Motorcycle Title and Lien Question

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Old Apr 22, 2016 | 01:58 PM
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Default Motorcycle Title and Lien Question

Long story short.. my friend bought a motorcycle with a title that was filled out by some other guy, making the title pretty much pointless (I found the guy on facebook, he moved to a different state.. he wrote his Texas address on the title). He was going to abandon the motorcycle after losing interest in riding it not in his name (and inspection went out), but I said I would take it if he was going to do that (Free!!..???? - hopefully the bond isn't more than $100.. DMV gave value of $3k to it).

I'm going through the bonded title process now. I just got back from the DMV and they stated that the motorcycle is not stolen and no issue for going forward with the bonding process.

One other thing I am seeing on the internet is that I need to make sure that there are no liens on the motorcycle (money owed). Since I have the title to the motorcycle (even though I can't use it..) - doesn't this mean that the motorcycle is paid for? When I buy a car, I do not get the title until it is paid off, I'm hoping the same is for motorcycles. I am also seeing that the DMV would also have record of liens that would be on the bike too? Not sure if that is right though, the DMV didn't say anything regarding liens.

Also, I guess I could go to the guy that the title is still in his name, but I looked him up and turns out he's in jail lol

Thanks guys
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Old Apr 22, 2016 | 02:34 PM
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I did a bonded title for a 64 C10 truck last year and IIRC, for a vehicle older than 25 years the value is always set at somewhere around the 3K you mentioned. The title search they do at DPS should also include lien search. Also, if there is no lienholder mentioned on the front of the title, you should be okay. Unless somebody has gotten a duplicate title for it or some other ****.

But if DPS search came out clean, you should be okay. Bond for the truck was something like 150 bucks from an office next to the DPS office. Then had to pay tax off the 3K and title/license fees at the tax office and got the title in about a week, or so.
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Old May 3, 2016 | 08:45 PM
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I'm about to start this same process. Fingers crossed it all goes well!
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