I found a truck that I am interested in buying (2003 S10). It is being sold by a private person and not a dealer. My question is how does one drive the auto away once the sale has been made? This person lives about an hour away from me. I plan on giving him a certified bank check for the amount that we agree on, then getting the title from him and having him sign the title over to me. I will then add the truck to my insurance group over the phone as soon as the purchase is completed, but can I drive the truck home? I will have no license plates or registration for it. The DMV is back here in my town where I would go to pay the sales taxes and title and registration fees. They will then issue a temp tag until I get my plates. But how do I get from the seller's area back here? I guess I could just slap my current plates (for a car, not a truck) onto the truck and just drive back here. Any ideas from people who have bought cars from private sellers, not dealers??
Sold the Z24
Dammit... I was posting before this got moved.
I'm not sure about the license deal, but I do know that a vehicle purchase has a grace period with auto insurance companies. How long, I'm not sure. But you usually have a few days before you have to put it on insurance.
You may want to call the Vehicle Registration place to get an answer about the tag though. I'd imagine you would have a slight "grace" period for that as well. Personally, I'd throw another tag on and be very inconspicuous.
Ok I have bought from a privte seller before and also I work at a dealer. In most states you take the tag that is registered to you to drive the truck back. You will need to get a bill of sale from the guy after you buy it with also the title. If a cop does get behind you and see's they are different you are going to get pulled over, but ou are covered with the stuff I just told you about. It would be a good idea to call your insureance company to tekk them about the new truck just in cause something happens.
if you get caught with the other plates on the truck your looking at a pretty big fine.how far do you live away fom the guy selling the truck???
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If I were to see you with no plates, I'd pull you over obviously. But if you provide a bill of sale and the title, I'll see that the purchase was just made, advise you to drive straight home and park the vehicle until you get plates and send you on your way.
If I were to run the plates you put on, they're obviously going to match a different car, and again, I'm gonna pull you over. And given the situation I'd probably give you a warning and tell you to take the tags off, but I came from a small town department in the middle of nowhere and things are a little more lax. If you're in a place like Chicago or Minneapolis or LA or some other place like that, and an officer ran the tags and they didn't match, there's a good chance of a felony stop since it's a good indication of a stolen vehicle.
It's about an hour drive on I-90 in Illinois and then through some small towns along the way. One thing to remember is that this truck will have regular car plates on it off my Z24 while I am driving home. That's a dead giveaway I would think to any cop. I have been told now that my credit union who will give me the check for the truck may issue me a temp tag of some kind, but I'm not sure.
Sold the Z24
LIKWIT Z wrote:One thing to remember is that this truck will have regular car plates on it off my Z24 while I am driving home. That's a dead giveaway I would think to any cop.
Like I said. I'd honestly recommend not putting ANY plates on when you drive it home. Some cops will let you get away with a sign in the window that says "In transit" with the date on it, but technically that's illegal too since it's not issued by a dealer or the court. I've never wrote any tickets for a sign like that but it's more of a judgement call.
Heres what i did, just bought my car 2 weeks ago. got a bill of sale from him, we put the time on it, i asked my DMV, a state cop, a city cop and a county cop, 99% of the time you will be given the normal 24hr grace period. if i were you i would not put any plates on it. i only did because my old car was a cavy and my new car was a cavy.
Ok your insurance covers the new vehicle for 30 days. When you leave the house go to a currency exchange. They can do the actual title transfer and order you plates (when you order plates they surply you with temperary plates) Its thats easy
go to the DMV, they will give you a instate transit tag to paste in your window. You can also get tags to go between states. they usually last 10 days.
Also, it doesnt matter where your local DMV office is. Go to the office near him and get it taken care of. As long as its an IL DMV office and not some other state. When i bought my s-10 instead of dealing with dealer plates, or temp tags, i just went to the local dmv and got everything taken care of there.
Does this instate transit tag cost anything?
Sold the Z24
Where abouts do you live exactly?? Will you be passing near-by Des Plaines during your commute? I still have the [valid] truck B plates from the Ranger I had over the winter. They would still be illegal for you to use, but a cop that happens to glance at the plate wouldn't think anything of you driving b/c they are valid until like 11/06 or 12/06. I've used my car plates during *new* used vehicle private purchases, and I just make sure to be inconspicous as someone else said. I drove my Saturn from Indianapolis all the way up to home (NW burbs of Chicago) on my Cavalier plate (no mount on the front, so I just left that off).
I've also used expired yellow temp plate - that was registered to me - when I bought the Ranger (South Milwaukee down to Des Plaines), but apparently I threw it out b/c I tried to look for it before I bought the Saturn. Couldn't find it anywhere, so I'm guessing I must have tossed it or something - thus the Cav plate instead.
You're best off trying to get the In Transit temp license at DMV
or a Currency Exchange. The CE's do vehicle registration and all that too, you don't have to go to DMV for it. Or if you feel like dealing with being pulled over a few times on the way home, do the title & bill-of-sale method.
F/S: 2005 KAWASAKI ZX-6R 636, 1107ish Miles, $7500 OBO
UPDATE: Drove the truck back home on Monday. The seller allowed me to keep his plates on so it was all good.
Sold the Z24
i would suggest getting the title and bill of sale first and then go to the dmv and get the temp tags then go and pick up the truck. that way you are legally driving the truck and you dont have anything to worry about
It's all good tho. Minor illegal activity FTW