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Bike without a title advice.... HELP!

...was without a state title...dbrick

The provinces and territories in Canada don't even have motor vehicle titles. Registration certificates here are not title documents, only an indication that an ownership interest to the registrant may exist.

The first chattel certificate of title that I ever saw was last year, when I bought a car in Utah.
 
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titles. con't

I think this is a bit of a muddled area(wrecked, salvaged etc.. which we don't even know if it is on the title), but if a title existed and the VIN is traceable(as it seems to be) there is a trail of who has owned the bike. I think that is the purpose of bonding the bike- to make sure that no conflict of ownership arises.....
 
I think the easiest way to solve this problem is to find the last registered owner and get a bill of sale from them. Here in CA, the police will come out and do a VIN verification. (there is a DMV form for this which they sign) It's like a affidavit that the VIN on the vehicle is correct and that the vehicle matches what you paperwork is representing. This is primarily for vehicles that are custom built, with registration that is no longer in the system, or salvage rebuilds, etc. I would try calling the police and having an officer come out. If they do VIN verifications (which they must) tell them you want that. Try explaining the problem to the cop, perhaps when he runs the VIN he can tell you who the last owner was and you can get in touch with them that way...

Just a thought.
 
titleless bike

thanks.... I'll see if I can get the last owner's name.... but since I'm assuming that the signed it over to the inusrance company he may not be willing to give me a bill of sale(especially since he didn't sell it to me and I didn't pay him any money).... but the other problem is that there is a file on the bike in NC now so anything I do other than what NC wants me to do will have to be done in another state.... I'm trying to do it within NC so it's just a matter of hearing what NC wants me to do... If I can't meet their requirements then i have to look at other options... so keep the ideas coming if you have any.... thanks.... but i will contact the police to see if I can get the last owner's name to at least get some history on the bike from him.... since he's no longer the owner the chances are probably better that I'll get accurate info(although it certainly does look like he took care of the bike)...
 
I have no experience in this regard, but I have heard that Maine and Arizona have relatively easy DMV rules about getting a title to a vehicle. I think Maine will issue a title based on a bill of sale alone. There are services on the net who, for a fee, will handle it for you.

John
 
I think you are going to a lot of trouble that should be handled by the dealer. If he sold you a vehicle, he is required to provide a title or certificate to you. The DMV might be interested if a dealer sold you a vehicle without providing a title (unless he designated it parts only). You said he bought it from a salvage dealer in Virginia. I checked the code and a salvage dealer in Virginia is required to have a title, salvage certificate or a nonrepairable certificate in his possession for all vehicles in his possession. The salvage dealer in Virginia didn't necessarily buy the vehicle in Virginia so the title requirements could vary. The salvage dealers I know frequently travel in 3 or 4 surrounding states looking for vehicles.

I checked the current Virginia code for salvage and nonrepairable certificates. The law applies to "late model vehicles" which is defined as current year plus the five prior years and for vehicles with an actual cash value in excess of $10,000 regardless of age. However, an insurance company or owner can declare a vehicle nonrepairable if they wish regardless of the age or value. To get a salvage certificate, the damage must be more than 75% of the actual cash value but less than 90%. They must also provide an itemized estimate of the damage. A nonrepairable certificate is required if the damage is over 90% of the value or the insurance company does not provide an itemized estimate of the damage (lazy adjuster).
 
I have first hand experience that salvage and "totaled" vehicles can be put back on the road. We had a Subaru wagon that was rolled and declared totaled. It was sold as salvage, and a year later someone called us to say they were the current owner, they had traced us as the previous owner, and had we had any transmission trouble? Ha ha ha. We never had transmission trouble, but once that thing bounced end over end, I would imagine some things got bumped pretty hard! The adjuster had showed me where the crumple zones had done their work. You can weld on a new roof but you can't hide crumble zone indicators.
 
I know Mass. and RI make it very difficult to get a title unless you have a previous registration. Throw a salvage situation into the mix and i wouldn't be very confident in being able to get a title. The older the bike the easier it is. If you can get the bike at that price it might be worth paying a lawyer to help figure out the legal details.
 
Stolen Bike

I am in AZ and had a Honda Goldwing 1980 I got for free with no title. Guy said when he moved into the house the previous owner had left it. I did some work on it new tires some engine repair. Took it to the AZ DMV for a title after a 2 hour wait it was confisgated as a stolen vechile and returned to Allstate insurance Co.

My wife and her girlfriend had a good laugh when I called to get picked up from the DMV. Local police stolen vechicle division did ask me how I aquired bike.
Remember some things are to good to be free. Lession learned.:dance
 
getting interesting....

It's getting interesting.... I spoke with NCDMV and they said to send a letter explaining the situation and address it to "her", which I did... I gave her a few days to get the letter and then thought about calling NY to see if I could find the last owner.

I called the DMV in NY, gave them the VIN number and he came back and said to me basically "Return the bike, you can't do anything without a title".... "yikes", I thought to myself. "I think I should return the bike".

I decided to call NCDMV and find out what their response to my letter. The woman I spoke to was very matter of fact and calmly looked through her inbox and said "Nope, I haven't heard back from license and theft yet".

I asked her if this was pretty routine what I was asking for and she said, once again pretty matter of factly that it was and that we should hear back on Wednesday. She explained that the bond process was just to make sure that there were no problems with the re-issued title.

Since I spoke to NCDMV(and they located the bike) and they didn't seem to be too worried about it I don't think it was stolen. As a matter of fact he said that it was still titled to an individual, so I'm starting to think that neither the insurance nor the salvage followed through with title transfers....

What I did find was interesting was when I mentioned that I wanted to try to contact the original owner but the DMV employee said "Oh no, you can't do that, ,it's illegal to contact the title holder if you haven't had previous contact with him."
I find that hard to believe and if it is true I can't imagine that it would be enforced or that a person who was had a title would even think to call the police because someone ask them about a bike they have titled in their name....

Also called a custom bike builder in FL who built a bike for my cousin, to get some insight on titling in FL and she said that Florida has some of the strictest titling laws in the nation....

So, I'm hoping that the news from the NCDMV is positive... so far no one is sending out a sheriff to pick up the bike, so I think the title is probably clear... and if I'm lucky no one bothered to put a "salvage" on it!!
 
Bike with a title

I received a clean title in the mail today.... Makes me happy that I didn't take the advice of all the people who said to return the bike and get my money back..... I guess the moral is.... titles and the DMV is not an exact science.... thanks for your input!
 
clarify?

Hello Ted,

I'm not sure I understand your question... can you clarify?

thanks,
David
 
Congrats!

Well done!

Was interested to follow this thread... not something I've had to deal with, but opens my eyes to some issues I wasn't really aware of.

Enjoy the new ride!
 
Dave

If you are interested, I am the former owner of the K bike you picked up, I have sent you a PM with contact information.

Thanks
Rich
 
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