selling only a title

[rustreddesign]

As not to get too much into a sad story, I once owned a beautiful '02 Ducati Monster 750 dark. I had it stored away in a garage for the winter at my friend's home. Long story short, their house burned with my bike inside. The worst part is that I took insurance off the bike for the winter. I know, dumb and I've leaned my lesson, blahblahblah, etc... Anyway, I still own a clean title (There was no record of the bike ever being destroyed). It's just been sitting in my safe for 5 years now. My question is, can the title be sold? If so, is there a market , is it legal (if not, will I get caught) and how much would it be worth?

 

[session101]

hmmm, this would be a tuffy. I would think that if you had the title and a vin plate you could stamp it on anything and call it that, but what about your title with a hand made frame stamped with the same number? I would assume this could only be used for like a custom framed bike where it had to be hand made, and you wanted to keep it legal...maybe?

 

[VonYinzer]

I don't see a reason why not. More importantly though, why wasn't the bike covered under their homeowners?

 

[Scruffy]

Unless you kept the frame neck (with the numbers intact) it is pretty much worthless. Not that many 750 Ducatis running around, even fewer that need "clean" papers.

And even with the frame neck it's kind of a "grey" area. Fairly common to use an aftermarket frame and a titled neck to get around the EPA builder restrictions in the HD world. Not technically legal or illegal, per se, but if you get a law enforcement "boot camp" (rookie), you'll need a bottle of Tylenol the size of a whiskey barrel to get through the headaches...

 

[SONICJK]

Im with scruffy,
I dont see how it could possibly be useful to anyone without the frame?

 

[bradj]

I don't see a reason why not. More importantly though, why wasn't the bike covered under their homeowners?

becouse insurance companies are full of scum of the earth mother fuckers and im sure they found a way outta paying

 

[Rich Ard]

Legal? No. Market? Probably.

 

[Chito]

I know it is an old thread, but thought it might be helpful. There is no reason a homeowner's policy would ever pay for your own bike, unless you have your agent write up a specific endorsement to your policy... which they probably won't do and may cost more than a mc policy. Homeowners only covers the property that is specified and only for the specified causes of loss. Vehicles are almost always excluded... So just in case, anyone was thinking about storing a bike, I would call around and see if you could get a special policy... Sometimes they are available with mileage limitations for cheap.

 

[Chito]

Now... As it was your friends I'd definitely try a general liability claim under your friend's policy.

 

[VonYinzer]

Consider the knowledge... Dropped.