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Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 3:34 am
by Johnj
Make the exchange at the bank that holds the lien. That way as soon as you pay him he can pay the bank and they can release the lien. If he doesn't want to do it that way then walk away.
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 5:40 am
by dr_bar
Johnj has the right idea, write a cheque out payable to both the owner and the bank holding the lien. That way he can't cash the cheque and run, in the memo area note what the cheque is for and the loan number if you can get it.
Don't walk away from a good deal if it's for something so minor...
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:46 am
by Wrider
Agreed with Dr... Write out the check to a combination of the two, tell him you'll hold the bike while the title transfers, and get some kind of contract written out with him. After that, take the bike! Sounds like a good deal, and stock pipes are easy to come by if you want it too run like stock and not be so loud.
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 10:06 am
by SCgurl
Thanks guys. I sent him an email asking him for leinholder information. I just got an email from him that he'll get the leinholder info to me when he gets off work. Hopefully, it's local.
Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:34 pm
by SCgurl
Update:
So, the lienholder is HSBC Retail Credit (I'm guessing he got Suzuki financing). I'm a little gun-shy on this, as there's many stories of HSBC not releasing the lien upon payoff in a timely manner. And, we don't have an HSBC office anywhere in the state.
Any ideas here? I know we can write a check payable to HSBC for the payoff amount (assuming they give him the correct amount) and write a separate check to him for the difference, but the lien release is what I'm worried about. Any ideas here?
Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:55 pm
by RhadamYgg
SCgurl wrote:Update:
So, the lienholder is HSBC Retail Credit (I'm guessing he got Suzuki financing). I'm a little gun-shy on this, as there's many stories of HSBC not releasing the lien upon payoff in a timely manner. And, we don't have an HSBC office anywhere in the state.
Any ideas here? I know we can write a check payable to HSBC for the payoff amount (assuming they give him the correct amount) and write a separate check to him for the difference, but the lien release is what I'm worried about. Any ideas here?
They would probably send the title to him even if your check pays off the loan. Seems like a lot of risk to me.
Can he find the cash to pay off and get the title and then you pay him - you know relative, whatever...
RhadamYgg
Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:12 pm
by dean owens
just did something very similar with my new bike. here is how mine went down.
- previous owner had it financed through state farm.
- state farm's bank is in milwaukee (we are both in north carolina).
- she called state farm and found out what needed to be done... then told me.
- she gave me the number and i called and they told me the same thing she had told me.
- we met up.
- she gave me a bill of sale with the VIN and total price with our signatures.
- i gave her a certified check for her amount (amount i paid not towards the lien).
- we road together to a packing place to fax a form stating that when the lien is paid off the title would be sent to me.
- after she faxed the form she called state farm on speaker to make sure the form got there and put my name on the account to have authority to find out if my payment went through or not.
- went back to her house, picked up the bike, and went to my bank.
- i wired the amount to pay off the lien (plus $10.00 to overnight the title).
this was on a friday. the title showed up at my house on the next monday. we met up wednesday (best day for the both of us) at one of my banks branches to sign the title over and have it notarized.
by the time the deal went down we had many email and a few phone conversations. i was getting a pretty good "vibe" about her and had no problem trusting her. many of these things to "protect" me were actually suggested by her.
if you feel good about it, call up hsbc and find out what they do. see if you can get something worked out like i had. if not, see if he can pay off the bike and have the title sent to him knowing that as soon as he has the title in his hand that you will buy the bike from him and won't flake out on him.
hope it works out for you. that's a lot of bike. i like them, but couldn't imagine having one myself. good luck.
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:03 am
by SCgurl
Dean, that was awesome-that's exactly what I needed to see.
And it's a lot of bike, but within about 10 minutes I was doing tight figure-8s-it's got a really low center of gravity and handles really well

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 4:29 am
by dean owens
glad i could help. i look forward to hearing how it turns out. as i said, i had enough contact with this lady that i was comfortable. i was picking it up from her house (so i knew where she lived). she found a bill of sale online, printed it out and we signed it together so she couldn't come back and say i took it from her after paying her. i had her bike account number with the bank.... it was all very obvious with no red flags.
assuming your deal goes well i look forward to seeing pics and singing
happy bike day to you.. happy bike day to you...