Previous owner

[casamere]

Hi guys, How could I find out who last owned my CA77 in the US.
Regards. Steve UK.

[LOUD MOUSE]

Not that I'm the expert for your question but as the USA has 50 states and each state registers vehicles I'm not sure you have a chance for the answer.
Let's see what others say. .........lm

Hi guys, How could I find out who last owned my CA77 in the US.
Regards. Steve UK.

[the-chauffeur]

Unfortunately, unless you got a copy of the US state title from the last owner when the bike was sold - and even then, that assumes the last owner ever held the title - it's nigh on impossible to find out. Unlike the DVLA, there's no central licencing body or records repository; as LM said, it's a state-by-state deal. I guess it's possible that you could contact each of the state licencing agencies, but data protection laws would almost certainly prevent them from giving you any details of the previous owners.

The DVLA shows the previous owner details on V55s over here, but only for machines previously owned in the UK (although if the machine's been off the road for long enough they may have lost those details). As you may know, the V55s of imported machines will simply say when they were first registered in the UK - the DVLA won't go and get (and doesn't require) previous owner information from overseas.

Your best bet is to post pictures and your story on several forums and see if anyone recognises the bike. Beyond that, there's not a great deal you can do.

[casamere]

the-chauffeur, thanks for that as I was under the impression all I needed to post was the Frame & chassis number and someone might recognize it but worth a try. thanks.

[the-chauffeur]

No worries. It looks like the guy who runs this forum tried to get a registry for the Dreams off the ground at one point, but much like the forum now, he seems to have lost interest in its maintenance.

If you bought yours from somewhere like Summerbud, DK Spares or Classic Bike Imports Ltd (Freddie the Fat Frog), you may well find the previous owner isn't the last title holder. It seems it's much easier to ship bikes out of the country than deal with the registration/re-registration process in some states, so they pick up quite a few untitled bikes which makes the job even harder.

Of the four I've done, I've only had titles for two. The other two I had to go the dating certificate route so I could get them registered over here.

[casamere]

Yes got mine from Classic Bike Imports and yes got the date registration letter from VJMC.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

You could ask the person you got it from where HE got it; then contact them...?

Here in Virginia you can also go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and ask for a title search - I think it costs about $10 - you can also do it online, I believe.

OR, If you want to retitle a vehicle (in VA, at least) it isn't that hard, it just takes time. You have to visit the DMV website and search for Abandoned Vehicles and pay $25 for them to see if the vehicle is registered anywhere in the state - an abandoned vehicle is defined as any vehicle left on someone's property for 48 hours WITH or WITHOUT the original owners permission.

This can tell you more about the process than I can:

https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/#abandoned.asp

Go down to the bottom of the page for the Online Abandoned Vehicle Process. That has all the info on the paper you have to file - it's not much, just two forms:

https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/apps/avp/intropage.aspx


And even if they DO find the original owner, and lets say he/she wants the vehicle Back, YOU are entitled to a 'storage fee' for the time period the vehicle is out of their possession - again, see the website for a complete description of terms.


I have titled several vehicles this way, you just have to be patient and work with the system. Pay particular attention to the Second paragraph under 'Description of Process':

"If the owners/lienholders of the abandoned vehicle do not respond to the request to remove the vehicle in the time allowed, you return to DMV's website to post your intent to auction the vehicle. The intent to auction posting remains active for 21 days. After the posting period ends, you are eligible to title the vehicle, sell it, or transfer it to a demolisher or scrap metal processor. If no record was found for the vehicle during the record request search, you may choose to transfer the vehicle to a demolisher or scrap metal processor without posting intent to auction, but if you choose to title the vehicle, you must post your intent to auction and wait 21 days."


What the DMV site DOESN'T tell you is, that after you clear all that you still have to pay $85 for the 'transfer of title', or some such thing - yes, it's a 'GOTCHA" moment - so just be ready.


Anyway, I hope this helps.