Longshot Question
 

Hello everybody. I'm not sure if this is the correct area to post this, but here it is. We bought a '72 Hi-Lo last December while in Wisconsin. The seller was actually an active member of this forum, and took good care of it. We'll call her Suzanne S. We were in Wisconsin for the winter (just for fun) and planned to tow it back to Florida in the spring. When we went to the tag office, we got some bad news. She never transferred the title from the previous owner's name to hers. Apparently, she thought that because you don't need a tag for a pop-up camper 3,000 pounds and under, this meant that she didn't need to transfer the title. We weren't too familiar with the whole title process ourselves, and we didn't scrutinize this one closely enough. She actually signed it in the wrong spot when she gave it to us. We had to go home, but we returned to Wisconsin a few months later, managed to convince the DMV to give us a temporary tag, and dragged the camper back to Florida.

The reason I'm making this post is for the long shot that someone here knows the previous owner who's name the title is still technically in. His name is Nathan Brown and his address on the title was in Cedarburg, WI. He signed the title over to Suzanne S. back in 2012. My hope is that he had friends in Hi-Lo circles when he owned it, and someone can put him in touch with the wife and I.

We talked to the tag office in Florida here. They say all we need is for him to sign the affidavit they provided us confirming he was the previous owner, and we can get a Florida tag and title in our name.

Again, I know this is a long shot. We tried one online people finding service already, Intellius. It was a complete waste of time, not to mention the 79 cents or whatever the bait and switch price was, turned out to be closer to $9 to actually see any info. The info was completely useless, a mashup of info from every Nathan Brown in America. There are a lot of Nathan Browns in America. Now I'm afraid to try another service.

Anyhoo, if anyone knows this person, we'd really appreciate him contacting us so we can sort this out and start travelling the country.

Thank you for your time.

Welcome to the forum. I'm a member of Peoplefinders.com. I typed Nathan Brown with Cedarburg, WI and came up with one entry. If you want to contact me privately at 630-868-3655 maybe I can share that info.

John

Thanks. I would prefer you email the info as my memory isn't what it used to be. I just need a current address, phone number, and/or email so I can contact him and make sure it's the correct person. Last time I tried this I bothered the wrong person due to bad info. Our email address is pamandbillstravels@gmail.com. If you prefer I call, when's a good time?

Pam and Bill, I had a young friend around the corner who was given a Hi Lo from a repo yard in Bonita Springs, FL., for free--no title. We searched everywhere on the unit and found no vin numbers. While at tax collectors office, I asked what could he do about this. The director said he can register the Hi Lo as a home build unit, they would give him a vin number and he would be required to stamp the frame.
If you have no luck, try taking the vin to tax office and they should be able to tell you that owners info or contact they can contact him by their letterhead.
Try it, never know,
Tree

Thanks for the tip. Pam and Sue went to the tax office in Dade City to ask how to straighten this out, but they didn't offer any of those choices. They just gave them an affidavit form for the previous owner to fill out.

I just bought a Hilo in Montana with the same problem. Since states differ so much in requirements I wont bore you with my hours long waits in line etc. I jumped through all the hoops and have a clear title. I just wanted you to know I sympathize with the mess you have. Wish I had looked at the "clean title" that was advertised before trailer was all hooked up. On the other hand I wouldn't be the proud new owner of a 1983 Hilo. Happy camping.

Update! Thanks to info provided by jon2bee, I was able to find the previous owner. After contacting Nathan, we are one step closer to going camping. Mailed him the affidavit the tax collector wanted filled out. Now we wait.

Thanks to everyone who replied here for your help and suggestions.