How have you brought home a recently purchased used car?

[bk7794]

I'd like to start doing more private party sales. However, one thing that I don't have is a means of getting it home. I don't have access to a trailer, repair plate or dealer plate.

Does anyone have any stories/recommendations on things they've done?

[ClutchFork]

Are you talking about buying a car that is not drivable, that is, it needs repairs, so you have to trailer it home or something?

If it is simply a used car, here in Michigan we are allowed to drive it home without getting the title transferred, simply by having the signed over title in hand. I would think most states would have similar allowances for private party purchases. No license plate is required on the car, but you should have insurance. My insurance company, State Farm, automatically covers a new purchase for the drive home.

[potownrob]

Are you talking about buying a car that is not drivable, that is, it needs repairs, so you have to trailer it home or something?

If it is simply a used car, here in Michigan we are allowed to drive it home without getting the title transferred, simply by having the signed over title in hand. I would think most states would have similar allowances for private party purchases. No license plate is required on the car, but you should have insurance. My insurance company, State Farm, automatically covers a new purchase for the drive home.

haha!! they're not nearly that lax out here in the northeast...

[bk7794]

I mean just a regular car that runs and drives but isn't registered.

As far as I know, you're required to have the car registered and insured just to have it on the road. I think technically, you're not even allowed to have any of the 4 wheels touching the road if it isn't registered.

[tankinbeans]

I mean just a regular car that runs and drives but isn't registered.

As far as I know, you're required to have the car registered and insured just to have it on the road. I think technically, you're not even allowed to have any of the 4 wheels touching the road if it isn't registered.

My guess is this is largely dependent on the state you love in. Minnesota allows a vehicle to be driven by the new owner as long as the plates are still good and the signed title is in hand. Then we have 14 days to fully transfer.

[ClutchFork]

I just wish Michigan would realize that my motorhome sits parked most of the time and issue my registration when the vehicle is on comprehensive only for being parked. But no, they will not issue the registration unless I show active liability insurance for driving it on the road. Then I have to wait to turn off the liability insurance in case they think I am pulling one over on them and cancel my registration.

Oh that reminds me, I have to go to the Secretary of State (they don't say DMV in Michigan) and move the plate due date from ClutchDisc's birthday in winter to mine in late summer. That way I won't have to put liability on for a month in the dead of winter and pay an extra amount.

[watkins]

When I brought my wagon home I just put the (illegally not installed) front plate from the Viggen on it. I had a bill of sale and a plate registered to me, so it probably wouldn't have been a huge deal. I really only put a plate on to hopefully stop cops from taking a second look.

[Rope-Pusher]

Throw a plate on it and drive it home like you are Goldilocks - not too fast, not too slow. Not too jumpy off the green light, but not too dawdly either.
Drive like you were trying not to attract attention -
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDNcOrXyAU4[/youtube]

[theholycow]

I think CT is approximately the same as RI: Insure it (online with major companies you can do it immediately, or just ride dirty I guess; or maybe your policy automatically covers a car you just bought but haven't registered yet, read the fine print), slap the plates from your car on it, carry the title or bill of sale (whichever is required to register it), and drive. The idea is to enable you to get to the DMV after trading/selling your car and buying a replacement.

RI recently tightened that down from a 7 or 10 day grace period (I don't remember) to something like 1 business day. Damned jerks.

Anyway, just for one trip to get it home if you get pulled over you can, in a worst case scenario, quite reasonably claim confusion/ignorance...but they're usually not out there with those damnable automated license plate OCR-technology scanners looking to trip you up. Make it as unremarkable-looking as you can before driving it away, put on both plates (not just one), and take a short but less-trafficked and less-patrolled route home while obeying all driving laws as perfectly as you can. Of course don't say you're just driving it home and will resume driving your old car; say you've replaced your car with this one.

The actual letter of the law might be in this link that I handily happened to have bookmarked:
https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm
(Or it may be in a different chapter.)

[bk7794]

I think CT is approximately the same as RI: Insure it (online with major companies you can do it immediately, or just ride dirty I guess; or maybe your policy automatically covers a car you just bought but haven't registered yet, read the fine print), slap the plates from your car on it, carry the title or bill of sale (whichever is required to register it), and drive. The idea is to enable you to get to the DMV after trading/selling your car and buying a replacement.

RI recently tightened that down from a 7 or 10 day grace period (I don't remember) to something like 1 business day. Damned jerks.

Anyway, just for one trip to get it home if you get pulled over you can, in a worst case scenario, quite reasonably claim confusion/ignorance...but they're usually not out there with those damnable automated license plate OCR-technology scanners looking to trip you up. Make it as unremarkable-looking as you can before driving it away, put on both plates (not just one), and take a short but less-trafficked and less-patrolled route home while obeying all driving laws as perfectly as you can. Of course don't say you're just driving it home and will resume driving your old car; say you've replaced your car with this one.

The actual letter of the law might be in this link that I handily happened to have bookmarked:
https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm
(Or it may be in a different chapter.)

Funny enough, I knew someone who got pulled over by one of them OCR reading plate readers for having expired registration. Somehow the notice got lost in the mail and when you have multiple vehicles, it's tough to keep tabs. Plus, I guess they switched their computer system and got a whole bunch of things screwed up.

Now, what if you have a dolly? I hear technically, none of the wheels can be touching the road. I'd be curious to see whether or not someone would hassle you. Even if you threw another set of plates on it.

[Rope-Pusher]

I'd be curious to see whether or not someone would hassle you.

I'd be curious too...as long as it was "You" and not "Me". Let's all choose straws and whoever gets the short straw has to drive for a month towing a vehicle on a two-wheeled dolly and report back to us on how many times he got pulled over.

I picked a long straw already, so let's see which one of you gets the short one.

[theholycow]

Funny enough, I knew someone who got pulled over by one of them OCR reading plate readers for having expired registration. Somehow the notice got lost in the mail and when you have multiple vehicles, it's tough to keep tabs. Plus, I guess they switched their computer system and got a whole bunch of things screwed up.

Now, what if you have a dolly? I hear technically, none of the wheels can be touching the road. I'd be curious to see whether or not someone would hassle you. Even if you threw another set of plates on it.

In 2008 I got a ticket in a town in MA then I talked to the chief and thought it was taken care of. Then in 2010 a MA state trooper pulled me over while I was doing absolutely nothing wrong, almost certainly from license plate OCR. The officer said he was doing me a big favor allowing me to have the car towed to the state line rather than impounding it (and impounding ME, too). $400 worth of towing later, I was a few miles away just over the state line. (BTW I had $300 worth of frozen groceries thawing in my backseat/trunk at the time.)

Eventually, after weeks of needing my wife to drive me around any time I entered MA (where I work, so I had to have her drive me to work), I figured out what happened. It turned out that they mailed me something about that ticket...but they mailed it to the wrong address - an old one that wasn’t on my license, wasn’t on my registration, wasn’t on the ticket, and hadn’t been my address for many years. Anyway, since I thought the ticket was gone and I never received any contrary information I never responded and they revoked my MA driving privilege.