Hi kids. Long time no see.
Anyhow, need some help on an ATV title issue.
Purchased a 2018 Polaris ATV from a private seller in Indy this past Feb. I'm in Ohio. He signed over the fourth line of the MCO, gave me a bill of sale, and I went on my way with the machine. Paid cash.
I took the MCO to the Ohio title office, they handed it back, said its not a title (I agree) and told me that I need the title. I spoke with my seller, he is a stand up guy, and so I copied the MCO and sent him the original so he could get an actual title.
Few weeks later, he calls me, says that he ran into the same thing with his IN title office.
History of this ATV: Flooring distributor in Cinti purchased in brand new from a dealer in KY. Used it as part of a raffle/ give-away for their flooring clients. Guy that won it from the raffle didn't want it, so turned around and immediately flipped (under his flooring company name) it by selling it to the guy whom I bought it from. Both the raffle winner and my seller are located in Indy. So technically I'm the fourth owner, the fourth assignee on the back of the MCO, and the thing has never had a real title. The understanding of my seller and I is that the raffle winner should have titled the ATV, paid the taxes, and got a real title. Oh, and the kicker: The guy I bought it from took out a short term loan from a bank to purchase it. The bank never noted or pursued a title (huh??).
My impression on this is that the raffle winner jumped title ( a felony in all 50 states), thus its his responsibility to claim it, pay taxes, and get a real title. My sellers mother in law is a paralegal and one of her attorneys sent a letter to the raffle winner but thus far has not received a response.
Any ideas on how I can fix this? My seller is willing to buy it back, but I don't want to do that at this point as any replacement would be at least 6 weeks to come in if ordered from a dealer. I plan on keeping this for a long time (wife likes to trail ride and its considered "her" ATV).
TIA
Jeff