Question re: ownership & regestraion of snowmobiles

[GoinAllTheWay]

So here is the story. 10 yrs ago, my brothers wifes ex-husband gave my brother an old snowmobile that he used to use for his sysmic company. I guess what happened is this snowmobile fell off the back of one of his trucks and suffered very minor damage. He gave the snowmobile to my brother and said if you can fix it, it's yours. No bill of sale was signed.

A couple years ago, my brother gave it to me. Again, no bill of sale. It never really came up as the snowmobile was used on private land out at my cabin so it never needed a licence plate.

I have recently been told that there are some great snowmobile trails out near my cabin that I would like to try out but in doing so, I would now be riding on land owned by the Crown I'm sure and would need to register the snowmobile.

Apparently my brother and his wife are no longer on speaking terms with the exhusband and it would be next to impossible to get him to write me up a bill of sale.

First question, is there anyway to find out who is the current legal owner of the sled?

If it is still in the exhusbands name or his companies name, I'm pretty screwed I guess? Even after 10 yrs?

[habernac]

why not get your brother to give you a bill of sale? You can even back date it. If it hasn't been registered in a decade that could work.

[jydk]

If you say the snowmobile is worth less then $500 you can register the vehicle without a bill of sale. I confirmed this with registries. I work in a building that has one.

[Tron_fdc]

If you get a bill of sale from your brother you're good to go. Just make sure it has a VIN# on it (the vin# is located on the tunnel on most sleds). Registries keep track of all the vins registered in Alberta (assuming that's where you are), so they will be able to pull up the former owners. Get insurance first, then go to any registry and get a plate.

I've registered a sled that I bought from a guy that didn't bother to register it from the guy he bought it from, but it wasn't a problem.

Where do you live?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by jydk

If you say the snowmobile is worth less then $500 you can register the vehicle without a bill of sale. I confirmed this with registries. I work in a building that has one.

Sweet, hopefully that would do the trick.

Tron_fdc-I live in Calgary. I'm really suprised they would do that. I will give that a go first.

I'm assuming the sled is still in the original owners name.

[Tron_fdc]

What kind of sled? What year? Just curious.....

Where do you plan on going? I can point you in the right direction if you want some trail info.

www.snowest.com is a good sled site.

[GoinAllTheWay]

It's a 94 Yamaha Bravo. Not the flashiest sled in the world but suits my needs just fine. Primary and Secondary fuel tanks, extra long sled, big basket in the back and a hitch. Has got to be one of the most basic engies I've ever seen either. You could probably take apart and rebuild the entire engine with the most basic of tools.

The trails I want to hit are in the Water Valley area. My cabin is a great place to ride as it has a river running through it so anyone is free to ride on it. On top of that it's a good sized peice of land, don't think I've seen all of it yet and there are miles of cutlines to explore.

It has been a tad neglected over the years and I am going to haul it into the city to clean it up and get it running smooth again. Just need to figure out if there are any air/oil/fuel filters that can be replaced. Engine proably has some decent glazing in it and need to find some kind of spray to fire in there to clean out all the gunk.