Hey whats up guys i am looking to get rid of my 250 ninja and this guy responded to my cl for sale ad and offered me a trade for his 99 blazer. It looks pretty clean in the pics he sent me and it blue books for more than my bike is worth so im thinking about taking him up on it. My question is what is the proper way to deal with the pink slips, should i make him go to the dmv with me to make sure its all kosher. Also he lives about an hour away so should i just offer to meet halfway first and we can inspect each others rides? I dont really want some random guy driving to my house and seeing all my tools other motorcycles and stuff in my garage. Do you guys ever do trades like this off of CL or would i be better off with sn outright cash sale?
do the trade wherever.
it's really no different than buying or selling a car for cash.. make sure the title matches the truck and doesn't have anything screwy going on with it.. write out a receipt with the name and address of the guy you trade with- in MN there is a part of the title that you are supposed to fill out with the new owner's info and send in, and if they don't transfer the title within 10 days they get dinged with a penalty and if they rob a bank and use your bike as a getaway vehicle or get a bunch of parking tickets you can prove that it wasn't you that did it..
Whoa, y'all... 
This can vary widely from state to state. Sometimes its as easy as swap and register. Other times you have to have a notary, or have a DMV verify values, or sometimes you both have to pay tax on the value anyway.
Peefo... looks like you are in CA, right? Should be relatively straightforward. You can trade/buy/sell without a notary. As of when I left CA (four years ago) you just needed the paperwork and you could transfer it as a trade of equal value and not pay tax. However... Include a signed bill of sale/trade. 75% of the DMV workers will just stamp it and hand you a sticker. If your luck is like mine, you'll get the other 25% who think something is shady and its all downhill from there.
For the most part, CA is pretty easy if you have a title. If you don't have a title, its a different story.
Just be glad you're not in PA. I bought an out-of-state vehicle and included the bill of sale from the dealer and they wanted to charge me PA tax because it wasn't notarized.
