Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Is there any reason why a person would not give you the VIN number through email? There's a Ninja 500 that I'm interested in and it's over an hour away and don't want to make the trip out there without running it through the police to make sure it's legit. Do you think it's still worth driving out there to check the bike out even though the guy won't give me the VIN number? This is the listing of it: http://newyork.craigslist.org/stn/mcy/953311726.html

I can think of a couple of reasons not to give someone your V.I.N. in an e-mail. Would you take the money to buy the bike with you, the first time you go look at it?

What are the reasons? Just curious..

I can't think of any reason not to give a prospective buyer the VIN. If a seller refused to give me the VIN, I'd have to wonder what he's trying to hide. A prospective buyer might want to run the VIN through a service like Carfax or Autocheck to look for salvage title or large insurance claims.

Think criminal

What John is trying to imply is the guy is trying to rip you off.

That's why he asked if you were going to "Bring the money with you the first time you looked at it".

Obviously if you did that you would be a sucker and a prime target for a quick (and lucrative) mugging.

If the guy doesn't want to give you the VIN stay away from the bike.

Ah, that's what I figured anyway. Thanks for the input.

all the vin does is identify what the vehicle is and even what "options" came with the vehicle when it was bought. I am not sure if it tells who owns the vehicle which would be the only reason I can think of not to give it because the person is a "freak" and scared that someone else is trying to scam them/get their identity type thing.