Yeah, I thought to have a rebuilt title it had to first be declared salvage but as I said, a bit ignorant about some of those things.

Definitely waiting til Monday so I can talk to the DMV, just curious if any of you had had dealings with things like this.

I didn't go dig my titles out of the safe, but as I recall the titles only have the VIN, which is the number on the frame. There is no engine number on the title. And the engine numbers are not the same as the frame number, anyway. To me, that means you could replace the engine six times per day and not affect the title. Note that I am in Nebraska (where it snowed last night). Your State may differ.

No no, the first owner ran it low of oil and sold it as-is to the second guy. Second guy bought the new engine..I've seen the receipt and all but yes...this all seems fishy.

I can't say anything about Alabama but in Minnesota a rebuilt title is one of two things.  It either has SALVAGE stamped accross it which means it was totalled out due usally crash damage, but could also be hail, fire, tree fell on it, girl friend kicked it over and jumped up and down on it.  (Actually while I was a suzuki wrench I have seen the last one so don't laugh).  The other title in MN is a clean title.  If it was marked salvage and you repair it you can get it inspected and cleared.  From there on no one knows that it was once damaged.

Now, the replacing the engine. I have worked for a suzuki dealer during my life and I am not aware of any suzuki that ever had engine numbers that matched frame numbers.  The old brit bikes would but not the japanese.  I don't believe kawasaki ever did either.  They instated the long VIN number we are all used to some time in the mid to late 1970s.  even before that japanese had frame numbers and engine numbers that were a different code.

I personally have swapped engines in several bikes.  the MN DMV trys to record them to try to stop stolen parts moving around but they do not print them on the title.  My engine swaps have never changed the status of the title.

Personally I would be very wary of that bike.  

You are doing the right thing by waiting until monday and call your DMV.  The other thing is if you don't have the actual title number get the liscense plate number from him.  In MN you can call the DMV with the plate number and tell them you are looking at buying it and they will confirm title history/status for you on the phone.

good luck!!

You can make the guy go with you to register it & if it wont register, you can just NOT pay him for it. If the thing will register, pay for the bike. If he declines to go do that,, well,, maybe hes trying to break it off on you.

Call your insurance company & see how they will act if you buy one like that? Maybe?

In PA,  only VIN on the title, no engine SN., or bike Color (been told as in Indiana).   Why??   On most bikes they don't match.  It’s a replaceable part.  

 If you look at your Savage, (and from prev bike I owned,  Honda's too) you will see that the engine number does not match the bike.  Why??? The engines are not build at the same plant.  It's a mix and match .......  too much work trying to match them up.    

  A salvage / rebuilt bike, like said before, had to be "totaled" by the insurance company. It doesn’t matter what’s it's totaled for (fire, crashed, dead engine, flood etc etc).  If the First owner put a claim in that the engine died, they would have to prove it wasn't negligence.  Pretty sure a dead engine is enough to total a bike.   You can only make money on those types of deals if you do the work yourself, which is what it sounds like the second owner did.

In PA, a Salvage bike can be re-registared only after it has been thru the state yearly Safety inspection and of course a bunch of forms (got to love the gpov't).

So,  since states are different, you need to look at the Alabama laws and understand what you’re getting into.