I guess it depends on how risk adverse you are.

Basically you can never legally own the vehicle because the current owner doesn't have legal title to it so of course he can't legally transfer title to you.
So if you have no legal title, is any liability insurance you get (which is compulsory in most countries) going to be valid?
If you don't have legal title, will you want to sell the bike later, and will you be able to find someone who doesn't care.

Do you want to take the vehicle into the USA? I know the US border officials don't even look at the vehicle as you drive up so maybe you will get in, but then of course any police stop will surely show the vehicle as lapsed or unregistered and uninsured.

Some US states do not allow foreigners to own vehicles and some do not allow non-residents to own vehicles.

It is not unknown for S American aduana or police to contact the insurer to make sure the insurance policy is genuine

A couple of times I have had laminated copies of title, registration and drivers license refused at borders and at police check points and have had to go out to the car to get the originals so laminated might not always work.

If the current TIP has expired, then it must be up to the current owner to sort it out at the border, not you.

etc etc etc.

Given the bike is not working, I imagine you aren't paying very much for it so I guess if you get it confiscated at a border, it mightn't be a big deal.

Given the problems, I doubt whether anyone is going to be able to come up with a sure-fire way of staying out of trouble so I'd say unless the current owner ha a method he has been using successfully and unless you are happy to keep doing things that way, you might give it a miss.

HOWEVER, even if the current owner was the genuine owner and it was still registered back home in a state that does allow ownership and transfer etc etc, the purchase of a vehicle from a foreigner by a foreigner in a foreign land is still illegal in most places so you need to make sure you do things the right way. Lots of us do it and most never have any problems - other than the problem of deciding which advice is good and which is BS. XFiltrate, a long time HUBB member and resident expert on many things Argentinian was always adamant that in Argentina at least, it just wasn't possible to buy a foreign vehicle legally and further, that it just wasn't possible to pull it off successfully. Obviously he is wrong about pulling it off, but absolutely correct about the illegality.

Happy Photoshopping.

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Tony
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