Old Bike: To title of not to title?

[fxvinyl]

Question: do you guys advise re-titling my 1973 75/5 with a new title in my name as opposed to just holding onto the last owner's title that came with the bike as part of the 'documentation'? The previous owner's title only goes back to 2011, so it's not particularly helpful in documenting the deep history of the bike. In Vermont, no need to title it so I can go either way.

I've never had an older bike so this is new territory for me.

Specifically curious if there is any reason NOT to just re-title in my name and surrender the old one?

Thanks for any guidance.

[iagins]

Interesting.

Where I live, the motorcycle title is the official document proving ownership. As long as the title is in someone else's name, one doesn't own it. Here in New Mexico, when one sells a bike, one assigns the title to the new owner. The new owner then takes it to Motor Vehicle and has the bike titled in the new owner's name. At the same time, the new owner registers the bike (if one wants to put it on the road), which provides the license plate. So I'm either missing something or the procedure in Vermont is significantly different.

So if you were here, the answer would be to re-title and register it in your own name.

Ira Agins
Santa Fe, NM

[schrader7032]

Ira -

Texas sounds just like New Mexico, but Vermont does seem to be different. Here's a post from the past about Vermont and titles:

http://www.vintagebmw.org/v7/node/7098#comment-11882

I wonder what happens when/if the bike is sold to someone in another state...what sort of hassle does that create for a potential new owner?

[fxvinyl]

Thanks, this is helpful.

It is correct that VT doesn't need the new owner to have a title in order to process a reg and issue plates. But it sounds like if I ever want to sell the bike to someone else out of state (depending on the state), having the title in my name is the way to go so with that in mind I will just title it and be done.

Thanks!