Does anyone know if dirt bikes in Oklahoma are issued titles. I am thinking of buying a yz and the owner only has a bill of sale he said they don't title them in Oklahoma. is there anywhere i could run the vin to see if there is a lien? Thanks

never mind, I was wrong.. but a bill of sale is just as good as a title IMO

Yes they do title them in Okla. The thing is if you are from out of state youd o not have to pay tax or have a bike titled. I bought my last bike in Altus oklahoma and did not get a title or pay tax, but if I lived in Altus I would have to.

The thing is if you know you will never need to title it for street plates or get a loan on it then most times people will not transfer a title, cause that means they will have to pay sales tax on it at the transfer. So often the titles get lost but some folks dont worry about it if they never need to plate it or barrow against it.
In Texas as of 2006 they value it per the NADA value for tax amounts. So a lot of people dont want to pay the extra for a dirtbike so they dont bother with a title.

But you dont have a choice when buying from a dealer, in most states you get a title when new (it may say "Off Road Use Only" for dirt models) but you get a title.
A few (very few) states will issue the an MSO (manufacture statment of origin) that is like a birth certificate from the manufacture. Maybe OK is one of those states? In those states you may not have to pay sales taxes when buying it if it is intended for off road only.
I once got a bike with only an MSO from Mississippi and it was a real pain to transfer that into a title, but they (the state DOT office) made sure they got paid the tax portion!

It's kind of a "catch 22" most of us would want the title but dont want to pay the sales tax to transfer ownership. At least on a used dirtbike.

Since its hard to imagine owning a dirt bike forever, it is best to get it titled. Then you can trade it to a dealer if you want or you can sell it privately and the buyer will know there is not a lean on it.

True, you will run into a lot of folks that say that the MSO is as good as a title, however they are usually the ones that bought a bike without one or are the original owners who never titled the out of state bike so they don't have to pay sales tax.

The law in Texas is that whether or not you buy the bike out of state it is to be titled in Texas. You only pay sales tax when you purchase a new or used bike from a dealer.

<VERY IMPORTANT NOTE>
YOU DO NOT! PAY SALES TAX WHEN YOU PURCHASE A USED DIRT BIKE FROM A PRIVATE PARTY IN TEXAS. YOU ONLY PAY A $33 TRANSFER OF TITLE FEE.

Here is a link to the form
http://www.texasara.com/documents/VTR130U.pdf

Hmmmm that's good to know cause I got dinged for sales tax once buying a car that was a wreck, I told them I didn't want a license plate Yet! Wanted to fix it up over a couple months first.
So I didn't need insurance to get title but they hit me for sales taxes.

I'll know better if ever in that position again.