I apologize in advance if this has already been beaten do death somewhere else. If it has been, someone please link me to a site that actually makes sense.

I've never purchased a car before that wasn't from a dealer, let alone one that was out of state. I'm looking into a car that is in Maryland, and I am in NY. The car still has a lein on it, and I will also be taking out a loan to pay for it.

My problem is between the seller and myself. We cannot figure out a legal way for me to drive the car back to NY without a problem. Especially since I will not have the title in my hand for about 7 days after giving him the money. From what I have read on the internet, MD won't give out temporary plates without the title in hand. Does anyone know if I can get them from NY before I travel down there to see the car? I'm not going to try using his plates to get home, or using a set of plates from a different car. I want this to be 100% legal, but I also don't want to have to travel down there twice to buy this car.

I'm hoping I can go to his bank, have my bank wire his bank the money to pay off the loan, and get the title transfer started. I need to figure out how/where to get temporary plates.

Anybody have any ideas? Has anyone ever dealt with these two states before?

Thanks in advance!!

 

i lived in md. i sold a 10th anniversary miata to a person in Georgia.He and his brother drove up and we met at my bank and they paid off the loan but could not get the title that day. When we finished the transaction he just took it home on the plates i had and kept his sale paperwork on him in case there was a issue.I got the title in about two weeks and had to send it to him. I trusted him to send my plates back when he got the title and everything done. I got my plates back and about 20 dollars in change he found all over the car.
sorry,just noted you don't wanna drive home on his plates.

 

I live in NY and sold my old car to a person in NJ. He came over, paid, I signed the title. He put his old/current plates on and drove away.

Have you asked NY MDV if they offer anything?

Other option tow truck back home or Uhaul tow using pickup truck. when I was buying my MINI I was looking to go to MD to get a car and tow it back myself via renting pickup truck and tow dolly or Auto transport.

 

I live in NY and bought my MCS in Virginia. To avoid issues with transport I brought a trailer with me and towed it home. I did the same thing when I bought an Acura in Philadelphia for my son. This way there is no issues about if the car is legal on the trip home.

 

I haven't asked the DMV yet because I made the plans over the weekend, and today is President's day. I'm really hoping I can just get temp plates for it somewhere.

I really don't want to trailer the car home either, driving it home is half the fun!

 

OK, there is no easy answer to this question, but there are answers. Last September I bought a car in Miami and I live in Maine. I flew down and drove back with the car, though at times I was doing pretty good flying while driving the car. There are some things that you will absolutely need in order to get through this with your sanity and wallet intact. So, here goes from my memory.

1. Make sure you trust the seller and the seller trusts you. If you do not feel good about the entire transaction then things will not go well. You also must be able to communicate very well in order to avoid problems. I think I spoke to the seller of my car at least 5 times BEFORE I agreed to buy the car and another 15-20 afterwards, plus emails, texts, etc. And my first conversation lasted about 2.5 hours.

2. It is actually not a bad thing if there is a lien on the car as the bank holding the lien will make sure everything is legit and you are assured that the car is not stolen, that the owner really does have the title, that the title is legit, etc. You do not say if you are buying the car with a check or cash or if you are taking out a loan also. If you are not taking a loan out then you need to contact the lien holder directly and ask them what you need to do in order to purchase the car. If you are financing all or part of the car locally then you need to find a financial institution and tell them what you would like to do and ask them what they need in order to get the deal done. Often times the loan officer of your bank will contact the lien holder and take care of a lot of the work for you since if they are going to loan money to you for a car then they want to make sure that there are no problems with their collateral.

Now this sounds vague but the answers you get will depend on the institutions that you contact. I contacted my local credit union that I had used for a previous auto loan and found out they were not very helpful with an out of state purchase. So I ended up seeking another local credit union and they were fantastic, really helping me through the process. One CU would not even wire the money at all, they simply did not do that.

3. Contact your local DMV and tell them what you would like to do and ask them what you need to do to transport the vehicle legally. For Maine, I had to show them a letter with an intent to sell, provide proof of insurance and pay a fee and then they gave me a temporary plate, but a plate that was only good enough to transport the car in a direct route from the location of the vehicle to my house. My DMV was the EASY part of the process.

4. As mentioned above, neither your bank if you are getting a loan, or your state if they require it, will let you drive the car without insurance so you will need to contact them and take out a policy on the vehicle.

Those are the basics. For me the most fun was had with the banks. The seller's bank was rather large with many branches and specialized departments that dealt with loans. After all of my planning I nearly ran into a problem the day of the sale simply because there was a power outage at the branch we were going to conduct the business at and we had to go to a different branch and explain to the bank rep what was going on and that we had indeed worked things out previously.

Your requirements may be different but here is the basics of what I had to do. I had the seller contact his bank and give me a contact name and number for lien information. I passed that along to my loan officer who contacted that bank for a payoff. You will need to get a payoff amount for that specific day that you will do the transaction. For me the seller had to make a payment between when we were setting up the transaction and when the sale was going to take place. That changed the amounts. You need to make sure of who is on the title of the car. If there are more than one party they may all need to be present to commence your transaction. Further the people who are on the lien and who are on the title may be the same people or different. My seller had his parents on the lien, but not on the title. You need to find out what types of payments the lien holder accepts. And here is where the trust comes in. I arrived with two bank checks, one to the bank for the lien amount and one to the seller for the difference in the price between the amount owed and the amount paid. Several days before I bought the car and flew to Florida I sent a copy of both checks to the seller and gave him the contact number for my bank so he could call to verify that the checks were legit. After all of this, his bank would not release the title of the car until after the check I gave cleared. My CU gave me the necessary paperwork for the seller to sign in order to process an application for title of the MINI I bought so I could title the car in my state. And even that was not straight forward as Florida is a state that does not allow the lien holders of vehicles to have a paper title until after the vehicle is paid off, then they issue one. So after I paid for the car and drove it home I had to wait about 10 days before I could drive my new car since my DMV did not issue temporary plates without a title application and I could not apply for a title until Florida sent the title and Florida would not send the title until the check I gave them cleared and they could print off a title to send. Confused yet?

Your requirements will vary, depending on your state, the seller's state, your bank, the seller's bank, and maybe even your insurance company. I made a lot of phone calls and sent a lot of emails, but everything worked out well because I checked and double checked everything to make sure I would have no problems. And all of this stuff is hard to explain in a post like this so if you want to chat about this over the phone to ask some questions and get a better explanation then let me know.

Especially since I am sure I have probably omitted some things or forgotten some things.

 

Ace, wow, thank you very much for the HUGE response lol. I appreciate it.

I have the payment process all taken care of. I'm paying cash for about 20% then financing the rest through my bank. They're going to wire the money to the seller's bank in Maryland once we meet there next week.

The only real issue I have it transporting it back to NY. I don't want to trailer it (will if I absolutely have to I guess), or make two trips because I don't have the time. I'm in the process of trying to locate some dealer plates from friends if the temp plate thing doesn't work out. I can't find anything on the internet from anyone who successfully acquired temp plates from either NY or MD.

 

Have you received an ok from the seller's bank that they will accept a wire transfer and give you the title on the spot? Do they actually have the title at the location you will make a payment?

Have you contacted your DMV and asked them what you need to do in order to purchase a vehicle out of state and drive it back to your state? Sorry, I cannot tell if you have gone through that process by what you have typed.

 

I haven't asked the DMV yet because I made the plans over the weekend, and today is President's day.

I also need to email the seller tonight to make sure his bank will do so.

 

I would have your bank contact his bank. In fact, I would be surprised if your bank would even give you a loan unless they were not able to play a direct role in making sure everything is all set with his bank.

When are you trying to finish off the sale.

 

You may also be able to get in-transit plates in MD. I know NY has them, but I can't be sure if they are for cars sold in NY going elsewhere and/or dealer only.

Info should be online.

 

I'm pretty sure no DMV in the USA has any idea how to create a decent website. I searched for hours over the weekend and came up with almost nothing. The only thing I came up with was that NY will issue temp tags, but only if you're transporting a vehicle OUT of the state. I really don't want to trailer it or make two trips, and I can't use the previous owner's plates.

I'm going down there this coming Sunday to check out the car, doing bank stuff on Monday morning, and hopefully getting it back home by Monday evening.

This whole thing is rather annoying, but I need this car!

 

Agreed about DMV web sites. I was lucky in that my local DMV is only about a mile away so I physically went to the DMV, took a number and spoke to a human.

That gives you four business days to get everything settled. I hope that you can pull it off. I am not sure if I would have been able to. I am rooting for you!

 

If I can't get temp tags I might just have to drive it back without plates and see what happens. I know I'll get pulled over a bunch but as long as I have all the proper paperwork (title, lein release, insurance, bill of sale...) I should be okay... I think...

 

[QUOTE=miniforceny;3456288]I live in NY and sold my old car to a person in NJ. He came over, paid, I signed the title. He put his old/current plates on and drove away.

I don't think it is legal to just switch plates from one vehicle to another before you take the 'donor car' off the road and register the new car.

 

I can't add anything that hasn't already been said, but may I ask what car this is all about?

 

[QUOTE=veggivet;3456795]It's not, and the car can be impounded if you do this.

A Lotus.

Sorry it's not about a MINI, but I'm seeking all the advice I can get.

 

No, that's awesome! Plus I grew up in Bethesda, MD, so your thread caught my eye :-)

 

Forget it then! I take back everything I said! Just kidding. It is a nice choice.


Which model, year, etc.? I am intrigued.

And I would really try the legal route. I am not sure what cops can do without any plates on the car, whether you own it or not but you are certain to draw attention with a Lotus.

 

Drew,
Best option: Keep kissing up to any friends that may have a dealer plate that you can use.

Backup #1 - like stated above, drive the car back with the previous owner's plates, then mail them back.

Backup #2 - Take the plates off of your other car. Unfortunately, this means that you won't have a NYS inspection sticker, which is an obvious problem if you get stopped.

I also reccomend staying off of toll highways, there are more opportunities to stop and have people question things.

Are you going with a buddy and bringing two cars back? Did you sell your JCW yet?

So much for waiting till June. Tax refund eating a hole in your pocket?

Good luck,
Mike

 

Hey Mike,

I have a few friends with dealer plates but I got the same answer from all of them. They could get in lots of trouble if something happens and I have no legitimate reason for having the plate.

The original plan was to rent a car, drop it off in MD, then drive the Lotus back. I don't think this is going to work (crappy DMV stuff) and the seller's bank is being really weird about title/lien stuff. I found another car, but it's in Georgia, and at a dealer (fly down, drive up). This would be a lot simpler to be honest, I'm waiting for a call back from the dealership. At least this way I will have temp tags to legally get it back to NY. Either way I'm hoping to have a new car by the end of the weekend.

I haven't sold the JCW yet, and I don't want to be rushed too, so I'm going with an Elise. I will have it supercharged within the next few months, making more power than any Exige I would have bought, for about $15,000 less!


Drew