Welcome to RTA!

What you're asking is not totally impossible, but it is a lengthy process, and may/may not be financially or psychologically prudent, depending on how long you plan to stay here.

It isn't usually a problem to buy a car. However, buying one that will actually get you across country without a lot of repairs might be a little tricky, and it takes time. If that didn't take enough time, the biggest hassle is yet to come: licensing and registering it, then trying to insure it. The individual states want you to have a permanent US address. The insurance companies want you to have a permanent US address. Not a lot of insurance companies will even think about insuring a non-resident, unfortunately. The final hassle is: what are you going to do with the vehicle when you're done with it? It will take time to sell it, if that's what you plan to do.

Then there's the question: how long are you intending to travel? If you are here on the normal visitors visa, you can't stay in North America for longer than 90 days. Period. So you plan to buy, license, register and insure a car, which can take weeks. Then sell it later, another week. There goes much of your time in the US.

We have a regular member on these forums that has been through this routine. She has family here so she is eligible for longer amounts of time on her visitor visa. Every time she comes back to the US, she has to deal with insurance issues and lately, licensing and registration. Hopefully she will chime in with real world experience, very soon.


Donna