Buying used car out of state.
 

Ok...I have NEVER bought a used car from a private seller before. If I live in VA and am buying a car in PA. what do I need to do other than get the signed title from the current owner and have some kind of bill of sale?

I know I'll need to register and have it inspected in VA but is that it?

that's about it. i did the same for my 8 purchasing from a guy in PA and bringing back to PA. when you register, you'll have to pay your tax at that time. i know at least in CT they go by their book value so it doesn't matter if you purchased for less than that amount - you pay the tax on what they say it's valued at.

so what happens with the plates though? Do I just get the PA plates he has on the car or what?

Depends on your state. IIRC, you need to get a temporary registration in order to drive it back. You cannot use his plates, he has to return those to his state's DMV. That means you need proof of sale, the VIN and insurance perhaps to get the temporary one from your state's DMV. After that an emissions check and you're set or more depending on your state.

In CT the above is what I had to do, no safety inspection, just emissions check. Read up online through your state's DMV, it should have the answers to those questions already. If not, call them up.

In VA, they won't issue shit unless you have a VA inspection done first and certainly can't get a temporary without the title. So at least for VA, I would be ok.

I am more worried about getting it home and not being pulled over or some shit. It's the from time I take the keys to the time I get it home that I wasn't quite sure. My friend is saying the title is ok to use for verification if something does goes wrong.

in ky you pay book value unless you get both parties to sign a notarized document stating the value at which the vehicle was purchased

There has to be something for that. For us in CT, a temporary registration is required. In other states, like NY, there is an in-transit permit needed. You can't just drive it off with the title I believe.

You could probably go to a tag shop (license plates are not handled by Harrisburg in most cases in PA) and probably get a 30 day transit tag . Look up a tag shop near where you're buying the car and ask them about T-Tags when you buy a car, they'll be able to tell you what to do. If this fails you could send the plate back to him when you get to VA, but I can tell you from experience PennDot doesn't give two shits if you send the plates back or not (I've got 3 sets of PA plates from old cars from YEARS ago, never heard a lick from them). So I'd probably do this, because I really don't think the DMV cares if you give the plates back or not.

While I understand, in all legal perspectives you can't do that with the plates. If he gets pulled over with those plates, the registration is not in his name with those plates and he will get ticketed. That's IF he gets pulled over of course. They don't necessarily care about the plates itself, but I am saying that if you use those plates and get pulled over, you're going to be shelling out some cash. IF you don't I'd be very surprised.

Now, not being a hypocrite, this is exactly what I did buying a winter beater last fall, I used my plated off the 8 and put it on the beater when I drove it back. Except my trip was only 2.5 hours and not a trip from PA to VA which is longer for him. I took the risk and did fine only because I would of had to drive to the seller, look at the car, see if I wanted it and get the documentation, drive back, get a temporary plate, drive back to him again to pick it up and I didn't want to do that; waste of time and money. In his case he can get an in-transit tag and be done with it legally.

+1

Check out how to get temps in VA (there has to be a way they can issue you something (temps) that will allow you to drive it back to VA to get the proper registration done. I mean I'm sure your not the first person to buy car out of state :) )

Or if you know any dealers, maybe they would lend you their dealer plates for the day......

I bought my 8 from MA and used dealer plates to get it to CT DMV and registered.

Then again, I also bought a car a long time ago from the east side of CT and just had a buddy follow behind me to the closest DMV to get it regestered (but that was when I was young and invincible hehe)

Another option maybe, if you know your definitly buying it, maybe he could drive it to you and then you drive him back (but I know those states are a lot bigger than little CT so.....just adding my 2 cents to hopefully help ya out)

Vlaze- you had to go thru emissions?? I didnt have to do emissions when I went to DMV, they just transfered the registrataion. Wonder what the reason they made you do that??

That, is why. You bought from a dealer which has the proper paperwork and they registered it before you drove off the lot. When you buy an old enough (4+ years old) car that isn't registered when you buy, you have to go through an emissions test for CT unless it's 25+ years old.

Anyone from VA thats bought a car out of state want to chime in? Please????

honestly just go to your local court house where you would normally pay your vehicle registration/taxes and ask them, they will be able to give you a good answer

Try some of these for more info:
http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/pdf/vsa86.pdf


And this looks like a big list of forms, with dealer ones on the first page at least, but might help:
http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/f...=3&currpage3=9

Why am I thinking this is going to be a huge cluster fark of fail and annoyance....

Ah gotcha, I was under the impression that cars newer than a certain year (05?? 07?? dunno) didnt require emision checks when first being registered.

But actually they (the MA dealer) couldnt register it, they had to have one of the workers follow me to the DMV to get it registered. But the proper paperwork was all there and the title fortunatly was from CT so I guess it's all the same :)

Thanks for the info!!

Bigbacon - Wish you luck and a speedy aquisition of your 8. :rock:

lol, it's not an 8 i'm buying (already have one)

Well, more in detail yes, you are essentially correct. If the car is 4 year old or newer, then it's exempt. Another exemption is if it's 25+ years old as well. The beater I got was a '97 so it had to get done with no current registration.

I edited my previous post for more needed detail :p:

so for any of you Virginians.....You can buy (for 5 dollars) a "Trip Permit" that will allow you to move the car from A to B without plates or anything.

You just need the permit, original bill of sale and display the thing on the left side of your car and you are ok.

You just have to get the car registered with in 3 days of the bill of sale.