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# What’s a motorcycle between friends?
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/whats-a-motorcycle-between-friends/
- Published: 2003-01-27T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T01:24:03.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

A Santa Monica man was ordered to pay $3,165 for selling his friend’s motorcycle while he was living abroad.

Manuel Reyna Jr. sued Michael Tefertoller in Santa Monica Small Claims Court last week when he returned from living abroad to find that his friend had sold his antique motorcycle for $1,500.

Tefertoller said he had a written agreement with Reyna that he would store the motorcycle for up to two years at his home for a $300 annual fee.

For the first two years, Reyna sent the money, but then Tefertoller said he didn’t hear from him for more than a year. He said he couldn’t reach Reyna at the contact numbers he left behind so he decided to sell the motorcycle.

Tefertoller put a lien on the bike through the California Department of Motor Vehicles and registered it under his own name.

“I don’t store bikes,” he said to the court. “I repair them for a living, but I did this as a personal favor.”

Reyna contacted Tefertoller in June and apologized for being late with the money. He asked Tefertoller to hold onto the motorcycle for one more year.

“He said send the money and everything will be fine,” Reyna said. Tefertoller said a check didn’t arrive until August 2002 and by that time he had sold the bike.

Judge Pro Tem Alan Freedman ruled the two men had an oral agreement and Tefertoller is liable for paying the $4,000 market-rate value of the motorcycle minus the holding charges to Reyna.

“You entered into a new contract in June,” Freedman said. “You told him to send the money and everything will be OK.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 27, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/012703.pdf?ref=smdp.com)