When you sell your bike | GTAMotorcycle.com

When you sell your bike

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Moose

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Hello, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on here I have a quick question I’m selling my bike and I am concerned with the liability when it leaves my garage. I have spoke to potential buyers and told them the bike must be in their name before it leaves. Unfortunately this will require payment to me the day of and then they go to have it transferred and come back to take bike. Is this an unreasonable request???.

if the answers are yes it is unreasonable I guess I will keep it . Not worth the risk of the the liability for a few thousand dollars.

i would appreciate any insight on how to handle this thanks in advance ?
 
Call your insurance company the day before the deal is to close and terminate the insurance effective midnight that day...so that when they're picking up the bike it's technically no longer insured.

As for the liability of letting the new owner take it with just the existing ownership in your name (versus going through the hassle of switching it first, something some may grump at) you can just go to Service Ontario after the fact yourself with the VIN and ask to have the vehicle removed from your name (If it's still even there, assuming the new owner hasn't transferred it already by that point) - this will put it in a completely unregistered state until such time that the new owner transfers it. Generally the risk is pretty low to begin with on that side of the transaction, however, so I wouldn't overthink it. The insurance is the bigger issue and easy to deal with.

It is worth checking a month or three down the road to ensure the bike has left your name however. I wrote here a year or so back about finding 3 or 4 old vehicles/motorcycles/trailers that were still in my name, some of which I'd sold 25+ years ago. Never presented any issues, but I had them removed from my name at that point regardless.
 
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When I sold mine, I made the buyer sign a liability contract, basically stating anything that happens in connection with the bike is not on me. Got him to sign it and I took a picture of his drivers license.
 
Moose said:
Hello, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on here I have a quick question I’m selling my bike and I am concerned with the liability when it leaves my garage. I have spoke to potential buyers and told them the bike must be in their name before it leaves. Unfortunately this will require payment to me the day of and then they go to have it transferred and come back to take bike. Is this an unreasonable request???.

if the answers are yes it is unreasonable I guess I will keep it . Not worth the risk of the the liability for a few thousand dollars.

i would appreciate any insight on how to handle this thanks in advance ?
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it's somewhat unreasonable yes.

Get a copy of the UVIP. make sure you sign and date next to you name, the copy of the registration has your signature and date on it. Take a picture of both with your camera (time/date stamp) if you`re over paranoid about it. That should be enough if anyone comes knocking on your door down the road.

I believe you can also visit the Ministry after the fact to advise them it's been sold.
 
I have always provided the UVIP document when selling a bike. That's on record with Service Ontario when I ordered and paid for it. I have also provided a safety cert. ,again dated, and a bill of sale to the buyer, dated and signed with the purchaser's drivers licence # on it.
I don't expect any of these are proof positive of the transaction but together they would provide overwhelming evidence that a private sales transaction had occurred, if push came to shove. Maybe I've been blessed but the people I've sold bikes to have all been stand up people! The tire-kickers come and go on every sale. Being able to judge character when someone shows up is a huge asset. That ability to judge character has never steered me wrong to date. I have actually shut some people down when they came to look at a bike I'm selling. They were acting like jerks. I'm never that desperate to sell that I have to deal with jerkie-boyz! I price my bikes fairly and therefore have lots of buyers to pick from. Only once have I had a bike on the market for more than a few days and that's because is was late fall and I wasn't prepared to give it away.

I'm sure others will offer up other suggestions for you but that's what I had done in the past and I've never been burned.
 
Thanks guys I have the UVIP I ordered it last week, I’m selling the bike as is ...I took the insurance off of it at the end of last season. I guess that is my concern someone will buy and ride before they transfer over. So it’s not unreasonable to request to see their license and take a photo. I did read that I can go to ministry and report it sold .
 
Moose said:
Thanks guys I have the UVIP I ordered it last week, I’m selling the bike as is ...I took the insurance off of it at the end of last season. I guess that is my concern someone will buy and ride before they transfer over. So it’s not unreasonable to request to see their license and take a photo. I did read that I can go to ministry and report it sold .
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if its already uninsured you are golden with 'evidence' of a sale (uvip/signed over registration)
 
As long as you've got a paper trail that you sold the bike (make sure the VIN is on all paperwork) you really don't have much to worrry about from a liability standpoint.
 
I always have two receipes one for him one for me with all info on it. Proof of sale always. I still have a Honda Elite 150 in my name from 10 years ago.
 
In over 30 years of selling my bikes privately, I've never been concerned about this, nor had any problems. But wow, check out this old article from 2013:

www.thestar.com

‘Seller beware’ is the law in private car sales: Roseman

Private car sellers can be held liable for a new owner’s bills if the ownership isn’t transferred. So, find a purchaser you trust to do this task.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
Moose said:
Hello, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on here I have a quick question I’m selling my bike and I am concerned with the liability when it leaves my garage. I have spoke to potential buyers and told them the bike must be in their name before it leaves. Unfortunately this will require payment to me the day of and then they go to have it transferred and come back to take bike. Is this an unreasonable request???.

if the answers are yes it is unreasonable I guess I will keep it . Not worth the risk of the the liability for a few thousand dollars.

i would appreciate any insight on how to handle this thanks in advance ?
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Are you selling it certified? They can't do what you describe otherwise.
... how did everybody miss that step :unsure:

OR register it unfit. Then there is no plate on it any more and it's no more your liability then if you sold them a broken chainsaw.
 
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"Registered but unfit" doesn't do the same thing as "no longer in my name".

The thing you don't want to have happen, is for some idiot to buy it with the plan to "ride dirty" - those idiots won't be interested in the UVIP nor the safety inspection (nor in any paperwork at all). They won't transfer the ownership or get insurance, they'll throw a stolen license plate on it (if any license plate at all), then get in a crash or an incident with the cops in very short order.

When writing up a bill of sale, make sure you get the name and address of the person buying it.
 
"They won't transfer the ownership or get insurance, they'll throw a stolen license plate on it (if any license plate at all), then get in a crash or an incident with the cops in very short order."
Not sure I'm seeing what part of that deal made the original seller responsible or liable for anything. What are cops going to do, reverse search the frame VIN to see who the previous motorcycle owner was? ... can't even imagine that being possible.
 
The issue here is exactly when does the ownership transfer occur?

Is it when the UVIP is signed over or is it when the MTO does it? I'm guessing the latter which would mean you should ideally both walk down to the MTO and get it done there. I could be wrong though.
 
Trials said:
"They won't transfer the ownership or get insurance, they'll throw a stolen license plate on it (if any license plate at all), then get in a crash or an incident with the cops in very short order."
Not sure I'm seeing what part of that deal made the original seller responsible or liable for anything. What are cops going to do, reverse search the frame VIN to see who the previous motorcycle owner was? ... can't even imagine that being possible.
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If the bike is still registered to your name when the dirty-rider crashes it, the cops will come knocking on your door. It won't take them long to figure out that the license plate is attached to the wrong vehicle, and it won't take long after that to search the VIN and find out who the registered owner is, and then they come knocking. If dirty-rider crashed the bike and ran away from the incident then as far as the cops are concerned, that was you (as the current registered owner).

If ownership was taken out of your name, sure, they could still find out who the last registered owner was (i.e. you), but it is additional legal supporting evidence that you're not involved.

The legal system understands legal processes, paperwork, paper trails, etc.
 
So who his responsible for the liability on a brand new Honda motorcycle that it still in the crate, Honda in japan?
 
Brian P said:
"Registered but unfit" doesn't do the same thing as "no longer in my name".

The thing you don't want to have happen, is for some idiot to buy it with the plan to "ride dirty" - those idiots won't be interested in the UVIP nor the safety inspection (nor in any paperwork at all). They won't transfer the ownership or get insurance, they'll throw a stolen license plate on it (if any license plate at all), then get in a crash or an incident with the cops in very short order.

When writing up a bill of sale, make sure you get the name and address of the person buying it.
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Yes, it does. The OP is saying that after getting paid, he wants the buyer to transfer ownership at Service Ontario before they can come back to pick up the vehicle. This is pretty muich what the article I posted recommends. Although without a safety, it can only be registered as unfit, so the owner will have to go twice if they plan on plating it.
 
That said, if I was buying a vehicle and someone said that to me, I would pass unless we could take it with us so it never left my sight. Once I pay for something, I'm not leaving it unattended at some stranger's place.
 
"If the bike is still registered to your name when the dirty-rider crashes it, the cops will come knocking on your door."
Good! I hope it's because they are bringing me back my motorcycle and I hope the ***** didn't smash it up too bad.


Somebody stole the plate off my motorcycle trailer last year and put it on their travel trailer, he got a ticket in B.C. The police offered to send me the lost or stolen plate, but I had to tell them I had already replaced it through service ontario. They didn't call me to make me responsible for his tickets because he is not my responsibility any more then the next guy that rides dirty.
 
Brian P said:
If the bike is still registered to your name when the dirty-rider crashes it, the cops will come knocking on your door.
...
If dirty-rider crashed the bike and ran away from the incident then as far as the cops are concerned, that was you (as the current registered owner).
...
The legal system understands legal processes, paperwork, paper trails, etc.
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After reading that article again, I'm starting to think that was a very specific circumstance similar to what you're describing above where the only evidence at the time is the VIN showing the registered owner as you. However, as you say, if the legal system understands paperwork and paper trails, providing a signed bill of sale with the buyer's information should be enough to introduce reasonable doubt that you were involved and prevent further prosecution. The towing company, on the other hand, doesn't care about legalities - all they want is money, which isn't quite as bad.
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