sold a stolen dirtbike.

[Unregistered]

we sold my son's dirtbike, which we had for 3 years, to a guy who rode it in an illegal place and got the bike impounded by the police. The police ran the VIN number and it comes back as stolen! We obviously had no idea, we bought it from a guy we knew years back.

Anyway, we come to find out the state police traced it back 5 owners.....The guy who bought it from us wants his money back and is suing us in small claims. We had no idea it was stolen. Do we have to pay him his money? We understand the bike is now back with its rightful owner....I am assuming our buyer is just out of luck....but I guess the small claims judge will decide. Will we have to give him back his $1500? We live in Pa if it makes a difference.

[Unregistered]

Re: sold a stolen dirtbike.

Often if you did not know and you bought it as well, you need not pay back.

[Unregistered]

Re: sold a stolen dirtbike.

so what happened in small claim court? im in the exact same position.

[sandyclaus]

Re: sold a stolen dirtbike.

The judge may likely order the repayment of the purchase price here. It doesn't matter that the seller claims they didn't know it was stolen (its an all-too-common claim). Regardless of when you "learned" that the property was stolen, it wasn't yours to sell. Why should the buyer be out both their money AND their property, and you get to be unjustly enriched by the transaction by keeping your the proceeds of the voided sale?

You cannot reasonably expect to keep money for something that wasn't yours to sell in the first place. The same goes for whomever you bought the item from, as long as the Statute of Limitations hasn't expired. Either that,or someone risks faicing a receiving or possession of stolen property charge themselves.