FYI, check for old vehicles still registered to you! | GTAMotorcycle.com

FYI, check for old vehicles still registered to you!

PrivatePilot

Ironus Butticus
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I was at Service Ontario today getting a UVIP for my wifes old car, as well as getting a new sticker for my bike.

While the lady was looking up the licence plate of my bike, I noticed something flash across the screen - the word "Crown". I looked a bit closer and inquired and she showed me - it was my old Crown horse trailer that I sold over a year ago. It's still registered in my name.

So, she goes looking for the motorcycle (since I couldn't' remember my plate number) and a few seconds later says "Oh yes, here it is, the 1983 Yamaha".

Huh?

So yeah, not only did the guy who bought my horse trailer last year never change the registration, but the guy that bought my first ever bike (a 1983 Yamaha Seca 900) in 1996 (!!) never changed it into his name as well.

Now, FWIW, the bike had a bent shift fork when I sold it and had no third gear, so I wouldn't be surprised it if was parted out or is sitting abandoned in a barn somewhere, but I was amazed to still see it registered to me.

Anyhow, I'm going back sometime next week when it's less busy and they said they'd go through the list with me and mark any vehicles I no longer actually own as "unregistered" so I'm not legally responsible for them anymore. This was a small town Service Ontario office where they are nice enough (and have the time on a slow day) to do this sort of thing, but she said for something like $25 they'll run off a list of every single vehicle ever registered in your name which is the sort of thing you'd probably be asked to get at a busier/city SO office and then they have a form you can fill out to officially declare any problem vehicles as no longer yours.

Just a heads up.
 
Boats have the same problem. The buyer has to pay taxes when the ownership is changed so it doesn't get changed. I make sure it does.

The last thing I need is to have a drunk operator run through a beach full of kids and have the boat traced back to me.
 
Had a Civic I sold when I was 19. Car was not drivable. 8 years later two leos show up at my door asking me about my civic. Whomever was in possession of it committed some sort of crime with it resulting in my being questioned, then later asked to go through mug shots to try and identify the person I had sold it to 8 years earlier. I got down to two photos but couldn't be sure and never heard anything more.

In the interim, I had bought a car of a guy who actually insisted I go with him and register the car in his presence or the deal was off.... I thought he was nuts.. Touche random man lol

Anyway, the leos advised me to ensure I put a report of sale or sold status on any vehicle I part with in the future. Sound advice.
 
1st car I ever bought when I was 18, the seller insisted we meet at the MTO to finalize payment and transfer ownership.

I thought it was a little odd as well, until years later I sold a car, and the plates along with it.

About 3 months later I get a bill from City of Hamilton for $600 in unpaid parking tickets registered to the plate. Buyer never changed the ownership over.

...Luckily the guy paid me with a cert. cheque and I still had the stub with the memo line saying "purchase vehicle and plates" with the VIN, and plate # recorded on it.
 
Sold a car with a blown engine to my boss. I figured he could part it out for his family's taxi business. His dad dropped a new engine in it and drove it for a couple of years with dealer plates. Then he abandoned it on the Q.E.W. and I got sent a bill for towing and storage charges. Add the cost of taking the person to the MTO into the price.
 
Boats have the same problem. The buyer has to pay taxes when the ownership is changed so it doesn't get changed. I make sure it does.

The last thing I need is to have a drunk operator run through a beach full of kids and have the boat traced back to me.

I may have a boat and trailer that was never transferred into my name :/. It is a cheap tinny, transferring it didn't seem worth the hassle. I will do it at some point as I am sure it will bite me when I try to sell it.

My brother made a mistake and sold a car to a friend. The friend said he would return the plates when he picked up new ones to save my brother the hassle. That was followed by years of 407 bills and parking tickets. My brother had moved out of the country so it was hard to convince Service Ontario to remove the car from my brothers name. Eventually, the car ended up in Toronto police impound due to too many parking tickets and expired tags. At that point, the police helped him remove himself from the ownership, afaik the car went to auction.
 
I may have a boat and trailer that was never transferred into my name :/. It is a cheap tinny, transferring it didn't seem worth the hassle. I will do it at some point as I am sure it will bite me when I try to sell it.
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I'm led to believe that the boat registry has changed but don't take my word for it. Until a few years back every boat registration was paper-in-a-drawer at the customs and excise office in which the boat was registered. 50E was Toronto, 86E Port Credit IIRC etc. The paperwork had to go through the regional office. Nothing was on a computer so a boat "Plate" checkout needed someone to go to the file drawer and dig out a dogeared registration.

With the new system (Assumed) an on-the-water OPP check may be embarrassing.
 

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