It looks like I'll most likely be traveling to find a foretravel. I've seen reference to using someone to do a pre sale inspection.It would like to know the condition of the coach before the expense and time invested in travel. Who in the Houston area does these and what should one expect to pay? Also assuming a purchase is made, I would like to have the option of traveling a bit before bringing the coach back East where I live. How could I get it tagged without bringing it back to the state I live which is Maryland?
If you are buying from a dealer, they will usually provide a temp. tag. For private sales I have used the tag on the coach or motorcycle, and driven home to get the new registration, tag and pay the sales tax. I also was able to buy a TX tag when I got home and the out of state bank took way too long to get the title to me, before I left on a 2 week ride.
Brett Wolfe is based in Houston and the does pre-sales inspections. But he is not likely there this hot summer, he is west traveling .
The one I would recommend is Brett Wolfe, who is a frequent contributor to this forum (and others). I think he is from the Houston area. Send him a private message (Wolfe10).
Good luck! My long hunt is almost over!
Trent
I bought my coach from a private party in Austin and the seller signed over the title and wrote me a bill of sale. He let me run his Texas tags until I got back home to Ohio. I too "took the long way home". I did not have any problems. I did put insurance on it in my name prior to the trip. Ohio changed the title over with no problem except that dredged extra sales tax. Good luck. David
I believe that most states provide a Temporary Tag that will legally allow you to drive your coach. The Temp. Tags could range from three to five days each. Washington issued me two three day Temp Tags. I left the PO's plates on our coach when we left New Mexico, where we bought the coach, to Texas. We did have insurance and upon arrival in Texas, after the coach registration was forwarded from the lien holding bank, we registered. I had the Temp Tags just in case I got stopped by a LEO.
does this answer your question?
I'll send Brett an email. I think Maryland gives a 14 day temp tag. They also collect sales tax on the initial registration. I'll probably have to make two trips. One to buy and one to transport home.
We bought our coach in Texas and got a 30 (or maybe 90?) day temporary tag while we awaited the paperwork and tags to arrive from South Dakota. We paid only the South Dakota sales tax ... not Texas. We did the same thing with a vehicle purchased in Pennsylvania and tagged in SD. It is not difficult, and any dealer or tag agency or DMV should be able to accomplish the transaction.
We bought our FT from the original owner in CA. Got a clear title and bill of sale. Set up insurance at the time of the sale. Drove home on CA tags. Transferred title, paid taxes, transferred my then 33 year old "HOME 2" plates to the FT when we got back to MN.
Ask for the rules in the state in which you are going to register it.
Roger
When I bought my last FT, I picked it up in North Carolina where the former owner left his plate on for me. He had a lien that I payed off with his bank on the phone/wire transfer, and I handed him the rest of the money. He gave me a bill of sale and I was on my way. I did make sure that my insurance co would cover my additional purchase of an RV for a grace period (20 days I think) and then I quickly drove it to AZ where I was staying at the time. Mailed the paperwork and money to South Dakota where I officially resided, and they mailed me the new plates. Then I took off the old ones and mailed them back to my seller in NC.
Sounds very similar to my experiences.
We had the same experience. We bought our coach in Arizona, but it was registered in Texas. No problem driving home on the seller's tags (even going through a border patrol checkpoint in Texas on I-10). The title transfer in Ohio was easy. Ohio requires an "inspection" of the name of the coach and the VIN on the data plate by someone at the DMV. In my case the lady didn't even see the data plate: She had me look at the plate and read the number to her as she looked at the title to be transferred!
One possible hangup could be the money transfer. Cashier's checks are so easily faked that they are nearly useless these days. Our bank wouldn't do a wire transfer without me being physically present to authorize it. Therefore, my solution was to establish an account with the seller's bank prior to our trip and transfer the appropriate amount to our new account. When we were on-site and ready to close the deal, we simply called our new bank (the same bank as the seller's) and transferred the money. We did everything sitting inside the Foretravel.
No need to keep plates on the coach. Almost any DMV has a one trip permit. I have driven coast to coast without any plates several times. If you have a title and bill of sale, what are cops going to do? You should never have to pay double sales tax. No tax is due in the seller's state if private party. A dealer will deliver to state line as part of the sales if necessary to avoid tax. Would make that a condition of sale, not to be negotiated after the sale has been completed.
I did a background check on our seller and called the VP at his bank and had them act as the escrow company with the title (with no lien holders) in the bank's possession before I wired money. Just have to do a little extra work for out of state transactions. Ours worked perfectly.
Pierce
We bought our Foretravel in Tucson, seller had Texas plates. We waited until our check cleared the sellers bank and then took Possession . The title was clear and we were good to go. Took the plate off my Cabover Camper (Oregon has separate plates for Cabover's) and drove to Oregon. I Called my Insurance Agent and had the unit covered before we took delivery. Once we were home I took the unit to DMV for VIN inspection.
Al
Texas will give you a temporary tag if you are leaving the state. You won't pay taxes then. Mine was a piece of paper in a ploy bag. Was unreadable after 1,000 miles but no one cared. We got it at the county building in NAC if I remember right.
Keith
You have 30 days to file a title in the state of Texas. The seller submits a Vehicle Transfer Notification to remove their liability for your driving the vehicle with the existing tags. If the existing tags have expired you can print out a temporary tag online that lasts 5 days.
I have had issues with a "Trip Permit" on a car before. I purchased it in Nevada and drove it to California, then went to the CA DMV. They told me when I got there that the Trip Permit had been valid in Nevada, but not California.
Might have changed, but the point is that you would want to check with the specific state(s) you will be traveling through if you use a trip permit instead of the existing plate. AZ allows trip permits to be printed out online for $1 if I recall correctly, but they were for a very specific purpose and a short duration.
You are right, the trip permit gets you to the DMV for a longer life permit.
When we bought our coach from Transwest in Colorado a little over a year ago, we had temporary paper plates to get back to California. Believe we had 30 days to reregister also.
When I bought ours in Jan this year Florida issued a 30 day license for $7.00 so I could drive it back to California. They were going to charge me their taxes and then I was to pay the difference to California but their computers were down.
If you are a California resident, get this permit ahead of time and just take it with you. Cost is $15-$18. I just keep one in the file for when I might buy something either in or out of California. You don't need anything from the state where you buy it, pull the plates, put it on the windshield and drive home. You do need insurance.
25.010 One Trip Permit (CVC §4003) (https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/reg_hdbk/ch25/ch25_3.htm)
Pierce
Taped cardboard to rear license plate;
JUST
PURCHASED :))
800 mi - VA to MO
Someone recently said; Ask forgiveness, guess we took it to extreme ^.^d
Had fun with the dmv and franchise tax board one day long ago.
I did a lot of out of state deliveries as ca license fees are very high as is the sales tax and used to explain to the customers exactly what the laws were.
State made an appointment with me and the dmv director and the sales tax director sat in my office at Foretravel of ca and asked me what I told the customers.
I repeated my word for word memorized by that time comments to them.
They looked at each other and said what in was telling my customers was 100% correct.
When I mentioned that it was financially cheaper to post a trip permit for the then fee of $10 for every trip versus pay thousands of dollars for ca plates they laughed.
"Mr Hulka we have a system setup for 24,000,000 vehicles and we are not going to change it for a few expensive motorhomes, but you are correct. You can pay for the usage off the highway system on a at the time basis"
You still can. As long as your insurance co. will insure non registered coaches....
Had a chp pull me over and walk around the front of the coach once where I pointed to the filled out trip permit and he saluted and waved and walked back to his car. Got to know the rules to play the game.
My ca dealer plate was invalid outside ca so a trip pet kit in every stare if no valid plates on the coach was necessary.
That's the signs on the roads as you enter a state mentioning dealers, drive throughs and such need to stop at that states dmv for a permit. See they told you.
I had the same co. temp as the barks from trans west that allowed the 30 days also as we bought their trade in from brad Nerhous at trans west.
Had customers do it just out of spite. Plus I had purchased trip permits for all the states west of the Mississippi River and gave them to customers to use after taking out of state delivery versus pay undue non creditable California sales taxes.
We purchased our coach from a private party in a neighboring state. We saw the coach on the first trip, decided we liked it, decided on a maximum we would pay, made an offer to the seller, and it was accepted. We mailed a deposit and set a date to pick up the coach. We brought a casher's check for the amount due, which the seller immediately took to their bank. Since we had a bit more computer experience than the seller, we helped them print two copies of Missouri's bill of sale (one for them, one for us). After our orientation we said our good-bys, took the bill of sale and title, and headed for home. No issues on the trip home.
We have purchased and sold vehicles using regular checks. The buyer takes the bill of sale and vehicle, but no title. The title is mailed after the check clears.