Looking at picking up a quad and a dirt bike. Owner says he doesnt have a title but can provide a bill of sale. Says if i fill out a lost title form at the DMV i can get the title in the mail.
But what if these are stolen…
Help/comments
Don’t these have transferable registrations?
They don’t have titles only transferable reg.
So if he doesnt have a transferable reg, how do i get one or make sure they arent stolen?
He said he would go with me to a police station and have the VINs checked out
DMV should be able to verify who the last known owner was in the system. They will probably have to issue a new one before the sale can be completed. If he is not the original owner, the DMV will want him to reg in his name, pay sales tax and then he can legally sell it to you, where you will have to do the same thing.
The issue on these is that some people buy it, never reg. it through the DMV and then resell it, when it’s still registered to the original owner. It’s called “title jumping” and it screws you when you buy it. Only way to get around it is if he never signed anything and it could look like you bought it from the original owner, but your receipt would have to reflect that as well.
damn^
^ This. You won’t be able to apply for a lost title, only the last registered owner can. If the person who currently has the bike isn’t the last registered owner and no one can get a hold of the last registered owner the bike will never be titled in NY again.
VIN swap, can be risky.
You can call the state police and give them the Vin to make sure it’s not stolen.
I did this with a vehicle once successfully in the past, where the owner didn’t have it titled, but he had a bill of sale from when he bought it years back…if your seller doesn’t have that…maybe ask him to make one? if he knows the previous owners name? IDK, still risky.
also @travisn might be able to chime in when i sold him the 67 MGB, I never titled it, I got him some paper work, he did some research too/took to the DMV and he figured out how to do it successfully - we also had an agreement that if he couldn’t register it that he’d bail, maybe you can arrange something similar with this guy.
Whats the dirtbike?
yea I don’t remember. For vehicles that old they are way more lenient.
the whole time I was reading this I thought you were the guy trying to buy my dirtbike a little over a week ago…claimed he couldn’t register it for the trails to ride into PA without “an original bill of sale” and I argued with him until I was blue in the face that a bill of sale was not what he meant he needed, and that I couldn’t give him anything more than a hand written bill of sale and the name/number of the guy I bought it from (who owned the dealership)
wait…THAT WAS YOU?
jk nah man wasnt me
OK thanks for the info guys
Your best bet would be to actually go to the DMV and talk to someone. I have a friend who bought a sled a few years ago with the same issue. He had a bill of sale and filled out lost title paperwork and everything went smoothly. Maybe he got lucky.
How do people not have one safe spot to put documents…
I went through this with an ATV before. There is a form at the DMV, not sure of the number. The seller fills it out stating that he is the owner and is selling his unit to you. You need to get an etching of the VIN or a clear picture showing the whole thing. Bring the pictures, form, and bill of sale and you will be allowed to register it no problem.
Here’s the form:
I don’t see that going well. Have the current owner do that then sell it to you legit.
It goes fine. I’ve done this twice already. One with an out of state snowmobile even.
The picture was not good enough when I tried it though. I just had a police officer come by both times and they fill out a form you submit to the DMV.
I guess if you are willing to risk having something you don’t legally own. If the vehicle originally had a title or transferable registration that form won’t work.
Both atv and snowmobile I bought originally had them and I used that form with no issues.