Title help...

[RyanClarke]

My idiot brother bought a 96 Katana from some guy in Colorado, registered in Alaska about 3 years ago.  Worked on it and broke it and fixed it and broke it and on and on.  Anyways, he moved back here to NY with me and wants to get it out on the road, but tells me he never registered it or switched over the title.  He still has the title, but is worried he's screwed since he bought it in 2006.  Is he?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks guys

[joshr08]

should be fine will prolly just have to pay a fine for not transfering it within the alotted time.

[DoD#i]

If he has the title, there should be no problem. Get insurance, go to the DMV/RMV office, fill out forms, get plate, get inspected.

It's not having a title (or if old enough, a signed over old registration-in-lieu-of-title) that causes problems.

[Turboryan]

As long as the previous owner signed the title before giving it to your brother you should have no problem...

[fred]

Yeah, I agree with everyone else, they'll probably just fine you and everything will be fine. I think when they fine you, they assume you were driving it the whole time it wasn't registered, so it might be expensive...

[DoD#i]

I think when they fine you, they assume you were driving it the whole time it wasn't registered, so it might be expensive...

Sounds like extrapolating some California-type foolishness to places it does not apply.

No such thing in NYS, at least up to 15 years ago.

Get caught with an unregistered, much less untitled, bike on the road and they will make you suffer in a huge (and deservedly so) fashion, but no problem at all to buy it and let it sit for a while before taking it and registering/swapping the title over to your name. Could be it needed 3 years of restoration work.

[fred]

I think when they fine you, they assume you were driving it the whole time it wasn't registered, so it might be expensive...

Sounds like extrapolating some California-type foolishness to places it does not apply.

No such thing in NYS, at least up to 15 years ago.

Get caught with an unregistered, much less untitled, bike on the road and they will make you suffer in a huge (and deservedly so) fashion, but no problem at all to buy it and let it sit for a while before taking it and registering/swapping the title over to your name. Could be it needed 3 years of restoration work.

Yeah, in California they have PNO or "planned non operation" registration you have to pay for. It is like $25 a year, which is far cheaper than regular registration, but you can't get caught driving the thing. If you don't do PNO registration, when you go to register the vehicle again, you have to pay full registration for all the years you missed plus a bunch of fines. I see vehicles on craigslist all the time around here that sell for dirt cheap because they haven't been registered in a few years and the back registration fees have probably exceeded the actual value of the vehicle itself... I didn't know that other states hadn't figured out how to charge as much as possible for registration yet like California has...

[RyanClarke]

Just talked to him...no bill of sale either.  Title is signed but I'm not sure if it's dated.  Can he just say he bought it recently?  If that's one of those "won't hurt anyone" lies haha I'd recommend he do that but I don't want to see him get in trouble, nor do I want to see him paying outrageous fees for a bike he wasn't riding.

[scottpA_GS]

Just go to a small notary public.. They will work it out. Or go to one of those all in one DMV, online service, Notary, places, they know all the rules and will tell you for no fee if you do not have the proper paperwork.

[DoD#i]

Just talked to him...no bill of sale either.  Title is signed but I'm not sure if it's dated.  Can he just say he bought it recently?  If that's one of those "won't hurt anyone" lies haha I'd recommend he do that but I don't want to see him get in trouble, nor do I want to see him paying outrageous fees for a bike he wasn't riding.

Date is not a problem. Don't go and make a problem by lying about it....

All that lack of bill of sale will mean, IIRC, is that he'll be paying sales tax on the "book value" of the bike rather than actual price paid. But I think they stuck you for sales tax on "book value" if you paid less than "book value" anyway, assuming you were under-reporting price paid, or had bartered as well as spent money, so that isn't a problem either. Had he titled/registered it elsewhere, he'd not be liable for sales tax just moving it to NYS, but given that it's the first time it's being titled/registered since the sale, they will want their cut of sales tax. Not going to be a lot of money for a 13 year old bike.