Deceased and Unregistered

[goathands]

Please Help.
I recently purchased a motorcycle out of a neighbors Garage. It's a great bike and was obviously will loved and taken care of. The bike was owned by a recently deceased friend of this neighbor. I got excited and Bought it a bit hastily. Along with the bike came 30yrs of fantastic Touring Journals and 300lbs of spare parts, plus the original title. The Bike apparently hasn't been registered in about ten years with the DMV, but the Journals contradict this, and show it being ridden annually up until last year.

The Problem is I can't Find the Widow to have her sign the title over to me Legitimately (via Power of Attorney). The bike runs great and is a fantastic Second to my R65. Does anyone know a good way to clear this title and circumvent the CA DMV?  

Any Help would be appreciated.
James

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

See if there is a way to title it in another State?

California is such a tight-sphincter when it comes to titles...

Mike V. has been discussing this at length over his R65.  http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1277387156


Beautiful (******) bike, by the way.  I would love to have a good-running example in my garage.
Start looking for things like case gaskets, if you don't have some; and the starter motor will likely be your first bit of trouble, unless it's already been fixed.

[montmil]

I can think of several solutions; some even offered to Mike V during his MC registration fiasco with the Californicators in the DMV.

All my days, I've enjoyed multiple interests and hobbies, forgery being one of them... 8-) YMMV
However, any day you can short-circuit a gubment employee with a Hitler-like attitude is a good day.

A nice looking scooter with 300 pounds of spare parts. Was the bike wrecked, blown up or... ?  

Monte

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Interesting looking bike for sure.  Kind of a cross between a Hardly and a Ducati.

Hard lesson learned, but never, ever, under any circumstances tender cash to the seller unless he/she can present a clear title in their name.  Been there and done that.  Always managed to wiggle out from underneath in the end and that was even before I met Monte.  For a gift certificate to Star Bucks he might even endorse the title over for you.  That way he'd get FREE coffee and also get to mess with the gummint.

[Justin B.]

It looks like the engine that was in my Virago.

[NC Steve]

It looks like the engine that was in my Virago.

Yep. I'm fairly sure this is a Yamaha 920-something, the suffix escapes me, but there was a V in there somewhere.
When these came out, the 750s became Viragos, the 920 was this, at least before it vanished and became Euro-only a year or 2 later.
Quite the bike, I always heard.

And I'm with Monte: dead men tell no tales.
If you know for certain it's not stolen or altered, well then......

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Yamaha XV920 in the States.  TR1 in Europe.


Here is one of the nicest customized XV's I've ever seen:  (but I think the factory is just perfect)



http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=472823&page=2

[nhmaf]

The XV920 bikes were definitely on my "watch list" of bikes to get at one time.   The enclosed chain drive helped to keep things cleaner and lengthened chain maintenance intervals, though also made chain maintenance a bit more complex.   I alwyas like the look of them, though.

As Rob said, a common problem-area onthese bikes were the starters/starter bendix assembly, but once sorted out, the engines themselves are pretty reliable.

Did you at least get a signed bill of sale?  In my state, motorcycles that are 20 years or older do not require titles (and the state will take your title paperwork if you show it to them).  Proffe of prior registration (and owners signature on the back of the registration form) and a signed bill of sale will suffice to get the bike registered in your name in the state of New Hampshire, at least.  But they just don't do things in California like they do in the rest of the country.

[goathands]

Thanks For the Advise. The Bike is a Yamaha XV920J (or T-1 if sold in Europe). The Title was given to me blank. I have a bill of sale and release of liability from the fella that sold it to me. BUT, because he never registered it in his name, The DMV does not view him as the legal owner. I'll keep you all in touch with the final workings of this issue.

[Bob_Roller]

Who's name is on the title ?

Have you tried a people search on Yahoo, or another search engine ?

Sometimes they will list relatives of the person you are searching for .

[Semper Gumby]

I'm still waiting for Yamaha to build this....

[montmil]

This thread pushed me over the edge today. I blame all youse cats for making me get legal.

I actually went to the tax office today -first in line, by the way- with the 1983 R65's title from the previous owner. It's only been two years since I bought it, but what the hey? Been swapping the Texas Antique Motorcycle license plate back and forth between the '81 and the '83 all this time with no problemo. State safety inspections and the stickers are not required with the vintage tags, so...

I did have to do a wee bit o' artistic manipulation of the signatures and dates. Texas can add extra tax, penalty, whatever, if you don't register your "new" motor vehicle within thirty days of acquisition. Two years. Thirty days... mas o menos.

Oh. And Michael V... Texas peeps don't even need to see the bike to register it. I rode in on the 1981 and threw down paperwork for an '83.

I had given a bit over 2K for the 1983 R65. Along with the plate, title and associated fees, Texas also wants your payment for the sales tax, too. On the new title application, I kinda sorta left the line blank where is said, "Purchase Price".

Tax office lady asked, "How much did you pay for this motorcycle, Mr Miller?"

 Â  "Uh, eight hundred dollars, Ma'am," sez I.

"Goodness. That sounds like a lot for an old motorcycle."

 Â  "Uh, yes ma'am. Hope I didn't pay too much."

"Well. All your paperwork looks just fine so that'll be $..."

Took all of twenty minutes. No lie. I love it when a plan comes together. [smiley=clap.gif]  

Monte

[Bob_Roller]

Monte, did you stop off at the local funeral home for coffee and donuts before your visit to the MVD ?

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I'm still waiting for Yamaha to build this....

OK Bill, where did you find that picture!

[montmil]

Monte, did you stop off at the local funeral home for coffee and donuts before your visit to the MVD ?

Don't believe everything Bengt Mike tells you about me. It's been a couple weeks now since I checked in through the back door of the funeral home. They probably wonder, "Why don't he write?"

M