buying a car and driving it a long distance home - what to do about license plates?

[purbeast0]

since this is my first time selling a car privately i'm not sure what to do about this situation...

in this case i'm the seller. the buyer is coming 9 hours (driving) to pick up my car, then drive it 9 hours back home. she is in ohio and I'm in maryland. she said that in ohio they can give you temp plates if the car you are purchasing is in ohio, but it's in maryland so they can't give them to her. she also called the maryland dmv and they said they don't do things like this.

now if i were to let her drive home with my plates, and just mail them back, that seems it could work. it does seem a tad risky though in the worst case she was an asshole and didn't mail them back which would royally screw me. however, if someone is driving 8 hours to pick up a car, i think they are serious about it in general. and when i purchased the car from someone, i had to drive 3 hours back and she let me use her plates, which i mailed back.

my other concern is, if in the worst case, she were to get in an accident in the car with my plates on it, i think i would be liable, right?

so what is the best way to handle something like this?

 

[skyking]

Have her purchase a 3 day trip permit if it is available. That fixes all those problems.
File a seller's report of sale at your DMV in any case, to cover your liability regarding tickets, accidents, anything. That one is a must.

 

[purbeast0]

Have her purchase a 3 day trip permit if it is available. That fixes all those problems.
File a seller's report of sale at your DMV in any case, to cover your liability regarding tickets, accidents, anything. That one is a must.

well according to the website for my states DMV...

http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Vehicle-Services/REG/buyvehicle.htm#selling

i don't need to file a "bill of sale" because my car is over 7 years old, and it doesn't have to be notorized.

that looks like the only "sellers report of sale" form on the site, and it doesn't say anything about it covering me for liability.

here is a link to the bill of sale

http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Vehicle-Services/REG/buyvehicle.htm#selling

 

[skyking]

wow, I educated myself and that is a pain in the ass there!
This are quite different out here.
Forget everything I suggested.

 

[purbeast0]

wow, I educated myself and that is a pain in the ass there!
This are quite different out here.
Forget everything I suggested.

haha ok

anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Christ, they make everything so freaking difficult in some states. Here the plates go with the car. Fill out a bill of sale, send in the form to DMV, fill out the title and you're off the hook.

 

[Darkstar757]

Hey Purbest. I live in Bowie MD bro!!!! Anyway I am also looking at a new car myself. What are you getting?

 

[bruceb]

In Ohio, an individual can purchase a Temporary Plate at a licensed auto dealership. They will charge about $20 for it.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Christ, they make everything so freaking difficult in some states. Here the plates go with the car. Fill out a bill of sale, send in the form to DMV, fill out the title and you're off the hook.

Seriously, I don't know why its done any other way.

 

[purbeast0]

Hey Purbest. I live in Bowie MD bro!!!! Anyway I am also looking at a new car myself. What are you getting?

getting a 2008 g37s. selling a 2003 vw gti 20th anniversary edition, wanna buy it?

In Ohio, an individual can purchase a Temporary Plate at a licensed auto dealership. They will charge about $20 for it.

according to the girl buying the car, she can only use those on cars that are registered in ohio, and my car will not be registered in ohio at that time. i'll look into it a bit though.

 

[jlee]

If you fax her a bill of sale, she may be able to get a temporary plate from Ohio DMV. Worth a shot, anyway.

 

[purbeast0]

If you fax her a bill of sale, she may be able to get a temporary plate from Ohio DMV. Worth a shot, anyway.

contacted her about that, she said they require the original title.

we're actually in the discussion of shipping it instead. the plan was for her and her boyfriend to rent a car to come down here, return it over here when they picked up the car, then get a hotel for the night, then drive back. so shipping it may be a cheaper option as far as time/money goes anyways.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

since this is my first time selling a car privately i'm not sure what to do about this situation...

in this case i'm the seller. the buyer is coming 9 hours (driving) to pick up my car, then drive it 9 hours back home. she is in ohio and I'm in maryland. she said that in ohio they can give you temp plates if the car you are purchasing is in ohio, but it's in maryland so they can't give them to her. she also called the maryland dmv and they said they don't do things like this.

now if i were to let her drive home with my plates, and just mail them back, that seems it could work. it does seem a tad risky though in the worst case she was an asshole and didn't mail them back which would royally screw me. however, if someone is driving 8 hours to pick up a car, i think they are serious about it in general. and when i purchased the car from someone, i had to drive 3 hours back and she let me use her plates, which i mailed back.

my other concern is, if in the worst case, she were to get in an accident in the car with my plates on it, i think i would be liable, right?

so what is the best way to handle something like this?

I just sold a motorcycle and picked up a used motorcycle.

In MD you don't need to get a notarized bill of sale if it's older than 7 years. You just sign the title over and fill in an amount that they'll pay tax on when they do a title transfer. The thing is Ohio might do things differently. For the guy that bought my bike he was in DC and they just required a bill of sale but it didn't need to be notarized.

You would be liable for anything that happens while your tags are on the car but the DC guy said we could set up a legal form saying that I wouldn't be liable for anything that happend while he was borrowing my tags. Sign that and get it notarized and we'd be good to go. I ended up delivering the bike for him because that honestly still sounds sketchy for some reason.

The safest option would be they come down and pay for the car and you both sign a bill of sale and they get the title. Make sure the bill of sale says you're no longer liable for anything once the title is signed over. They get the vehicle insured and go to their dmv and do a title transfer. They'll be able to get a temp tag with an inspetion waver that should be good for like a month. They take those tags back down to your area and drive the vehicle back home.

 

[purbeast0]

hmmm so now they are kind of worried about the shipping thing, because of sending me $3k as cashiers check. they want me to accept paypal for the $3k, then once the shipping confirmation is set, they send the $5k check.

no way i'm taking paypal for $3k, and no way i'm confirming any shipping without the $8k total (which I told them too). but i can see their hesitation on sending me a $3k cashiers check since it's basically cash.

i told them to send me $3k personal check and I can call the bank and confirm the funds, along with the $5k loan check. and once i get them, I will mail the title + lien release and we can start the shipping process. but she said they would rather drive to pick it up, then drive home with their tags than do that (at least for now). the thing is, even if the car has their tags on it, it's still registered to me and insured under my name, so the case of an accident, i'd still be liable.

there HAS to be a simpler way to do this ... just has to be.

 

[purbeast0]

The safest option would be they come down and pay for the car and you both sign a bill of sale and they get the title. Make sure the bill of sale says you're no longer liable for anything once the title is signed over. They get the vehicle insured and go to their dmv and do a title transfer. They'll be able to get a temp tag with an inspetion waver that should be good for like a month. They take those tags back down to your area and drive the vehicle back home.

heh their dmv is 9 hours away, i'm not going there with them to transfer the title

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

For a title transfer you just need to sign the back (once you get cash in hand) and they/or you fill in the odometer reading and purchase price. They'll take that to the dmv and pay for the title transfer. You don't need to be there.

Personal checks and cashiers checks can be forged so you do have to be careful. If they're driving all the way down though, it's probably legit.

I used one of my own tags when I picked up the motorcycle I bought. The guy who I bought it from was a criminal attorney and he said it's definitely not something you want to be caught doing.

 

[purbeast0]

For a title transfer you just need to sign the back (once you get cash in hand) and they/or you fill in the odometer reading and purchase price. They'll take that to the dmv and pay for the title transfer. You don't need to be there.

Personal checks and cashiers checks can be forged so you do have to be careful. If they're driving all the way down though, it's probably legit.

I used one of my own tags when I picked up the motorcycle I bought. The guy who I bought it from was a criminal attorney and he said it's definitely not something you want to be caught doing.

yea so now the plan is that she is going to come pick it up with her boyfriend, as originally planned. they are going to bring their plates and ust put them on the car. they are also going to have insurance on the car by that time as well.

now my question is, since they have the title signed over to them with the car, if they WERE to get into an accident or something like that, even though they are insured and stuff, would I be liable at all for anything since the car is still registered in my name?

i know i'm being kind of paranoid, but you never know what can or will happen.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Once title is signed over to them you are off the hook. Pull the plates and car is theirs.

Another option for them is to either bring a tow trailer from UHaul or get one locally and bring car back that way. If neither has a big enough tow vehicle, get a full size weekend rental from Enterprise (cheap rate and no mileage charges), go over to UHaul, rent the towing equipment and spend time together on the road. They should check that s trailer is available and reserve it. R/T UHaul rent may bd cheaper than one way; again they can check it out.

Shipping vehicle will be $3-400 min

 

[purbeast0]

Once title is signed over to them you are off the hook. Pull the plates and car is theirs.

Another option for them is to either bring a tow trailer from UHaul or get one locally and bring car back that way. If neither has a big enough tow vehicle, get a full size weekend rental from Enterprise (cheap rate and no mileage charges), go over to UHaul, rent the towing equipment and spend time together on the road. They should check that s trailer is available and reserve it. R/T UHaul rent may bd cheaper than one way; again they can check it out.

Shipping vehicle will be $3-400 min

Wow that u-haul tow idea is a pretty good one. I just emailed her that suggestion. THey are like $55 to rent for a day. If they have a car that can actually tow, that seems like that would be cheaper than a rental car + worrying about driving it back w/out legit tags.

 

[HarryLui]

I can print out a 3 day or 30 day temp paper plate from AZ DMV. But that's AZ.

 

[DaTT]

my other concern is, if in the worst case, she were to get in an accident in the car with my plates on it, i think i would be liable, right?

so what is the best way to handle something like this?

How are you liable for this? If you lend your car to someone and they get into an accident, you are not liable, the person driving is. Plates have nothing to do with liability.

 

[EagleKeeper]

How are you liable for this? If you lend your car to someone and they get into an accident, you are not liable, the person driving is. Plates have nothing to do with liability.

Owner of vehicle is liable also. You authorized person to use the vehicle.

 

[DaTT]

Owner of vehicle is liable also. You authorized person to use the vehicle.

This doesn't even make sense.

So you are saying that is you lend your car to your buddy, he goes out and kills someone in said car, you are liable? How? You weren't even there.

 

[EagleKeeper]

This doesn't even make sense.

So you are saying that is you lend your car to your buddy, he goes out and kills someone in said car, you are liable? How? You weren't even there.

Who lent the car? He bares the brunt of the responsibility, but the owner is liable fof allowing ghd situation..

 

[Baked]

That's why you save the tag when you buy a new car from the dealership so you can put it on the car when you sell it privately?