Bike with no title, running VIN

[black z400]

I am looking at buying a 250f from a person who lives in my area. I live in Maryalnd, he lives in Virginia. The only worry I have is that the guy claims to have lost the title. He said he will give me a bill of sale. I have asked for pics of the VIN on the frame, and asked him to tell me the VIN. The absence of a VIN on the frame would be an obvious sign that it was stolen.?

Once I get the VIN is there anything I can do to check the history of the bike? I would like, if possible, a simple sight I can punch the VIN in. If not, what do I do at the MVA.

I don't want to support stolen bikes or get screwed over in buying one, what are my options?

[David411]

walk away

[ajd187]

Yeah I would say just run away from it. It sounds fishy.

[yz125freak]

Na just get a bill of sale if it has the vin number and as kto see his lisence and write down his lisence numbe/ full name/ vin #/ and get hime to sing it and make shure it looks like the sig on his lisence and ull be fine cause if you get caught with it you wont get into any trouble if you have the bill of sale. and if your really worried about the title tell him to go get one but it will coast around 45 dollars. if its a good deal on the bike id def. do it.

[gottaski]

make him get a title.

for me, no title = no sale.

[125shifter]

make him get a title.

for me, no title = no sale.

+1 have you seen the dirtbike in the street vids from the Baltimore area???

[black z400]

Yes I've seen the videos and think those people are idiots and have no idea how they get away with it. I am not in the city, I am a good 45 minutes out. Baltimore is just a good national reference point.

The reason I am still wanting this bike is that it is basically exactly what I want. It is a well maintained, low hour crf250r with kickstand and handguards. All I want to do to suit it for me is skids and lower it. The main thing is that I now have a quad (Suzuki Z400). If your not familiar, it is basically a drz engine in a quad. I have been trying to trade it for a 250f, and this is the most practical offer being about an hour and a half from my house.

Is there any way I can suggest him to get a title for it. If he is being honest, then it is registered by him in his name, and did have a title. Is there any way to simply get a new one printed. I am not familiar with the system and all the laws behind it. What do you think the cost behind it would be?

Also, If I could just go the bill of sale route, I assume it would have to be notorized to be valid at all, correct? Also, could I get a title by showing a bill of sale to match the VIN on the frame? If not, what else do I need?

[black z400]

Oh yea, I also want to add that I would be alot more skeptical, but he told me this up front, and I have been going back and forth with the guy since mid-may. He never seemed like he wanted to just get rid of the bike quickly. He has been skeptical of my quad from the start, especially once I told him it has been flipped twice. He did not honestly seem that interested until I sent him pictures of how clean the quad is.

You would think that if it was stolen, he would be trying to ditch it right away.

[XHMXR]

Oh yea, I also want to add that I would be alot more skeptical, but he told me this up front, and I have been going back and forth with the guy since mid-may. He never seemed like he wanted to just get rid of the bike quickly. He has been skeptical of my quad from the start, especially once I told him it has been flipped twice. He did not honestly seem that interested until I sent him pictures of how clean the quad is.

You would think that if it was stolen, he would be trying to ditch it right away.

Be Careful. Have him get it registered or forget it. A bill of sale wont do you any good if he swiped the bike. If its stolen it will go back to the person it was stolen from whether you have a bill of sale or not. Don't think a person who swiped a motorcycle will mind giving you a bill of sale. He may be on the up and up but YOU are the one takeing a chance. LOST THE REGISTRATION???? Walk away.

[georgeforeman]

yeah its probably stolen.how do you lose such an important part of a motorcycle.

[Rip Wheeler]

I am looking at buying a 250f from a person who lives in my area. I live in Maryalnd, he lives in Virginia. The only worry I have is that the guy claims to have lost the title. He said he will give me a bill of sale. I have asked for pics of the VIN on the frame, and asked him to tell me the VIN. The absence of a VIN on the frame would be an obvious sign that it was stolen.?

Once I get the VIN is there anything I can do to check the history of the bike? I would like, if possible, a simple sight I can punch the VIN in. If not, what do I do at the MVA.

I don't want to support stolen bikes or get screwed over in buying one, what are my options?

If he lost the title, both of you go in, bring ID and you can change it over right there as long as he was the legal owner. Bring ther VIN number. You will also find out of he really does own it. If he is legit, it will take about 5 minutes to swap it over and you will have your title in the mail shortly.

[tmartinLVNV]

Get the VIN and call the police non emergency number. They might run it for you to see if it has been reported stolen. Here in NV, a title is not necessary for an off road bike. I'm the third owner of a XR650R, no title was available. After I checked to make sure the VIN was not repoted stolen, I bought the bike and used a generic DMV bill of sale with everyones info on it.

[CRVT427]

"Run FORREST run." You may be too young to have seen this movie.

[black z400]

haha, nah, That is an awesome movie though.

[Matt H]

FYI - I bought a dirtbike recently (from a guy in Pennsylvania). I got the title, had him fill out the Maryland Bill of Sale (which you can get from the MVA website), and had everything notarized. Went to MVA and found out that Maryland DOES NOT title dirt bikes. I was like, &%$#@!?!?! They informed me to simply hold onto the previous owner's title and the bill of sale, and pass it along should I sell it at some later time. After leaving the MVA, I called their main number, and as soon as I started to ask about "titling a dirtbike", I got the response that they no longer do that. Just an FYI for you since you are in Maryland as well.

[Matt H]

Oh, and tons of my friends buy and sell bikes without titles. This is very common with road track bikes too. And I'm not some kid, or some shady person. I actually work at a major law firm in downtown D.C.

Just call the police and have them run the VIN to see if it is reported stolen. And do a Bill of Sale.

[TITAN20]

Different states have different laws. In the state of Kentucky, you do not have to have a title for an offroad bike. Most of the time, only a certificate of origin is sold with a new bike, and it is up to the owner to get a title (the question always is, why would you when you don't need it?) I have traded numerous bikes with bills of sale only, and know a lot of dealerships that will take bikes with bills of sale. A Honda dealership recently told me that all of their bikes will be sold with a title from now on. I know the 50 I bought from my son there actually has a Kentucky title. The only reason I would want a title is because some dealerships do demand one or they won't trade. As far as individuals go, it's highly unlikely that a guy would give you his driver's license number, and make you out a bill of sale if the bike was stolen, because he would face criminal charges, whereas you would just have to give the bike back to the original owner if it was stolen. Let's face it, most states view bikes and 4-wheelers the same way they would a microwave oven or a t.v. You are just selling your own property to another person, and unfortunately, there are no fool proof ways of not getting burned (besides as others mentioned, getting a bike with a legitimate title -- however, that narrows your choices significantly -- I bet only 1 out of every 10 bikes here has a title). The upside is, at least we don't have to pay taxes on this crap. Another thing is, if the bike is more than a year or two old, and has never been titled in the state, you can't get a duplicate certificate of origin. If you had a 2003 Honda CR125, for example, and it had never been titled in the state, and the certificate of origin was gone, there is no right way to legitimize it. As long as it hasn't been reported stolen, you just have to quit worrying about it and buy the dang thing.

[jbrandt]

no one "looses" the title. It's probably hot. If someone really does loose the title to their bike, there are ways to replace it. You can go to the DMV and pay a fee and get a new one as long as you have proove you're the owner.

If you REALLY like the bike, then ask him to replace the "lost" title and negotiate to pay for part of (or all of) the replacement fee. If he delays or starts acting fishy, then it's hot and walk away.

good luck!

[black z400]

Hey Matt, thanks for the info, but you said that you have the previous owner's title and your bill of sale. I will not be able to get his title unless I can convince him to get one. Do you know if just holding a bill of sale is enough considering they can run the VIN and find out that he was the owner before me?

[DougWood]

FYI - I bought a dirtbike recently (from a guy in Pennsylvania). I got the title, had him fill out the Maryland Bill of Sale (which you can get from the MVA website), and had everything notarized. Went to MVA and found out that Maryland DOES NOT title dirt bikes. I was like, &%$#@!?!?! They informed me to simply hold onto the previous owner's title and the bill of sale, and pass it along should I sell it at some later time. After leaving the MVA, I called their main number, and as soon as I started to ask about "titling a dirtbike", I got the response that they no longer do that. Just an FYI for you since you are in Maryland as well.

That's interesting. I bought a 2005 KX250f from a guy in Maryland, and it had an MVA title with it.

To get the bike titled in VA, I had to say that it has an odometer and make up some mileage. DMV told me that they will not title a bike in VA without an odometer.

The ONLY reason I wanted a title was because one had already been issued in MD and I did not want someone else registered as the legal owner.