I picked up a 73 Honda CB350 and 74 Honda CB360, both for 250 bucks. Neither had title but both were registered at one time, one in Oregon the other in WA. Since the 350 was easier to get running, I started with that. I took my bill of sale to the DMV; with this I was able to get the last registered owner on record. At this time I could either get another bill of sale from them or send them a registered letter asking them to sign the bill of sale and mail it back. Since I was told they could possibly issue me a title if the letter came back to me and I didn't open it. I chose this option; it just seemed easier and would be less invasive. Sure enough, 3 days letter, it came back to me. I also did a free internet search and found out the lady was 74 and her husband already passed away. I took the letter to the DMV, had to pay 55 for a lost title fee and another 55 for a title transfer along with 30 bucks for new tags and bingo, it’s that easy, you just have to wait 4-6 before receiving it. The downside could be if a finance company owns it because the loan was never paid off, but then again if its been more then 20 years, maybe they don't care?
Now WA was much more of a hassle and they told me that right up front over the phone and I felt discouraged from the beginning. I took my Bill of sale to them, had to travel there, although Vancouver WA is not far from Portland. Their DMV's for car license are open on Saturdays. Just make sure your going to the right office and not a location where they only do driver licenses. You pay $10 and they give you an affidavit in lieu of title that needs to be signed off in front of a notary by the owner on record. Your thinking good luck at this point, they told me only 5% of these get signed. The other option is, if you can't get them to sign this and can't track them down, you have to send the request in a certified letter. If they Sign it and notarize it, your golden, but this rarely happens. Most people end up paying for registration for 3 years before they can apply for title since they never can get a sign off. At least WA gives a person this option and registration is not cheap by the way.
Anyway, moving on to my situation, after receiving the affidavit that needed signed, I went to the address on the affidavit. I knocked on the door, there were car parts scattered around the place and it looked somewhat like a midnight auto parts operation. I verified that I had the right people and told the lady that answered that I bought a non- running motor cycle that I want to fix up and that the DMV had given me their information to get them to sign off since the owner that they sold it to never transferred the title and lost the title. She bought my story and said he would likely sign off but he's already fallen asleep. I also told her we'd have to meet in front of a notary of at a postal express, UPS store or even a mobile notary. She was cool with this and said to come back Saturday afternoon. I also said I'd make it worth there while with a gift card or something. The whole Notary thing made me nervous, I kept thinking I was going to go to all this trouble getting this guy there and I wasn't going to be able to find a notary that was available. So I did some further research and found three in the area and google maps to each one. I have to be honest, I kept thinking of the notary stamp that was on the desk of the real estate office my grandpa and grandma had sitting on the desk back in the day.
I showed back up on Saturday, I found out the guy was disabled and diabetic and has to hobble around and was nearly deaf. We all got into my truck and went to the postnet just up the street, after we walked into the place, I show them the forms we need notarized and they say great we just need to see his picture ID and its 10 bucks for you, luckily he had his ID, he signed it and we were done. I gave the lady a gift card and took them back home. Then I proceeded to the DMV to get it processed, the whole way over there I just couldn't believe I pulled this off, what if they guy moved to Seattle or something, I would have been up a creek. After getting to the DMV, there were just a few people in line ahead of me, the lady at the counter was cutie and told me the statistics on the # of these that come back signed, I just said I had to bribe him really hard. Washington only charged $37 bucks to get the title which I'll have to take to OR once I get it in 4-6 weeks.
