Cue: "You stole it!" "Hi Thief!" "Yeah, right, you stole it!", etc. Hopefully that nonsense is out of the way.

My Dad likes golf carts and quads. He buys fixer uppers and parts pretty regularly to keep himself busy nearing retirement. One day I mentioned how I'd like to swap him one of my gas golf cart projects for an electric cart project. I knew he had a few in his shed that I had my eye on (he has a cool limo cart used for carting injured players off fields for example). Long story short, he shows up at my place to swap my cart for a 2002 Ford Think. If you're not aware, it is basically a street legal golf cart. It arrived in multiple boxes but no title. Neither of us realized it was street legal until I noticed the VIN number and looked it up.

Now I'm in a pickle. He doesn't remember who he bought it from to backtrack it ourselves. It was sitting so long it might not even be registered to this state. EDIT: Found it is registered in NY.

How can I find out who owned it previously?

Is there a method to claim it if that person is unreachable?

Should I give up the idea of ever restoring it to street worthy status?

Comments

Watchyousuffer t1_itwmm7b wrote on October 26, 2022 at 9:00 PM

there is a workaround by registering in vermont that is common in the moped community - I don't know details as I've never needed to do it, but you may want to investigate

locus2779 t1_itx804y wrote on October 26, 2022 at 11:32 PM

And here I thought that was something just the JDM community did

vtinpgh t1_iu31lsx wrote on October 28, 2022 at 4:33 AM

Because VT is the best.

s10blazed OP t1_itwb890 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 7:49 PM

Here is a picture of my Ford Think for the curious.

Imgur

uglybushes t1_itwfgu2 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 8:15 PM

Do those things have titles?

s10blazed OP t1_itwlhd2 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 8:53 PM

Yep. They seem to have been most popular in the retirement communities of Florida and California.

ingenuedbysociety t1_itxypxz wrote on October 27, 2022 at 2:57 AM

Contact PennDot, there’s a way to go through the courts to request a new title—it’s a pain in the ass though

s10blazed OP t1_ityulkw wrote on October 27, 2022 at 9:17 AM

Have you done the process personally?

chuckie512 t1_itwiec1 wrote on October 26, 2022 at 8:33 PM

https://vehiclehistory.bja.ojp.gov/nmvtis_vehiclehistory

Some of these sites will let you pay for a 1-off look up.

s10blazed OP t1_itwljzn wrote on October 26, 2022 at 8:53 PM

Thanks, I'll check it out.

chiphook57 t1_iu04p4y wrote on October 27, 2022 at 3:58 PM

There are numerous title washing services that can solve this. It is a legal process. I think it costs less than $300.

s10blazed OP t1_iu0mci4 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:52 PM

Have you used any that you can personally recommend?

chiphook57 t1_iu0njme wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:59 PM

I have not. A friend has. I will look into it. Any copy of hemming motor news will have multiple ads.

How To Get Title For a Junked "Car" I Now Want To Restore (Unknown Previous Owner)