Has anyone had experience selling a bike when there is still a loan on it? I have owned all my other bikes outright, so it was never an issue to sell or trade. I have an '06 Street Bob that I am thinking of selling... all I want for it is what I owe (around $7200). The loan is through HD. Are potential buyers willing to wait the week or two it takes to get the lean release from HD once I pay the bike off at the time of sale? ...or is it easier to just trade at the dealer? Is all this even an issue? Thanks for any advice.

 

Just like buying a car. They'll get a bill of sale and a temporary title until they recieve the original one in the mail. Should not be an issue. Now, if you can get loan value on a trade, go ahead - less headache all around.

 

When I bought my 06 SB I took him the cashiers check, wrote out a bill of sale and took off with the bike on a trailer. Waiter close to a month for him to get back in town, pay off the C.U where the loan was and send me the title.

Just did the same with a 06 H3 Hummer other than they only took 3 days to get the banking end cleared up and the title to me.

Karsten

 

Probably a little more complicated than that. If you have the money to pay the bike off, I strongly recommend you do that first and it will greatly facilitate the whole deal. I'm guessing maybe a month from the time you send them a cashier's check until you receive the title with the lien released. There's really no such thing as a lien release document on a titled vehicle.

If you cannot pay off the bike first and you have equity in the bike, the buyer should send one cashier's check to Harley for the payoff amount and give you a separate check for your equity. Whether or not he's willing to do that without title in hand is up to him. I would not, but as a retired car dealer I know that if something can mess up, it will.

Then the question arises as to whether or not you let him have the bike under those conditions. Again, I wouldn't. What if he fails to insure it and it's stolen?

Anyway, while it can be done otherwise, it's by far best to sell only once you have clear title in hand.

 

Very respectfully, it does not work anything like that.

 

I couldn't be understanding this correctly.

You gave a guy a cashier's check for a bike and only got a bill of sale and a "promise" that he'd pay it off and hand you the title a month later when he got back to town?

Please tell me I've missed something here.

 

The easiest way for this to go down is if they are going to finance it...

In which case you write out an "intent to sell" ... They take that to their Bank/credit union..

they (their bank/credit union) will work with the lein holder directly and if there is any equity in the sale you will get a check for that amount from their bank/credit union and the lien holder will receive the payoff amount..

Oh, and it won't take over a month that way either (your buyer will be long gone by the time you get a title in your hands doing it the other way...)

You get paid and are off the hook to provide title (the former and the new lein holder work that out amongst themselves) ....

Done this many many times...

 

Right !!!! now that is the definition of INSANE.. !!!

If they don't have the title , they DON'T OWN IT !

If they don't own it, YOU DON'T PAY THEM..

You pay the lein holder directly or through financing , they will get any equity ..

Kartsen, this could have gone very very bad, I would not do this again in the future...you got lucky.

 

Talk to your dealer. They may be willing to do your paperwork if you find a buyer (assuming you're buying a bike from the dealer). I've had car dealers offer that to me before. That'll allow you to get a little more than the dealer would give you on a trade. If you're impatient like me, i usually just trade it in...

 

Except that there's a bit of a catch-22 conundrum here. No bank or credit union will advance good cash money or other negotiable instrument until they have the clear title in their hand. Just a promise from Harley won't do it. And Harley won't release the title until they have not just certified funds in hand, but cleared certified funds.

There's no incentive for them to do such just to make a couple of points of interest down the road-the downside risk is just too great.

All this is now complicated by the times we're living in; a buyer has to be not only in an extreme equity position to obtain third-party financing on a discretionary purchase like a bike, but he must also be solid gold credit wise.