So let me get this straight. You walked into a car dealership in 2005, saw a used bike you really liked, and bought it from the dealer. The dealer issued you a clean title as you paid for it in full with cash at the time of the purchase. You then registered the bike with the state of Florida and rode it using temporary tags for the first year you owned it. No problems so far.

Then you decided you wanted to ship it over seas and when it passed through US customs, they ran the VIN and it popped up as stolen out of Canada. At that point US customs ceased the bike as stolen property and gave the bike to some canadian financing company, all without notifying you!?!

It seems to me the problem is with US Customs. If you have the title in hand, it is legally your bike here in the United States, as can be proven in a court of law by producing your clean title and bill of sale. Now I am no lawyer, but how US Customs could take control of your property and ship it off to a third party canadian finance company is beyond me, especially without contacting you first!

Something still doesn't sound right to me though. If the bike was purchased in the United States through a reputable dealer, with a legal bill of sale and clean title, and then legally registered in the state of Florida, the bike should have come back as your property when US Customs ran the VIN, regardless of whether or not that VIN was flagged for theft out of Canada. After all, the dealer had to buy it from someone before selling it to you, and there should be a legal paper trail of that transaction just like there should be of you purchasing it from the dealer. If the canadian sold it to the American dealer, there is your proof that this is fraud on the part of the original owner in Canada.

I would start with contacting the dealer to request copies of their records showing the legal purchase of the bike for resale prior to selling it to you. Other than that, I would fax a copy of the bill of sale and clean title in your name to US Customs and demand your property be returned.

This is the first time I have heard of this type of scam, so keep us posted on how it turns out! What a mess!