Previous cycle comes back to haunt me!!

A few years back I sold my '98 Superhawk to pay off some bills. Signed over the title and wrote out a bill of sale, two copies, one for each of us. Was glad to get the money, but missed the bike. The time has passed and out of nowhere I get a call from a guy who recently bought the bike from the guy I sold it to. Turns out the buyer in my deal never got it re-titled and had his mother sign the title in the purchaser box. The new owner can't get a hold of the lady and is now looking to me to provide proof of sale so he can properly title the bike. On top of this he says there are fines levied against the bike that the interim "owner" accrued.

Now I have to go home and search for the file, praying that I still have it. Anyone else have an issue like this in their experience? Wisconsin law is pretty clear on this, so long as I have the bill of sale, but I don't want to put myself in a position of liability for the fines.

Just wanted to share an odd experience and warn people about this possibility.

 

Well, first off, the current owner can testify that he bought the bike from someone else. Second, title is forged. The buyer's Mommy signed an official document saying she bought it, so let her pay the fines.

Any chance that you turned in the license plate when you sold the bike? Did you have it taken off your insurance and tell your agent it had been sold? Can you match a substantial deposit to your bank account around the date you sold it? You might get lucky doing the equivalent of a Carfax check to see if the motorcycle was involved in an accident while the other guy owned it. That might help prove you sold it.

I'll bet it was a lot cheaper to insure it in Mommy's name than in her son's name. If things start to go badly for you, you might get in touch with Mom and tell her that if she or her darling boy don't pony up for the fines and clear the title (and your name), you'll have her investigated for insurance fraud.

Hope things turn out well for you,
Annie

 

I was unable to find the bill of sale, but I'm headed down to the DMV tomorrow morning to sign off on the bike. I am pretty sure that there may have been some outstanding legal circumstances for the first buyer an that mey have been why he never claimed legal ownership of the cycle. I'm not too worried about the fines or other issues concerning the bike after I sold it, I kept the plates, deposited the cash and had the bill of sale.

I'll update you after tomorrow.

Thanks.

 

Sad but it happens. Do NOT ever trust the buyer to cover YOUR can.
I ended up in Federal court twice because I failed to turn in my release of liability to the DMV. Fortunately, I was able to provide it to the judge and avoided possible fines but the aggravation and time spent was annoying.
"In God we trust, all others we monitor" stands the test.

 

That's one thing that's nice about the insurance here in manitoba. The insurance is from the same place as the "title" as you guys call it. So in order to lisence the bike, it has to be tranfered over to your name. That way once you sell it, it's out of your hands forever.

 

Well, this issue is now closed. Because I signed the "seller" portion of the title and there is a signature in the "purchaser" section, I no longer have any liability or interest in the situation.

Very happy to have only wasted a morning at the DMV rather than have to go to court to get things squared up.

Thanks for the input.

 

I didn't think they could do anything since you signed and dated the title.

we call that C.Y.A.