My ride is unlicensed / unregistered / stolen and

So the other day I turned left on my scooter at a busy intersection and got caught by the cops sitting there and waiting for me. After pretending to be a dumb clueless foreigner (I knew exactly what I had done I’m just kinda wanted to get home ASAP) I get slapped with a lovely fine. However nowhere on the ticket does it state as to how much the fine is, how is much a traffic violation like this going to be?? or since it doesn’t say how much it is on the ticket I don’t have to pay a fine? (Yes, I know wishful thinking and that) Also the scooter was driven by me but is in the name of someone else who has long since left the country but we never exchanged the papers who would be liable for the fine. I suppose I should just take the fine like a man really.

After reading this post I don’t think I really should be driving on the road, driving a scooter with no documents, doing left turns on intersections and trying to not bother pay the fine LOL

get rid of the scooter and get a properly licensed one. otherwise you might see a quite large bill if they catch you for real

I’m not really doing anything that illegal. I’m insured on it, I have the correct license, I’m just “borrowing” it from a friend and I actually have the paperwork showing it’s in my friends name.

How do you know you are not riding a scooter which at some point in the past was stolen from the original owner? I would recommend ditching it for a legit one.

If it is insured then it won’t be stolen. You can’t insure a stolen scooter and the guy said he has the documents in a friend’s name.

The fine last time I got done for this was 600NT I if I remember correctly. Now the thing is, if you have a fine, you won’t be able to change the paperwork across without paying it. Seeing as the fine will be in the name of the last owner and sent to that address, you won’t get the fine and you won’t be able to pay it, so you’ll have difficulty changing the name over to you. It can be done if you go over to the DMV, but then you need your friend to sign some paperwork releasing it to you. That may be difficult unless your friend has very long arms, unless you send the documents to your friend, which takes time.

Well I have been stopped by the cops before and they have done checks on the scooters and so on and there hasn’t been any problems. Surely if it was stolen they have seen that when putting it through the computers?? Also I have attempted to transfer it into my name before but got half way through the process and failed due to some silly complicated issue. If it was stolen they would have picked up on it. I’m sure that it’s not stolen.

There you go then. In that case, there shouldn’t be a problem. You may get done for some silly tax thing, but you won’t incur any fines because it is not in your name. Just don’t rack up too many as you may get it confiscated. You won’t be able to sell the scooter if it has any fines on it until they are paid off, but as it is not in your name anyway this won’t be an issue.

Thank you so much for providing me with a straight answer, this is all i need to know.

I thought moving violations where you’re pulled over were made out to the driver, not the owner of the scooter.

OK. It seems like there is one of these threads being started every week featuring some scofflaw bignose and an unregistered / stolen / my-dog-ate-my-homework kind of vehicle. This is now the sticky thread for this topic and all new ones will be merged into this… like a mini legal forum inside C&M for the unlicensed / illegal crowd. I would prefer if people would start these discussions in General Legal and it’s not fair to the GL mods that I drop a new carbon-copy thread into their lap every week.

Your bike is still registered, otherwise they would have impounded it. You received a citation and the actual ticket will be sent to the bearer on the rego. Once the rego runs out, you will be riding an illegal vehicle. If stopped on it then, the bike will be seized. Check the date on the rego to see how long you have before your bike turns into useless scrap metal. You really should have transfered the rego while your buddy was still here…Curious: How did you manage to insure it without the bearer’s chop or signature?

Now that this thread is sticky perhaps we could start collecting some hard facts such as:

  1. For those purchasing a scooter/car in Taiwan what exact checks and or paperwork should be carried out.

  2. Is there a web site like in Australia which you can go to to find out if the vehicle is stolen or has outstanding debt/loan replayments which could result in it being reposessed.

  3. If you get a traffic violation from a cop, do they check/take your vehicle serial numbers, and hence would be able to check if it was legit

  4. If your vehicle is impounded, what exactly do you need to get it out?

[quote=“pqkdzrwt”]Now that this thread is sticky perhaps we could start collecting some hard facts such as:

  1. For those purchasing a scooter/car in Taiwan what exact checks and or paperwork should be carried out.

  2. Is there a web site like in Australia which you can go to to find out if the vehicle is stolen or has outstanding debt/loan replayments which could result in it being reposessed.

  3. If you get a traffic violation from a cop, do they check/take your vehicle serial numbers, and hence would be able to check if it was legit

  4. If your vehicle is impounded, what exactly do you need to get it out?

  1. This is covered under the other sticky thread about purchasing used vehicles. Two things I will remind you of now: All fines must be paid up and the vehicle insured and / or inspected to schedule before title transfer can occur. Vehicles with a loan attached to them have a block in place which only allows title transfer to occur with the finance company / bank’s written release.
  2. This sort of thing (thankfully) doesn’t exist in Taiwan as it would just get abused by thieves and dirtbags who would show up at your door with ten buddies and baseball bats to ‘fix’ you for overtaking them or some other imagined slight.
  3. They do not do anything like this unless there is reason to believe the vehicle is stolen, like for example the color / make / model obviously doesn’t match the paperwork. In any case the cops have no right to ask you to open the hood of your car at the roadside, for any reason.
  4. The registration documents and some form of ID identifying you as the owner. Not sure if you can appoint someone else to go collect a vehicle on your behalf.

Also worthy of note is that the cops do randomly survey license numbers at popular parking places and even freeway rest areas for stolen vehicles or those that don’t match the vehicle they’re attached to. The ‘owner’ may think it was towed at random but it was in fact taken because it’s suspected of being stolen.

As I said in a earlier post kinda of a long story. Anyway my buddy had to leave the country quickly and sold me her scooter at a big discount ($5000) cos she wanted a quick sale. So we first went to get the insurance transferred in my name. No problem. Then we went to the DMV to get it transferred in my name. I didn’t have my ARC (still waiting for it to be processed) so it couldn’t be transferred until i got the ARC but they said they could do all the checks and do the paperwork with my buddy, then when I get the ARC all I would need to do is bring the signed paperwork by my friend and the ARC and could be transferred without her having to present. A month later get the ARC, my buddy has left the country, go to DMV to transfer it, can’t transfer it cos the original owner isn’t there despite what they said a few weeks earlier. :frowning: Their advice “Drive carefully so I don’t get stopped by the cops” LOL, That was about a year ago and been stopped a few times but there have been no real issues.

About the rego, how long does normally last for? and if I had the scooter in my name and the rego what would I then have to do? I’m going to be honest the scooter isn’t in great condition, it was cheap and if it gets taken it wouldn’t be a huge tradegy for me.

Not so sure about bikes, but with cars, if new, three years initially and then every year after that. If you say it was about a year ago, you might be coming close to due. Check the dates on your insurance card and your registration.

[quote=“forefit”]So the other day I turned left on my scooter at a busy intersection and got caught by the cops sitting there and waiting for me. After pretending to be a dumb clueless foreigner (I knew exactly what I had done I’m just kinda wanted to get home ASAP) I get slapped with a lovely fine. However nowhere on the ticket does it state as to how much the fine is, how is much a traffic violation like this going to be?? or since it doesn’t say how much it is on the ticket I don’t have to pay a fine? (Yes, I know wishful thinking and that) Also the scooter was driven by me but is in the name of someone else who has long since left the country but we never exchanged the papers who would be liable for the fine. I suppose I should just take the fine like a man really.

After reading this post I don’t think I really should be driving on the road, driving a scooter with no documents, doing left turns on intersections and trying to not bother pay the fine LOL[/quote]

Your scooter is illegal, but already has been illegal because you never switched the papers. You should get yourself a legal scooter, but that ticket wont get sent to you. Also, even if you never decide to pay that ticket the chances of it ever coming to haunt you is pretty slim. If another police officer pulls you over, they won’t have a clue if you have an unpaid ticket. So in that sense you are fine.

People here have a million stories about this and that. It is all BS. All my scoots are legal except my 50cc that I bought when I got here 7 years ago. I have the original papers, been into accidents, pulled over, and been towed on it. It has never gotten me into trouble. I will never sell that little bugger either, she is the best scooter in the world. Hey, I can always run away from it if I have too. Hhahah. :slight_smile:

god why is it almost everyone has these story’s about owning a scooter that they dont own…

Scooters cost fck all to buy legally so i cant see the excuse or reason for not doing so, the fact that nobody bothers is kind of insulting to the laws of the country don’t you think?.
Sure most of the place is backwards but that doesn’t give you an excuse, you are the outsider and the locals will arsef
ck you to kingdom come the first chance they get then start showing videos on tv of the evil foreigners riding stolen bikes or cars.
Which will then mean i or other legal foreigners will get pulled over and get the nine degrees from the police in my legit car or bike.

So thanks for that.

This isnt aimed just at the OP, but basically everyone who rides illegally.

-edit-

Every country has its laws, its up to you to know them before buying a vehicle, otherwise its ignorance.
I knew a Taiwanese kid in England who had no license and drove around in a celica in London, got caught and sent to prison for 6 months :s
He couldn’t speak good English and pleaded that he was confused by the local laws, the judge just slammed the hammer down… think about it

I ain’t taking it personally, I know many people in the same situation, but if read my little sob story you will see I did buy it legally and in good faith but DMV wouldn’t little me transfer it due to some kind of confusion their end.

Can I just ask what is the worse that can happen to me? They take my scooter from me and thats it?

And the Taiwanese follow these laws faithfully. Especially in regards to driving. Not yesterday, two police officers on scooters went through red right in front of me.
I’m not advocating having an illegal scooter by any means, and I don’t, but it helps when the majority of the population follows the law. Some foreigners try to get away with it because often that’s what the locals do. The police are too inept to deal with any proper law breaking because they are usually out somewhere breaking the law themselves.

“blah blah blah…you don’t respect our culture blah blah blah…”
“…yes I do. i have an illegal scooter with no papers.

[quote]I knew a Taiwanese kid in England who had no license and drove around in a celica in London, got caught and sent to prison for 6 months :s
He couldn’t speak good English and pleaded that he was confused by the local laws, the judge just slammed the hammer down… think about it
[/quote]

Now this is utter nonsense. Why?

Penalties for Driving Without a Licence
The penalties you can incur for driving without a licence are between 3 and 6 penalty points and a maximum fine of £1000. The court may also issue you with a driving ban for a set period of time. It follows that if you are driving without a licence, you will also be charged with driving without a licence.

It is not an indictable offense, meaning you can’t be sent to prison for it. If he was disqualified but was still driving, then that changes everything, but he wouldn’t get the maximum penalty of 6 months, especially on the first offense.

[quote=“forefit”]I ain’t taking it personally, I know many people in the same situation, but if read my little sob story you will see I did buy it legally and in good faith but DMV wouldn’t little me transfer it due to some kind of confusion their end.

Can I just ask what is the worse that can happen to me? They take my scooter from me and thats it?[/quote]

Worst case scenario is when [if] you are involved in an accident. If your vehicle is not 100% legal, you are liable and you open up a shitstorm. It is just not worth it.