I have a riddle for you guys--

You're in California, and you own an out-of-registration motorcycle. You PURCHASED IT LEGALLY from the owner, but have no paperwork. The owner moved to another country, and you have no way of contacting them. There are no theft reports and no liens, but there is an accident salvage. The riddle--

How do you transfer the title to your name? You could do a statement of facts (where they check the VIN) but the value is over $1000 so the DMV won't do it. You could get a defective title bond for the value of the vehicle, but no company will issue the bond without a bill of sale, which you cannot acquire. You cannot forge a bill of sale, as you don't know the owners full name, and the DMV is not allowed to give you the contact information for the registered owner.

What would you do, or what have you done? I'm aware that you need to be a jackass to get yourself into this situation, and I know the the obvious answers "part it out" or "you're screwed." Any thoughts outside of those would be much appreciated, as this is the situation I find myself in now, with my superhawk. Thanks!

-Ian

 

if you know where the past owner use to live and they owned the house,you could just go thru public records and find their property tax papers and home owners info,it might be public info.
but thats all a pain still to deal with to be going thru all that.
its much more simple to just look for a straight good frame with title and just swap it,much cheaper,less headache.

 

I have titled vehicles in the past by going through a title company in Maine. Maine has very relaxed rules about titling vehicles. I don't remember who I used or the details as it was several years ago. Basically you sell them the vehicle then they get a title/registration in Maine and sell it back to you. Google brings up several companies that do this.

If this doesn't work for you maybe you could declare it abandoned somehow?

 

You could try to go with a mechanics lien, don't know if it would work but it is worth a try.

 

make a friend with a police officer. Best way to get that name.

 

All of these are excellent suggestions, guys.

I think the mechanics lien would be the most likely, but I'd have to wait about 3 months. I considered Saige's advice, and found a wrecking yard with a head tube and salvage cert on the VIN for $150. Since this is the amount I almost paid for the title bond, I went ahead and told the guy I'd buy it this Saturday.

Unless something radical happens, this will be my (admittedly shady) course of action. I don't want to go on about it on a public forum, but the question then would be... VIN on the bike, or VIN on the cert? They are both clean salvage VIN's, I just need to make them match.

No more details though, don't want to encourage lurkers who would abuse such knowledge

 

Okay, the guy who I got the bike from initially (not the registered owner though) has a friend in the DMV who may try to get a duplicate salvage cert issued. It costs $5, but no guarantees yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed--

Also, thanks for the PM!