This might seem like a thick question, I'm looking to upgrade my trusty old Gas Gas and have seen some quite reasonable bikes for sale privately but dont want to spend all my hard earned cash on a bike and find it is stolen, so any ideas on how I can check apart from the obvious like - Check the engine numbers against any paper work the owner may have, ask question on how long they have had it or just walk away if they have no documentation of proof of sale. Would the importer of the model be able to tell me if it was stolen if I was to ring them with the Engine and frame number.

phone the stolen vehicle squad ,give them the chassis no and ask them to run it through the computer and youll get your answer .after all its in their interest as much as yours