I bought a 1997 S40 in June. It has 6000 miles on it, is in excellent condition and I got a great deal ($500) buying it from a friend. I took the title to the DMV and they said the previous owner never titled the bike. Ok now I found out that the previous owner is a friend of my friend and it belonged to his dad. Unfortunately the dad passed away before he titled it but left it to his daughter in the will. The SC DMV is telling her that because I signed it that they cannot issue her a new title. So to make a long story short they offered to give me my money back. I know that they cut me a deal on the bike but while waiting on the title I bought a new jet kit, new battery and a new ignition switch/gas cap/helmet lock that were keyed alike. So I have an extra $200 in the bike. I was thinking about selling it as/is with an "iffy" title for someone who wants either to further pursue the title process or part it out. I don't have the time or the room to put is all on ebay one piece at a time. We even went as far as to look for another frame with a title and change everything over. I can not find a frame/title at local junkyards and ebay wants over $500 for a frame/title. Do I take off the stuff I bought and get my money back and put them on ebay or see if someone wants to buy it as/is? Its a great bike and I really don't understand the DMV's problem but considering the SCDMV I'm not surprised?   Any thoughts??

Oh yeah, I paid for the insurance for the year ($120) and had to pay the taxes on it BEFORE I could title it ($35). I guess I could call the ins company and cancel it and get some of the money back. Good luck getting the money back from the state !!!

How about if you sell it back to them, have them clear up the title/registration issue, then they sell it back to you?

Go with her, and her pop's death cert., to the DMV and tell them to straighten it the f*ck out...
It's got to be owned by somebody... ...

Have you looked into getting a Salvage Title for it? I know all of that stuff works differently from state to state, but it might be worth asking the question.
If the last known title is from Tennessee from several years ago, you could try going to the DMV with nothing in hand at all, just play dumb, and tell them you don't know the bike's history and want to try to apply for a salvage title. I doubt they will go out of state to research it; especially for a bike that old...
Worth a shot? Good luck with it!

If nothing else, you only paid $500 for a bike that should be worth twice that; you can always sell the parts that you bought, and sell the bike for what you paid to someone who does want to take the time to part it out. That still sucks to waste a perfectly good bike like that though...

in ny you for get about hte original title have the daughter go and get a replacement using her fathers death certificate for proof to get it reissued play real dumb use a different DMV office too ... or the clerk will remember you ... get the replace ment then have her go back and retitle it to her ... then she can sell it to you ... I wourk for the state all it takes is understanding the state has stupid simple rules and clerk can't change them only stupid administrators and they could care less ... sorry but that is how the system works ... don't ever lie on an official form just don't tell all the truth and it will work every time ... good luck ...

I have place the bike for sale in the Marketplace section. Thanks, Brian