Purchase Backs & Other Car Purchasing Options

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

There is usually no really good way to go about buying a car as a foreign citizen. There are plenty of hurdles and red tape, and the process is usually a bit time consuming.

Having a residential address will be a big help though. That can serve as a home base where you can use to get the car registered and insured. I'd recommend buying the car and dealing with the paperwork in whatever state that is. From there, you're best bet will be to contact the DMV of that state and find out what the requirements are.

Another option that might be better for you is to investigate a buy back program. Adventures on Wheels, based in New Jersey, is one of those companies that will sell you a car with a promise to buy it back when you are done. It would probably be much faster and easier to go that route than to try and buy a car on your own.

Ok, just a short post-road trip update:

The road trip went fine, no problems at all. It was great, there were so many things to see and 3 weeks was actually too short (as are all holidays). But I really enjoyed it!
Returning the car to Adventures on Wheels wasn't a problem either. They inspected the car for damages and fuel and stuff, but everything was fine (except that I had driven more miles than agreed upon beforehand, so I had to pay a little extra). So my experience with AoW has been positive and I can recommend it if you need to rent a car for a longer time.

Thanks for the update - I'll definately have a look at them for my trip next year.

Hi again!
Sorry I haven't replied in a while, but now I have got the quotes from the Transatlantic Auto & RV Center.
For a VC2 (You can see the different classes on that page). They wanted $6800. When we return the car, we get $200 back.
That is a little too much for us I think, so maybe we have to find another way of travelling.

Since we get plenty of requests for information about companies that offer purchase back options when visiting road trippers purchase their vehicles from them, I thought we ought to create this thread with some of the experiences of our members.

As such, it will be a resource-in-the-making. Also, posts made here, may well be copied from existing threads (so Mods -- this is an exception to the usual "rule" of the land).

Mark

Although most of the companies who offer purchase-back options also provide auto insurance policies -- here are some alternative ideas:

General Over-view about how auto insurance works in the USA

Some international firms that offer insurance plans in the USA

And here is a good thread that addresses how to get a car registered when the purchaser is not a USA citizen.