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Hello
Me and a friend of mine are going to the us next spring, but we have som trouble about finding information about car registration as a non us citizen, therefore i would like to get som knowledge from u guys about the proces of buying a car for the roadtrip! (the route is from miami to san francisco)
regards
Welcome to the RTA Forum!
One of the challenges is that each state has different rules and requirements. Since it sounds like you'd be starting in Florida, you should start by looking at the Florida DMV.
Having said that, are you non-citizens or non-residents? If you're here on a long-term visa, then getting the documents you need to register a car isn't usually too difficult. However, if you are here as a short-term traveler, it can be considerably more difficult. Perhaps even more important, if you are only planning to be here for 3 months or less, it generally doesn't make financial sense to purchase a car. It actually ends up being cheaper, and much easier, to rent a car at that point.
Non-resident. What would the timespan be if we have the normal visa and decides to buy the car? But there is no trouble by having a florida registrated car and driving through california, arizona etc.? We are 19 and 20 at the point when we want to travel and going to be there for 90 days more or less, and most rental cars you need to be 21 to rent them, so i see it as a problem for us?
A car is registered in the state where the owner lives, no matter where they drive it.
The problem is that most states you have to actually live there to be able to register the car - not to mention also get insurance. If you are traveling on the Visa Wavier Program - which is for a maximum of 90 days - it can be very difficult to provide the necessary documents needed to take care of the paperwork.
I will also say that at age 19 and 20, getting insurance will be extremely expensive. The reason that most car rental agencies won't rent to someone under age 21 is because people in that age group are just too much of a liability risk. If you can even find anyone who will give you insurance, I'd expect you'd be looking to pay at least $2000 up front just for insurance coverage.
Sorry to be the barer of bad news, but the US is just a very difficult and/or expensive place to travel when you're under 21.
Would it be an option to make someone you know buy the car who's a us Citizen, or would that have the same outcome? if not to talk about legality?
If anything happens, THEY would be liable, not you. Not a good position to put anyone in.
Legally, there is nothing wrong with someone letting you "borrow" their car, but there are a few big problems with that plan.
First, as GLC mentioned is liability. If the car is in the name of a "friend," then they would have to add you to their insurance - meaning their insurances rates are going to skyrocket (because of your ages and lack of US driving record) - and their rates are going to go up on all of the vehicles they own. Additionally, if you did get into a crash, they would be liable for anything that insurance didn't cover and their insurance rates would also go up because of your accident.
Additionally, it's a problem because you presumably want to sell the car at the end of your trip when you get to California. If your "friend" is the owner of the car, then you can't sell it. You'd have to find a way to get that friend to your final destination so they could sign over the car's title to the next buyer.
Add to that: in the State of California, in order to sell a car, you have to have it take a Smog Test and it has to pass it. If it doesn't pass the test, you have to fix it. If you can't afford to fix it, you can't sell it. Cars purchased outside of California often won't pass. If you try to sell a car here that didn't pass the smog, hoping that no one would notice, the buyer has to have the car smog-tested again anyway. This state is definitely picky-picky.
Donna in California
Take note of all above information. Even though I have family in the US and am a mature adult, there is no way that I would borrow their vehicles. It could cost them a lot, if an accident were my fault.
Also insurance as a non resident is quite expensive.
I have met many young folk like yourself, mostly from Europe, who are travelling the US They usually travel by train (Amtrak) and / or bus (Greyhound) and stay at hostels. Most hostels are aware that trains and buses do not go near many of the main attractions, and run tours out of the hostel. These are usually at very competitive rates, or even highly discounted.
Lifey
i have thought about it and i might take the option and rent a car at "fox rent a car" which might seem like the cheapest option here and then fly across the country with the cheapest airline company (which i would like some advice about) and then rent a car again and explore the states sourrounding, would this seem like a decent option?