Thought my motorcycle was in storage...

Ok, so this is quite confusing and I don't really know where I stand but my dad has an old BMW R65 which I have always wanted to ride. It was in storage in his old office and the person who he sold the office to said he can leave it there until he has somewhere to put it. oke I thought.

My dad went and spoke to him yesterday and he said "oh aw the motorbike erm.... I dont know" Hes going to find out where it went but he thinks maybe one of the builders might have just taken it ?

So I go and check on askmid and it appears that the bike is insured so who ever has taken it has applied for the V5 with a V62 got it insured and it driving it around as if it were their own.

What I don't understand is why the DVLA didn't contact my Dad at his new address when someone applied for the V5.

So where do my Dad and I stand, I want it back. Has this motorbike effectively been stolen ? Do I phone the police? Do I ask the DVLA for the new "registered keepers" address and go and take back what is mines?

So what do you guys think ? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Si

Firstly: Chin the new office owner!
Secondly: Contact the police for sure, but get a solicitor cos its going to go to court.

The V5 only confirms the registered keeper, it legally has no reflection on ownership.
This could quite easily turn into a case of "I bought it off him" - "oh no you didnt" - "Yes I did" and so on.

Defo get the police and a solicitor involved ASAP, check with the insurer after speaking with the police as you may find you've 24hours worth of free legal protection on it.

Also I wouldnt communicate with the office owner now either as he may know the new keeper and tip him off to what your intended statement will be.


I should note, im not a legal guru or anything - thats just how I'd play it... except I'd ask the intimidating irish one to do the chinning.

Originally Posted by Owenski

Firstly: Chin the new office owner!
Secondly: Contact the police for sure, but get a solicitor cos its going to go to court.

The V5 only confirms the registered keeper, it legally has no reflection on ownership.
This could quite easily turn into a case of "I bought it off him" - "oh no you didnt" - "Yes I did" and so on.

Defo get the police and a solicitor involved ASAP, check with the insurer after speaking with the police as you may find you've 24hours worth of free legal protection on it.

Also I wouldnt communicate with the office owner now either as he may know the new keeper and tip him off to what your intended statement will be.


I should note, im not a legal guru or anything - thats just how I'd play it... except I'd ask the intimidating irish one to do the chinning.

Good to know the V5 doesn't mean you own it & only the registered keeper(wasn't sure)

Funnily enough, my Dad was a solicitor and the person he sold the office to is a solicitor, he had to talk about solicitor stuff yesterday to him(his solicitor) he said he doesn't know where it is. but is going to try and find out for tomorrow.

I'm just thinking it might be best to get the police involved straight away as the always seem to favour on the side of the person who makes the allegations.

cheers. Si

What a freakin' cheek! I doubt the police would be remotely interested... But id give them a call, expressing confusion and seek a crime number if you can get it. Without mentioning that, i'd then ask for the builders name and give them a call and adk for it back pronto! You may just get it back. If you go in heavy an allegation if theft, then whoever has it will probably just become entrenched as they will have a lot more to
lose than the bike if they lose the case. Theres no harm in simply asking for it back first imo

Originally Posted by sydoggkdy

I'm just thinking it might be best to get the police involved straight away as the always seem to favour on the side of the person who makes the allegations.

cheers. Si

Pretty sure they side with the party who has the best case

Based on a similar situation which happened on here recently (search I Just bought my stollen KTM on eBay) if you report the bike as stollen the police will collect and impound the bike. The new possesor (I wont use the term owner) may fold and admit he "found" it. Or as with teh KTM you could be looking at a situation where the person currently with it in thier possesion bought it off someone in good faith and in which case you can be assured they'll want to fight the case too.

Either way the bike will be impounded until the matter is then resolved, I expect in court. Bare in mind both parties will now posses a V5 so that is about as much good as bog-roll. What I'd imagine your challenge will be is that you'll need to prove the bike was never sold. Find the OP on the KTM thread and speak with him, he may be able to help you out conciderably.

get a statemnet from new office person saying bike was being stored there and no one had the right to take it (do this first) then inform police the bike has been taken without consent but add the new office prson may be able to shed some light on who may have taken it ,then your dad can do what he does in court if required, i would also send a carefully worded letter to "the posseser" asking it to be returned forthwith and that the police are investagating the matter, which you are willing to drop if bike is returned "important bit" in the same conditon as before ,any damage will be paid by them after mutual agreement

[Sid Squid]

Contact the new 'keeper' first, s/he may be under the impression that the bike was OK to remove - s/he has applied for a V5 and has not been refused, we know this proves nothing as far as ownership goes, but they may not be aware that there is even a question over its ownership. The first thing to do is make them aware that the bike's removal was not OK'd by the legal owner.

That way no-one's feathers are ruffled more than is absolutely necessary, as soon as they are contacted by the police they may well not be as easy to deal with as if they would be if a simple enquiry is made first.

I had a problem registering a bike a few years back.

The DVLA should have sent your dad three letters asking if he had sold the bike once they had got an application for its V5. They have to do this and then if they get no reply they will issue a new V5.

Was the bike in your dads name at his current address?

Thanks for the comments, I think I'll see if the guy can find out who took it and ask for the thing back, else just phone the police.

what sort of evidence do you think we'll need to prove its ours, all we have is the panniers, service books & manual. he bought it in 1987 so as you would imagine the original bill of receipt is long gone.

obviously he owned it for 22 years or so and then all of a sudden without any signature from his part someone else becomes the registered keeper.

I can see all this becoming very confusing and time consuming

Originally Posted by drdax

I had a problem registering a bike a few years back.

The DVLA should have sent your dad three letters asking if he had sold the bike once they had got an application for its V5. They have to do this and then if they get no reply they will issue a new V5.

Was the bike in your dads name at his current address?

I think the bike was registered at our old address, so he wouldn't have got the letters if they did, but the DVLA know my dads new address as its on his licence so some common sense and they would have found him.

I'll keep you's posted as if you are like me, you'll hate it when you never find out the ending to a thread lol

cheers, si

completely useless with legal mumbo jumbo but hope you and your dad get the bike back, sounds like such a ball ache but is a very interesting case