Checking legality of your new three wheeler?

[czac]

So you go out and find the perfect three wheeler... Its what you really wanted and the price is great and everything is g reat, you buy it, go to get it registered so you can go ride it on the local trails (if your lucky to live where thy have atv trails you can legally ride on) and you send in the forms and the cops show up at your door telling you the trike you bought was reported stolen 15 years ago and you need to turn it over to them and your out your $$$ you paid for it... Crappy scenerio i know but, is there a way you can run a check (pefferably private without going through your local authorities) to see if its stolen or on some hot sheet somewhere? Like a vin number check? I mean, id hate to find out i had a stolen trike by having the local fuzz tell me...lol id also not wanna get busted for selling stolen property if i sold it to someone who checked it with the local dept of motor vehicles and they said it was stolen.
So, any ideas, thoughts, stories of this happening to you or a friend?

[MattDragontamer]

Well, the best way to make sure it's nothot is to get the sellers address, then shortly after call back and ask for the vin. If they decline, call the cops and tip them off of a potential stolen machine. Anyone selling a clean machine will not hesitate to give you the vin number.

Another method is to have the number ready to call your registration office. Call them when you are viewing the bike and read off the vin. They should be able to give you the results right away. If it is stolen, walk away from the bike and call the cops. Make sure you are safely in your vehicle and you have the address and registry officer name on hand for easy communication.

Your number one safety net is your bill of sale...

You can get vehicle bill of sales anywhere online for your area.
Make sure it declares that if an issue such as the vehicle turning out to be stolen, that the seller shall be responsible for all costs, reimburstments and any charges.

My method runs on those guidelines,
I get the address, ask for the vin (do the lookup), buy and get a bill of sale.
Only had one guy turn me down a vin check... After a call to the cops and handing over the address, I had to fill out a statement and that was the end of that. Turns out it was stolen a week prior.

[Ghostv2]

I have always feared this, and have always just figured it was best not to know. As I do not need to register my bikes to ride. My most important trike is in my dads name since well, he got it new. So that's good I guess.

But then again I never owned many machines (only about a dozen since I'm fairly young), I just keep my couple trikes and the other ones I acquire I end up trading them for other bikes. But I'm curious about this because I would like to prove ownership now that I am actually buying my own bikes these days and everyone is snatching up the land and having it patrolled.

[RIDE-RED 250r]

I once used a "free" website to run a VIN on a trike. It did work, even gave me the correct year/make/model of the trike... BUT, be careful. As with alot of "free" sites they get you with fine print. I don't remember clicking to agree to a monthly membership of $10 per month. And I can usually spot things like that pretty effectively. It was a while ago and I don't recall the details...

But aside from that, I think that scenario will vary from state to state as far as DMV and the law is concerned.

[Frankencelery]

What Matt said is probably the best, calling while you're looking at the machine. Admittedly, I've never done it that way myself yet, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't. In Iowa, you have to start the registration process at the county recorder's office, then take the trike to the local sheriff, have them check the VIN, and sign off on the registration. Then back to the recorder's office to finish registration. Since we're a small town, that's pretty easy. I've done it twice and held my breath both times, afraid I was going to find out the trike was stolen.

A bit off topic, but my 225DX does NOT have a standard 17-digit VIN, which caused some trouble at the recorder's office. They insisted it had to be the usual 17 digits, but what's on the stem is actually a 29U-XXXXXX number. The county sheriff had to actually sign off that we couldn't find a "normal" VIN, and so we used the number that was there. I've found one other Yamaha owner here who had the same thing. Everybody else thinks we're crazy and don't know where to look! :D

[elvetost]

That sux Czac...Feeling for you man.. :(

[Frankencelery]

That sux Czac...Feeling for you man.. :(

I don't think he actually had it happen, but he was concerned that it might...right Czac?

[czac]

I don't think he actually had it happen, but he was concerned that it might...right Czac?

yeah... it hasn't happened but Im just asking in general...what if? I was reading online about different places here in CT to ride and while they don't have anything yet for ATV's they have a few bike trails but you need to be riding a street legal, registered bike and have a motorcycle drivers license to use them. Any how, CT does have it in mind that one day, they will let someone open a an ATV park or track or trails on government land but one of the things is, anyone who wants to ride there will need to register their ATV with the state dept. of Motor vehicles, which means there may be a lot of stolen machines popping up on the VIN checks and id hate to find out mine was on it... lol is there a statue (Statue or Statute? lol) of limitations maybe? like if it was stolen 15 years ago? lol

[DohcBikes]

Arizona has a website called AZtheft, thats how I check em here. In Nebraska, I have a, um, ehhh pretty close relationship with the police and state troopers, so I just have them run it before buying.

I've heard a rumor on this site that most of the ATC re. info has been purged from 'the system' and that it would be rare to have a VIN come back dirty. This really doesnt make sense totally , because stuff still gets stolen, and I have three trikes that I could recite the VINS to backwards half drunk. Mine would be reported instantly.

[czac]

A bit off topic, but my 225DX does NOT have a standard 17-digit VIN, which caused some trouble at the recorder's office. They insisted it had to be the usual 17 digits, but what's on the stem is actually a 29U-XXXXXX number. The county sheriff had to actually sign off that we couldn't find a "normal" VIN, and so we used the number that was there. I've found one other Yamaha owner here who had the same thing. Everybody else thinks we're crazy and don't know where to look! :D

you had the 29U number on the frame? Mines on the engine. my frame starts with JY329xxxxxx-xxxxxx
my Engine# is the 29U-XXXXXX
its an 85 225 DXN

[Frankencelery]

you had the 29U number on the frame? Mines on the engine. my frame starts with JY329xxxxxx-xxxxxx
my Engine# is the 29U-XXXXXX
its an 85 225 DXN

Yes, that's right. Right on the front tube where the VIN should be. Mine is an '83. They let me do it, so now that number is on my title!