buying and insuring a vehicle

Looks like proof of residency is not needed in Michigan and Montana has temporary resident options
I've been looking at too much of this stuff, starting to go cross eyed!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammah

Oh well its looking like the lawyer is the only option.

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Have you followed through with the contacts I sent you? Only a month or two ago I met an Australian family who had used the same attorney. But I would concentrate on purchasing privately. In many States dealers are forbidden to sell if you have it registered in Montana. That is mainly because local residents use the attorney to avoid sales tax on high ticket/luxury vehicles.

Lifey

Absolutely Lifey Kathy is lovely we are just making an honest attempt to avoid the $1300 lawyers fee as hannah is an american with a passport we really thought it was a possibility to buy a car without setting up a ltd company
Its all a bit ridiculous really but what do you do, their country their rules
We will get there

We are now in Milwaukee, found a few vehicles here worth a look and DMV website mentions nothing of prooving residency, looked at two today, no good :)
I have found Mississippi doesn't require proof and Washington does not either.
Washington is promising, there's a few possible vehicles and no salt!

If you are looking for old rust-free vehicles, you need to look in Arizona - the Phoenix area. You can indeed buy a vehicle in one state and title/register it in a different state. People do that all the time.

I'm quite certainly that you have to provide a Wisconsin Drivers License to license a vehicle in Wisconsin, and to get a WI License you have to prove your are a state resident.

Small update, tomorrow we hop on a train bound for Washington state!
Including a 3 hour stop over its a 48 hr journey! We are really looking forward to it!
Its getting cold here in Milwaukee! Time to head to the coast and then start our way down
Few vehicles to look at in WA!

Thanks for the heads up on Arizona glc I'll have a look!

The Empire Builder is a lovely train and route.

Enjoy

Lifey

I know you've focused on buying a van, but are you sure that even makes sense at this point of the trip?

You've already seen how difficult the process can be, and how much time it can take just to find a suitable vehicle. Since it would appear that you're already about a month into your 3 month trip, and you've gotten around without a car so far, I really think you might want to step back an reexamine your plan. At this point, you could probably rent a car for the remainder of your time in the US and it would actually be less expensive than buying, especially when you factor in the repair costs that are very likely going to come up with the kinds of vans you are looking at.

We made it, we have now a titled plated van sorted!

It ended up being 53.5 hours of train then bus journey to pick up the van. Vehicle unseen, deposit paid, it was a little nerve wracking!
But our ebay seller screening was spot on, you could just tell from the ad what the old owners were like.

If anything it's better than I expected
The seller ended up being an ex war veteran who is now a pastor who owns a ranch in north washington and spends his time off building shelters for orphans in central America
Amazing lovely people who took us out and bought us dinner when we got there because they thought we were nice :)

It's a 1990 horizon doge 250
Class b camper
Done 77,000 miles
The seller serviced the van yesterday and topped up the water tanks with water from their spring.
It is immaculate, everything works, brand new tyres, zero rust, zero oil leaks, the v8 purrs
And a very sharp price well under my budget of $5k registered, insured, titled, driving down the road

Very very happy

As far as titling and registration it was unbelievably simple
We walked into the dmv here with nothing but a signed title and registration from the seller and our Nz drivers licence
we told them clearly we are not residents and are intent on travelling
All they asked is pay the tax and provide a mailing address
We gave a california address
No problem at all
Walked out title in hand in 10 minutes

I must say a big thanks to everyone that helped on here that helped
Especially Lifey the insurance broker you recommended was absolutely fantastic

I hope that this info can help future people, I spent far too much time stressing about how hard and how things can't be done

It can be done and relatively simply

Yay time to hit the road!