Bought A Stolen Motorcycle
Hello,
Recently I purchased a motorcycle from a man in Colorado. I received a bill of sale from him and felt good about the purchase. Since I wanted to license the bike I needed to go through a couple of steps, one of them a VIN check. I had the bike insured and had all “add on” devices out on it and with only one more hurdle, the VIN check, I was looking pretty good. Once I checked the VIN it came back stolen out of California. In Colorado we do not title off highway vehicles so unless I had checked the VIN prior to the purchase, well….I was excited. Now I’m out $2100.00 and no bike. The Aurora Police department had stated that he is not liable for anything because he had no prior knowledge that the motorcycle was stolen.
So my question is, do I have any legal recourse to get my money back? I only had the bike for three days before it was taken from me and I was left hi and dry with no other information. Any ideas?
Thanks
Billy
Re: Bought A Stolen Motorcycle
well, sometimes you get what you get when youask the police for legal advice.
I would have to do some research (you could as well) in your states statutes to determine if the trasfer of the bike required the ability to be able to transfer title. I would actually guess that it is a requirement.
If it is, then your friend did not have the legal right to sell the bike to you and owes you for the loss. He would then have to go after whomever sold it to him and on and on.
In that situation, prior knowledge would not be a requirement.
in a different way about this, your friend could not possibly have any right to sell the bike to you since he could not legally own it because it was stolen property regardless of the need to be able to transfer title.
In either case, I believe you do have a claim against the guy.
Re: Bought A Stolen Motorcycle
JK,
Thanks for the reply. As far as Colorado statutes go, you do not need a title for a off-road vehicle such as a dirt bike. In Texas, you do. In some states you do and some not, which can make it tricky. So in Colorado, when you purchase something like a 4-wheeler, snowmobile ect. you just need to get a bill of sale with the vehicle.
Billy
Re: Bought A Stolen Motorcycle
Even though the person you bought it from did not have prior knowledge that the bike was stolen, he does know where he got it.
I agree with JK, sue and then the person you bought it from needs to sue the person he bought it from and so on....