KingJeff4th

I'm moving over to CA next week and already have a car lined up to buy from a friend out there.

So my question is how soon can I buy it and register / insure it so all is legal? What documents do I need to get it done?

Also for the first few weeks I'll be staying in a hotel, do the insurance companies need a permanent address? Could I use my friends until I get my own place organised?

Thanks!

Flabound oneday

you can buy a car anytime...insuring it may be more fun....especially if you don't have a US license.....we 'borrowed' a friends car for the first 2-3 months we were here then once we had licenses etc transferred it into our name...Paid him up front day 1,covered his insurance every month,saved a good few $$

also remember you pay tax on the purchase price (well you do in florida) so cash is always a good idea :-)

Guindalf

There's no tax due on a private sale, at least here in Georgia. There's no easy mechanism for the gov't to collect it!

No permanent address would not necessarily exclude you from obtaining insurance, but it will certainly increase the rate, as will the lack of a US license.

The only way to know for sure is to contact a few insurance companies directly. I think thegeneral.com will even allow you to get rates online anonymously.

Flabound oneday

you are lucky...in Fla on a private sale the seller retains his license plate/tag and the buyer has to either buy one or have his own attached to the vehicle. at this stage the tax is charged

your license plate once bought 'lives' with you forever and not the car

Yogibear1961

Here in California the buyer pays sales tax, it's about 10% of sale price, the seller is responsible for the smog certificate and has to renew on selling, the DMV won't register the vechicle without one, the exceptions are motorcycles, they don't need a smog.

markonline1

You will still pay sales tax on a private sale here unfortunately. As said, you can buy a car here anytime. Th dealership even let me take the test drive with my UK license. Geico also insured the car using the UK license when we explained that I would be converting to a US license as soon as I was able (my wife already had a policy with geico for her car which probably made a difference). My car was on the forecourt for 10k. There was about 800 bucks give or take in taxes and fees etc. I did however knock a $900 off the price during the haggle.

Bob

Pretty easy really, you pay it when you register it, or the car doesn't get registered.

How it works in most states that have a property/excise/sales tax.

Anyway, as mentioned, buying is easy and insurance probably also easy but will be expensive till a permanent address is listed and a local license acquired.

MidAtlantic

Private sales in GA are now taxed: http://onlinemvd.dor.ga.gov/Tap/faqs.aspx

Guindalf

Hmmm, news to me. I stand corrected.

I must admit I did wonder how the new laws would affect Ad Velorum taxes. I bought a used Ford Edge in December 2012 and when my renewal came up, I had the option of paying the AV every year or paying something like $323 extra and never having to pay it again (I got the car at WELL below market value and traded my older BMW, so less tax was taken).

Marc_ely

Regarding the insurance bit - I moved out here in January and I had to email Geico PDF's of our UK driving licenses. This meant we then qualified for their "California Driver" bonus and saved us 50%. This is on a UK license as we're still waiting for our CA tests.
If you're coming over for work you can give them your work address I believe.

TimNiceBut

In CA, you have 30 days to re-register the car in your name and the plates stay on the car unless the current owner has personal plates on it that they want to keep. You can drive it for that long as long as you have insurance for it and then register it when you find a more permanent place, which should only take a couple of weeks.

And yes, you'll have to pay sales tax on the amount filled in on the title if you want to buy and register a car in CA. Don't forget you'll also have to pay the annual registration fee (equivalent of the UK road tax).

radita

its depend on your income and your want.