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(Might move someday and want to know which states NOT to consider...lol)
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It doesnt make sense, moto guys ride on private property (for the most part) and off road guys do used public land but MTN bikers or horse people do too but they dont pay taxes so why should we have to pay more?!?!
Here, I will answer the op's question:.
Because the state you live in wants more money.
Come on, if your reply is that it proves ownership, yea it does, but so does an MSO or a sales receipt, bill of sale or possession is 90%>>>>>> bla bla bla
If you want to be able to prove ownership or report the bike stolen the title needs to be in your name or else youd be able to report everyone elses bikes stolen. If you want to register it to ride at a state park you need a title.
And again. Theres no difference in a dirtbike and a bike you ride on the road aside from some lights. Its a motorcycle. You title your zx10r and you title your yz450 because theyre both motorcycles.
Theres many different reasons theyre titled. Taxes are one reason but theres other reasons too.
It has become a huge pain in the rear selling bikes through Facebook with all the folks from out of state asking, "does it have a title?" I don't hardly even answer the question anymore.
And needing a title to “register” it to ride a state land. Register is just a fancy word for tax, so they’re making it a prerequisite to pay the title fees (a tax with tax on top) in order to register it (another tax) to ride public land (funded by tax dollars)
Good lord, this is kinda nutty!
Theres no stolen tv or lawnmower tracking like there is with vehicle VINs. And if you need a title to mark it as stolen. Nobody is checking VINs on a mower theyre buying on fb marketplace. If it cuts grass who cares?
If you lose the paperwork for your bike youre screwed. If its titled you can at least get another copy from the title office.
You have to prove everything and a bill of sale doesnt prove anything. Theyre easy to forge. Imagine i stole your car and just wrote a bill of sale to myself to make it legit. Whos going to know better when i sell the car? Theres no tracing at all without a title.
Yes its a money grab but theres good things about it that a bill of sale cant provide.
I just had one of my tool trailers stolen. A titled, registered, plated trailer. It had about 45 thousand dollars in un-titled tools inside. Ask me how much that title helped me. If the trailer or tools were recovered, I’ve got receipts and serial numbers that would allow me to claim the tools.
Certainly seems like there’s less “take my money from me” ways of accomplishing the one reason you’ve given for having a titled bike.
Pit Row
The 110 is the only one without a certificate of origin.
I didn't go transfer them though and all are insured through state farm.
This is pretty hard and fast here. So much so, that it is basically impossible to sell a used bike without a title because everyone suspects it is stolen. I routinely come across guys who went to other states and bought a bike to avoid paying taxes and then they are up shit's creek trying to sell it in AZ a few years later because no one will touch it without a title. There is a bonded/lost title process but why am I, as a buyer, going to go through that PITA when I can just as easily get a bike that already has a title?
On the bright side, it is very easy to make any dirt bike street legal in AZ and we don't have to renew our driver license until we turn 65. So it's not all bad news.
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The days of buying out of state and not paying tax are fading.
States are establishing reciprocal agreements for collecting sales taxes.
Another dick move is some states don’t allow dealers to sell to out of state customers, they want the tax money to stay in state.
don't know where i'm going with this other than to say i'm on the fence about the title topic. if you don't title it then who's to say it belongs to you?
now as for being forced to register it every year, i think that's bullshit. i ride the same trails that all the hikers, mtb's, horses, etc ride but i'm the only one paying a fee every year. and i'm the asshole on the trail (in everyone else's eyes) because i'm the guy with the motor.
If you drove past them with a $3000 refrigerator, a 15k bicycle, a 15k lawn tractor in the back of the truck they wouldn’t blink twice.
But because it was an opportunity to impound (which is big $$$ for them) write you a fine ( big money) and force you to register it (if you hadn’t which was their real assumption. And again, big money)
They absolutely didn’t give one shit if it was stolen.
There's not much you can buy anymore without paying sales tax.
Most(not all) insurance companies will not pay out on a total loss without the owner handing over the title to the motor vehicle. For those of you saying you have insurance on your bike but you never titled it you may want to give your insurance company a call and see if they will payout without a title. And don't call your agent because they may just tell you what you want to hear. I've seen it first hand where someone had been paying insurance for years and when they had a total loss the insurance company told them that as soon as they come up with a title they would pay the money.
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