My brother owned a motorcycle, he died in 1982 and since then it just sat in my mom’s garage.
We’ve recently tried to get rid of it by selling it, and no one will even take the thing for free without a title.
Went to the department of motor vehicles, they just give us a run around. Saying they have no access to records that old since in 1990 they went computerized and apparently anything from before then was tossed into a black hole. Also say we cannot get a new title because it is already titled.:dubious:
At this point I’ve told my mom to just abandon it somewhere, after all they can’t look up the VIN? since they don’t have the records.
But seriously what the hell can we do here? There is not a chance in hell of locating the original paper title from 1979? or whenever.
EDIT:Forgot to mention he was 18 when he died and unmarried without children, so no probate or anything was done. The DMV was saying even if we could by a miracle find the title, then they would need official probate papers and etc. My mom doesn’t the money to chase this down for a hundred dollar motorcycle.
The OP didn’t specify the brand. Is it one of these 10 brands that people collect? It might surprise some that Kawasaki and Honda are considered. collectable. 1982 is just the right age for a Vintage bike that people might want. Either to restore or for parts.
Google for either Vintage Motorcycle Club or Antique Motorcycle Club. They could help you get in touch with someone local that would appreciate the bike. A Vintage Club is what you really need. Antique would be much older bikes.
Give it a try. It would be a shame to scrape a bike that somebody might really need to finish a Vintage restoration. Original parts are always preferred over factory reproductions.
This happens fairly often. Did you try to find a motorcycle salvage yard/recycle service? They often will buy a non-titled cycle and then part it out.
You could try to sell it locally on craig’s list as a “parts” bike. That universaly means NO TITLE. Motocross bikes, dirt bikes, and drag racing bikes do not require a title in many states.
If you are near another state, try selling on Craig’s list in the next state over.
Here in Colorado, I could get a bond title for it. This title will cost me about $200 and six months wait. If the motorcycle is worth less then the cost of transport and my titling fees, then of course I would not be interested in doing this. If I were to part it out, I could forego the titling process. Hmmm.
Where are you located, and what is the Make, model, year and milage on this beast? This info will be on a tag/Data plate on the tube that the stearing forks go through. The tube that is the pivot point for the stearing. With this information, I could make a SWAG as to its value.
Years back, I remember that there was a company, located somewhere in the South, presumably in a state with really easy titling regulations, that would “buy” your bike for something like $1, obtain a title in that state, and then “sell” it back to you for something like $50, the difference between the purchase and sale price being their fee. They were mostly used by riders with bikes made out of parts of other bikes, or with aftermarket frames with no VIN, but it sounds like they might work for you.
I’ll take a look through my boxes of old motorycle magazines tonight (I’m not at home right now) and see if I can find one of their ads. Who knows, maybe they’re still in business. Maybe not. Probably not, but it’s worth a look.
You’re dealing with bureaucrats - honesty is rarely the best policy, and facts are confusing to them. Write up a bill of sale with the VIN on it and go to the DMV-equivalent, say you bought the bike out of state, and the state you bought it from doesn’t issue titles on bikes that old (several don’t - mine was from Rhode Island). In my case, they took the bill of sale, the registration fees, the $25 sales tax and about 2 months later I got my title in the mail.
Go to AAA and ask the procedure for getting a duplicate title. Mice ate your title. They will take a couple of bucks and ask you to show the bike to a police officer to verify the serial number and then send you a title.
Don’t confuse them. If they have no records, then whatever you say is true.
