Bought a bike off an expat, forgot the registration paperwork, now in Europe. I took the bike to the shop it was purchased from and the chap told me it’s impossible to transfer it to me, there are no options and I must not ever ride the bike here.
Trying to do the right thing in terms of registration and insurance but there must be a way. Any ideas?
5 comments
The paperwork is in Europe?
When was the bike registered?
In fact, the bike registration is valid only for 10 years. If it is older than 10 years, the police will no longer have any record of the bike,
If I’m not wrong I think you’re seriously out of luck. When my wife and I bought ours we made sure the previous owners at least gave us the registration cards. One of them was nice enough to write and sign a letter confirming the sale too.
Even then the bike store had to do the whole “we need to speak to the manager” thing, and we had a 3-month sort of lien thing on our bikes. If ever the owner laid claim to it we’d get the cops knocking on our door.
If the paperwork is in Europe, your options are to either get it mailed over, or dump the bike.
I believe I was told that if you’re given written permission from the previous owner or have some sort of proof of purchase it can be changed
I tried to register a bike that I bought from a junkyard that was in ok condition except the tires. It had been abandoned and was going to be scrapped, but when I tried to register it the shop said I needed to find the previous owner, ignoring me when I said it was abandoned (don’t blame them, they had no way to prove I wasn’t lying)
Can check with a bike shop though
Of course having the paperwork would make it much easier
Just go to your small local bike shop. Tell them that you bought it off your friend. If they ask, show them some handwritten “receipt” of purchase scribbled in English.
It should be ok as long as you explain and don’t come off as being shady.