Raising Cane
By Rob Perez
Citations haunt sale
of mo-pedFor nearly half a century, John Wilber had a near-spotless record when it came to parking violations.
Until recently, the 62-year-old retired air traffic controller had only one citation, and that came 20 years ago when time on a parking meter expired just minutes before he returned to his car.
Today Wilber's record isn't so clean. But for a bizarre reason.
On Dec. 11, the University of Hawaii issued Wilber a $25 citation because his 1987 Honda mo-ped was parked illegally on the Manoa campus. A few weeks later, another ticket was issued.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
As an added dig, Wilber recently received word that a court judgment for $55 had been issued against him for yet another outstanding parking ticket, this one from the city.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARBULLETIN.COM
John Wilber recently looked over four parking tickets he's received for a mo-ped he no longer owns. The new owner apparently never contacted the city to transfer title of the mo-ped, causing all parking tickets to go to Wilber.
The catch, though, is that all six tickets were issued after Wilber had sold the mo-ped.
Because he no longer had possession of the vehicle, Wilber never got the actual tickets. The buyer, a UH student, apparently discarded or ignored them.
But once the fines became overdue, Wilber was mailed the delinquency notices and, in the case of the city ticket, a notice of the court judgment. He also got copies of the original tickets.
Why were the notices mailed to Wilber and not the new owner?
Because the new owner wasn't really the owner -- at least not on paper.
Wilber assumed the buyer had filed the necessary paperwork with the Division of Motor Vehicles to transfer ownership of the mo-ped.
But that didn't happen, which meant Wilber was, and still is, the registered owner. As such, he was responsible for the tickets.
Wilber has resolved part of the problem by getting affidavits from two people who witnessed him turning over the mo-ped to the UH student in December. He received $800 from the sale.
After Wilber explained what happened and gave the affidavits to the university, UH agreed to dismiss the $125 in outstanding fines against him.
Wilber's appeal of the court judgment, however, is pending. He had to post a $55 cash bond that will be refunded if the judgment is set aside.
The problem of owners getting citations for vehicles, cars as well as mo-peds, that they no longer "own" is a common one, according to the DMV.
"We hear about it all the time," said David Mau, a DMV spokesman. "It happens every day."
Mo-ped ownership transfers are handled just like those involving bicycles. The seller or buyer must obtain a notice-of-transfer form from the city to fill out and send in upon sale of the vehicle.
With cars and trucks, the transfer notice is attached to the title.
"They treat mo-peds very casually, yet there can be legal ramifications, as I've found out, if the transfer isn't taken care of," Wilber said.
He said he wasn't even aware of the transfer forms until his ticket problem surfaced. He sold two mo-peds previously with no problems, and the buyers in those instances took care of the ownership transfers.
Once UH officials learned of Wilber's problem, they not only waived his fines but issued an impound order for the mo-ped and took him off the hook for any future tickets.
That's not the case with the city.
Even if the court judgment is set aside, any future parking citations will be Wilber's responsibility because he still is the registered owner.
And that would mean having to again post a cash bond, file an appeal and hope a judge sets aside any judgment.
Wilber could take care of the city problem by simply filing an ownership transfer form with the DMV. But there's one major obstacle: He forgot the last name of the buyer (his first name was Thui) and no longer has the paperwork from the sale.
Without that information, title cannot be transferred.
"I feel real stupid I don't have his name," Wilber said.
The retiree has tried to do some detective work to track down the name.
He talked to the phone company to see if records of calls the buyer made to Wilber could be checked in hopes of learning Thui's full name. No luck there.
Wilber also checked with the mo-ped shop where he and the buyer conducted the transaction to see if the shop owner had any information that could lead to the buyer's name. As part of the transaction, the buyer's girlfriend used her credit card to pay $400 toward Wilber's purchase of another mo-ped from the shop.
The shop owner, however, was unable to locate a record of the charge.
When Wilber went to traffic court to file his appeal, the clerk who took his paperwork discovered that the buyer, or at least a person with a first name of Thui, had received at least two moving violations on the mo-ped.
But the clerk wouldn't disclose any information to Wilber about the offender, even though the violations occurred on Wilber's mo-ped.
A court spokeswoman confirmed that such information is confidential.
Wilber has talked to the police, the DMV, court officials, a Legal Aid office and just about anyone else he could think of who might be able to help him out of his jam. But without the buyer's name, he's apparently out of luck.
"I've been on the phone with about every bureaucrat who deals with mo-peds, but I can't come up with anything," Wilber said.
For the thousands of Hawaii residents who own mo-peds, there's a lesson to be learned.
If you sell your vehicle, be sure the ownership is transferred. Don't rely on the buyer to do it. Otherwise, you could end up with the same irritating problem as Wilber.
"It's been one big hassle," he said.
Star-Bulletin columnist Rob Perez writes on issues
and events affecting Hawaii. Fax 529-4750, or write to
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. He can also be reached
by e-mail at: rperez@starbulletin.com.
