I need some help, I need to find machinery values for a few machines back in late 2002 early 2003.
but the main thing I need help on is finding who sold a few machines and too whom, how do you do a search for a serial number on a machine. would public record have it in each state? I know who sold the machines and who bought them ( the same company) but I need to know were they went from there.

I was able to track down one machine which took me 2 years, I need a faster way if possible. I was able to goto the manufacture and ask them to look up the serial number on who purchased parts, and went form there. the 2 machines I am looking for now haven't been in the parts dept. so to speak

Delw

There is no public records division for machine tools. The only thing you could do is a lien search for the serial number of the machine. Banks and leasing companies regularly do this before lending money on a machine.

May I ask why you are trying to track down the machines?

how and were would I do a lein search?

check your pm
Delw

Delw,

Got your PM - that sounds like a bad deal that you got, sorry to hear about it!

I am not sure where you do a lien search, but I would start at your State's website. This is what I found out from the National Banking Association

"The process or the result of investigations into the outstanding liens in a pledgor’s or potential pledgor’s property. The lien search not only investigates the existence of all liens but also the relative priority of those liens. For personal property, a lien search may be obtained in most states by submitting a standard form, called a UCC-4, to the appropriate filing office. Secured lenders often conduct preclosing lien searches prior to loan closings and postclosing lien searches shortly after loan closings."

If they do it for personal property, I bet they do it for business property too. When we sold one of our VMC's last month, the guy who bought it leased it through Cypress Financial. The bank that was funding the deal did a lien search - they took the serial # and the make/model/year of the machine. I would try talking to your local bank and also if there is any big leasing companies you could call them and ask if they can do a lien search or give them the serial #'s and see if they can tell you where they are.

And based on your PM, definitely go see a lawyer! We got a new machine rigged in a couple weeks ago and when I was talking to the rigger, we were discussing other local companies, and he told me about a local auction house (one of the biggest in Boston) who was blackballed from supplying ANY equipment to the fed gov't due to shill bidding and colluding with other auction houses not to bid on certain machines so that they would go for low prices. I believe a few folks did some time over it.

It sounds like you got really screwed and are owed some serious $$$ here. Definitely talk to a commerical BK attorney and/or a forensic accountant. Those guys (forensic accountants) are MASTERS at tracking down transactions and how they went down, who was involved, and who has the machine.

GOOD LUCK!