Buying a car across (many) state lines

April 5, 2011 10:33 AM

I want to buy a car and drive it across the US, but I am not sure how to handle the paperwork since I will be buying it on the other side of the country from where I will eventually want to register it.

I do not live in the US, but I am an American. I will be flying in to DC, and I'd like to buy a car and drive it to California, where I may keep or sell it. But how would something like that work with regards to registration and insurance? Would I need to register it on the east coast? Is there some kind of temporary registration for this circumstance?

posted by Nothing to Law & Government (16 answers total)

You would register it with the DMV in Washington DC. You would need some sort of proof of permanent address in DC.

Then you would drive it to CA.

You would register it there.

This sounds like more trouble than it's worth. If you want to drive cross country why not rent a car?
posted by dfriedman at 10:37 AM on April 5, 2011

Are you moving from outside-the-US to California?
posted by box at 10:45 AM on April 5, 2011

Response by poster: Box - yes. At least for a few months. Renting one way is very expensive and several people seemed to think that buying a car and driving it across was the best way to do it, but no one had a clear answer on the legalities. But there must be a way to manage this kind of thing, right?
posted by Nothing at 10:50 AM on April 5, 2011

This happens more often than you'd think. I used to work for a Bentley/Lamborghini store in Chicago and every week people would fly in to buy and drive home. The dealer will issue you a temporary registration that is valid for a grace period between purchase and home-state registration. This is perfectly legal documentation for which you can cross state lines until you get to the state where you intend to register, and then pay sales tax on the vehicle purchase.

You don't have to register the vehicle in the state where it was purchased.
posted by firstcity_thirdcoast at 10:50 AM on April 5, 2011

Response by poster: What about private sales?
posted by Nothing at 10:51 AM on April 5, 2011

Things may be different in DC (a quick perusal of their DMV site suggests that you need a DC license to register it there), but in Maryland, I was able to register a car with my California drivers license, and I don't /think/ I needed proof that the address I put down was my permanent address. (I was planning to drive it back to CA, so there was no reason to switch my license.) However, I was sort of re-registering it - it had been sitting unused for a while and the registration had lapsed, so this may not work as smoothly in other situations.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:53 AM on April 5, 2011

You typically have a few days, sometimes up to 30, to register a car after a sale, whether from a dealer or a private sale. If you drive straight to California, you should have enough time to get yourself settled before your temporary registration expires.
posted by valkyryn at 11:39 AM on April 5, 2011

California can be picky about importing cars. You might have trouble selling it or registering it without extra fees.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:01 PM on April 5, 2011

And doesn't California have higher emissions standards than other states? So that a car that passes inspection in another state might flunk in CA?

consider the train or even the bus if you want to be able to make lots of stops, then buy a car when you get out there.
posted by mareli at 12:08 PM on April 5, 2011

Response by poster: Looks like this might just not be possible. I am not a resident of any US state. Virginia has a temporary registration, but only for 3 days and only for residents. California has one for 30 days, but only for people exporting a car from the state.
posted by Nothing at 12:32 PM on April 5, 2011

Considering this from a cost basis and I think you are in for a loss. The price you sell the vehicle will be of considerable less in value than the purchase price plus insurance. I am sure it would be less costly to rent a car. There is no way you will save money let alone all the complications of buying and driving across the country then selling. It does not compute to me.
posted by JayRwv at 12:53 PM on April 5, 2011

Response by poster: I do appreciate the thought, but I have additional reasons for considering this approach, so if anyone does have useful info on the registration issues that would be great, otherwise thank you for your time, but I am aware of other options for getting across the country.
posted by Nothing at 1:04 PM on April 5, 2011

Check out Maryland's policies. More fine print reading is necessary, but it appears you would be able to get a 30-day waiver there (form VR-129), although technically it's so that you may legally drive the vehicle to be inspected. The Maryland MVA's forms can be kind of confusing, but it looks like option C on that form doesn't require you to be a Maryland resident. You can email the Maryland MVA to check (I highly suggest that over calling.)

Any of this might be tough if you don't have a US drivers license (from any state), though.
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:23 PM on April 5, 2011

(and just because you need to give a Maryland address doesn't mean it needs to be an official address - you may be able to give any address at which you can receive mail.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:24 PM on April 5, 2011

I cannot speak to California's laws about bringing in cars from out of state (emissions guidelines and all that), but I have purchased cars (2 actually) in Oklahoma and registered them in Arkansas where I was a resident. My sister bought cars in Texas and registered them in Arkansas as well. We did have to show a driver's license to purchase the car and on some of the paperwork we signed a statement saying we were going to register the car in another state so we didn't have to pay sales tax in the state we purchased it in. The dealer gave us the paperwork and a temporary tag that gave us 30 days to register the car and get permanent plates put on. So, it's doable, but you need to have a US ID or Driver's License to show the dealership I'm sure. (That would be a question to ask the dealership actually...how would they handle selling a car to someone moving back to the US). I don't think you have to register it in the location where you buy it (local laws may vary).

Regarding insurance, we already had other cars insured so we informed our agent (State Farm, fwiw) that we were going to buy a new car so that if an accident happened on the way home from the dealer we would still be covered. Then we had to go in and do the paperwork to insure the new car before we could go to the DMV to get it registered. So you might want to shop around for insurance and know what company you are going to use (and go ahead and start the insurance process with them) so you can be insured when you drive it off the lot.

In other words, this is doable for a resident of the US but you may have to do things in a different order since you are coming from another country.
posted by MultiFaceted at 3:17 PM on April 5, 2011

Reading the DC DMV website, it looks like the only way you're going to be able to get the necessary temp tags/registration is to purchase from a dealer. If the car you really want to purchase is from a private seller, most smaller dealers would be willing to "handle" the sale as a consignment of sorts, for a fee.
posted by firstcity_thirdcoast at 7:52 AM on April 6, 2011