bless you, I enjoyed fixing your bike", and I'll just take the karma of restoring and returning something some thief ruined and stole. Really. There needs to be some kind of "abandoned title" process... you publicly declare claim of ownership in a permanent record, you document what you invested into the bike and who you got it from, and if somebody wants to claim ownership they can go to small claims court for a judge to work it out. If they win, they pay your out of pocket costs for upgrades. Then have another site where people who had property stolen can record their vin so buyers can do a quick check before they buy. I already do this in Ohio, but the site is hard to find and I don't know how trustworthy the data is. If you can't even be bothered to report a vehicle stolen, then it's not stolen, you gave it away. | ||
| Teeps |
Be sure to let us know how it goes @ DMV today. | ||
| Doz |
Just ignore all the previous buys and say your the guy that bought it from the original seller. On a busy DMV day...you think they really care? If the title is clear and you have a written bill of sale (legit or otherwise) all dmv wants is to collect your money. | ||
| Johnglover |
Well, my bike is finally all legal! Had to do some hard work to find the guy on the title. Got his approval to sign for him, went to the tax office and ten minutes later had my plates. Heard some bad stories about forging and whatnot and decided against it. Although the guy told me he wouldnt have minded. |
