Technicality Question: Is it legal to ride a bike with the signed over registration? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Technicality Question: Is it legal to ride a bike with the signed over registration?

T

thirstforspeed

Well-known member
So here is my question.

I just bought a bike. I have insurance for it already, I have a safety cert for it, plates and valid sticker off my old bike, and I have the signed over ownership with my sig on it.

I want to know if I can ride that bike now. Not forever, but just around the block, but legally. I know its a fairly low chance that I will get nicked if I for example just take it for a quick spin, but I want to know if I am legal while I do it. The only thing that I need to do is go to ServiceOntario to pay the tax and swap the ownership over, but they arent open Sundays. Is it legal for me to ride the bike?

Another question that stems from this is: At what point is the bike legally mine? When the old owner signs the ownership? Or when I go to ServiceOntario?

I'm not looking to be a squid about it, I don't want to take the risk, its not worth it. I just want input from the hive mind to determine if I am legally allowed to ride it?

Thanks in advance for the input
 
You have 6 days to change it into your name which you can ride during as long as its insured/plate/cert.

After 6 days you can wait as long as you want before registering it to you but cannot legally ride.
 
You have a signed ownership and bill of sale. It's legal yours.

But is not legally registered for use.

Find a Service Ontario near your work or whatever is preventing from doing the final step and just get it done and enjoy.




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You say you have the plate from your old bike, but has that plate been transferred to your new bike?
If not and you have it on your new bike, you are in violation.
It is a very serious offence to have a plate that is not registered to a specific vehicle and in the name of the current owner on a vehicle.
The cops will impound the vehicle.
The cost of going to Service Ontario and doing it properly is minor.
The cost of the fine and getting out of impound is major.
Needless to say you can't ride it on the street without a plate.
I don't know how much the fine is for that, but like all fines in Ont., I'm sure it isn't cheap.
So as Clint Eastwood put it so well in Dirty Harry, do you feel lucky today?
 
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There is some bad advice in this thread. If you no longer own the old bike and have insurance on the new one you can attach your plates and ride for 6 days legally.

The fine for using plates off another vehicle is a simple HTA ticket, and the vehicle may be towed off the highway as it is unplated but it is not impounded.
 
You can't attach plates that are registered to another vehicle for any reason. You don't get 6 days or 6 minutes.
That provision in the HTA has been gone for decades.
You have 6 days to record the actual change of ownership with the Ministry.
Not to operate a vehicle that the plate is not registered to (unless its a dealer plate).
In this case the original poster noted that he had not changed the ownership. This means his plates are still registered to his old bike.
 
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statsman said:
You can't attach plates that are registered to another vehicle for any reason. You don't get 6 days or 6 minutes.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I looked into this a week or three back and the HTA violation for driving a vehicle with plates not properly registered to it was actually pretty stiff. OP, good move not riding today, just do it the right way and be legal, bike insurance is tough enough without a ticket on your record over something that only requires a day extra to fix properly.

Racerx403 said:
There is some bad advice in this thread.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is. ;)
 
The exemption for temp plate use is in section 11 of the HTA and the fine for plates unauthorized is $140 plus victim surcharge ($170 total)
 
statsman said:
You can't attach plates that are registered to another vehicle for any reason. You don't get 6 days or 6 minutes.
That provision in the HTA has been gone for decades.
You have 6 days to record the actual change of ownership with the Ministry.
Not to operate a vehicle that the plate is not registered to (unless its a dealer plate).
In this case the original poster noted that he had not changed the ownership. This means his plates are still registered to his old bike.
Click to expand...

What you cannot do is take plates off a car or bike that you still own and put them on another vehicle.

You keep the plates when you sell a vehicle. Once you sell a vehicle and the registration for that vehicle is no longer attached to the plates you have kept, you can affix those plate temporarily to another vehicle that you have just obtained ownership of pending formal registration of that new vehicle. This is covered by s.3 below from the HTA.

Where transfer of ownership or end of lease
11. (1) Upon the holder of a permit ceasing to be the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle or trailer referred to in the permit, he, she or it shall,
(a) remove his, her or its number plates from the vehicle;
(b) retain the plate portion of the permit; and
(c) on delivery of the vehicle,
(i) to the new owner, complete and sign the transfer application of the vehicle portion of the permit including the date of the delivery and give that portion of the permit to the new owner, or
(ii) to a lessor, give the vehicle portion of the permit to the lessor. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 11 (1).

Re-issue of permit
(2) Every person shall, within six days after becoming the owner of a motor vehicle or trailer for which a permit has been issued, apply to the Ministry, on the form provided therefor, for a new permit for the vehicle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 11 (2).

Temporary use of plates
(3) Despite section 12, a person to whom number plates have been issued under subsection 7 (7) for a vehicle the person no longer owns or leases may affix the number plates to a similar class of vehicle that the person owns or leases where it is done in accordance with the prescribed requirements. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 11 (3).
​
 
Racerx403 said:
The exemption for temp plate use is in section 11 of the HTA and the fine for plates unauthorized is $140 plus victim surcharge ($170 total)
Click to expand...

Well, it can get to be more of a penalty than that. From s.12 of the HTA:

... and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or to both, and in addition the person’s licence or permit may be suspended for not more than six months. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 12 (1).​
 
It's a set fine. Few years back it was NSF so you'd be compelled to court and it was a bit bigger deal, however nowadays it's a part 1 set fine offence.
 
Racerx403 said:
It's a set fine. Few years back it was NSF so you'd be compelled to court and it was a bit bigger deal, however nowadays it's a part 1 set fine offence.
Click to expand...

Nowadays it "can" be handled as a Part 1 set fine offence and usually would be as a matter of expedience, but it does not have to be.

It's like many other HTA tickets, that can be handled by either Part 1 notice of offence or by Part 3 summons to appear, depending on how seriously the issuing cop decides to proceed based on how he or she sees the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding the event. The range of penalties is a lot broader under a summons to appear or if a set fine ticket is challenged.
 
Any set fine offence can be summonsed by part 1 or 3 but if there's a set fine it'll be used in 99.9% of circumstances.
 
OR
Do it properly and get a new ownership for your new bike with the old plates and ride to your heart's content.
Then you won't have to worry about any of this.
 
Normally in circumstances such as this the bike wouldn't be "impounded" BUT the officer may elect to place a "hold" on the vehicle, meaning the tow company will take the vehicle to their yard. The officer will tell the rider to come to the station once the registration is done and present it. They will then release the hold. You don't get dinged for "impound fees", (which are generally higher), but you do get dinged for "storage fees", (which are still pretty high, depending upon the company policy). Done it more than a few times. But having said that Racerx403 is correct this is not treated as harshly as it used to be, and it is up to officer discretion as to how to proceed. If the rider is decent they may get followed the block home and told not to ride again, or they can bend you over, without the use of lube...LOL

OP you made the right decision. I have always lived by the rule... If I have to ask if it s legal to do something, then it likely isn't..lol

Racerx403 said:
There is some bad advice in this thread. If you no longer own the old bike and have insurance on the new one you can attach your plates and ride for 6 days legally.

The fine for using plates off another vehicle is a simple HTA ticket, and the vehicle may be towed off the highway as it is unplated but it is not impounded.
Click to expand...
 
@hedo: hahaha thats a good rule of thumb.
how does that mesh with the other useful rule - "its better to beg for forgiveness than ask permission"?

but yeah, i think there is consensus here that it is not legal to do this. The penalty looks like it is heavily dependent on the cop's discretion, but in all it doesn't sound like something one would want to roll the dice on, considering the potential insurance ramifications that come along with a potential ticket.

thanks to all that have posted with opinions. If I run into a cop in my travels I will pose the question to him/her and update here with the results.
 
thirstforspeed said:
thanks to all that have posted with opinions. If I run into a cop in my travels I will pose the question to him/her and update here with the results.
Click to expand...

Fyi you already have and did.
*cough hedo2002 *cough

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