Advice on buying an out of state car

Best bet is to go there, pay the guy at a bank, plate the car and drive it back, or haul it back yourself. Sold an O/T van a couple weeks ago and the dude flew in from Baltimore, I picked him up at the airport, we went to the bank, then the DMV, had to screw around some to get a NY transit permit because the DMV clerk felt like being **** that day, but eventually got him all set and he drove it home.

I was surprised he chose to fly, but he said taking Amtrak and staying one night in a hotel was going to cost just as much. I suppose if you're on a budget you could go Greyhound, though.

 

I thought I saw on here about using a US Postal Service Money Order then you could have the Feds on your side with Mail Fraud? ...
Not sure that would do any good though.
Also do a google for Automobile Escrow Service. You can get some protection there for a fee with that.
I have been lucky with lots of long distance purchases and never been burned yet.

 

MMMMMM barbeque... thanks all for the advice..I'll post my results. Driving this particular vehicle that amount of distance this time of year is out of the question. The shipping thing I've learned is another whole can of worms. I have a shipping quote from the company the guy who bought my Merc had used. $875 Sounds good to me but I am going on knowing very little. ...I'm looking to move this vehicle if anybody is going through or can recommend someone.

The Money Order thing is interesting.Anyone know the deal w/ using Postal Money orders.?..I've used them on plenty deals but never on a vehicle. Just exploring all options here. Thanks to all again, I appreciate it.

 

Paul 2748

How did you resolve the mileage issue w/ that ***le?..I'm ***uming you had to have the previous owner write and notarize something???..was there a space on the back of the ***le to write in a number? I mean there is no way to know the ACTUAL mileage on a vehicle pieced together from different generations. I'm sure an estimated number would be enough for the DMV..but what if the front says EXEMPT???

 

If you aren't going to do the deal "in person" with cash,get a Cashiers check from your Bank/Credit Union.
I still see a trip to Texas in your future....

 

Bought a car sight unseen throu ebay...twas a bit nervious as the tariff was near 20K...a good selection of photos and a couple of conversations with the seller eased my mind somewhat. I will confess the sellers idea of "perfect" and mine are not necessarily the same. Overall, I am happy with the purchase and will continue to wrench on it to make it mine

 

What does vin certification waived mean?

 

I believe it means the vin # on the vehicle was not "inspected" by anyone to prove it's validity, but I may be off there. I will call DMV today to verify but in my experience the NJ DMV can be quite difficult to navigate. One person will tell you one thing and the next tells you another. For instance the Merc I purchased was from Ct.They dont have ***les or at least dont have them for earlier model cars (the car was a '55). All I had was a 3" strip of white paper with the sellers name /vin # and selling price. I was warned to go to Trenton with this "special" case cause they know what they are doing. I brought it to the window , told the person "I'd like to ***le this vehicle". He looks at my paperwork (I had pics of vehicle/tracing of vin plate /insurance card/my liscence ) and gets this blank look on his face. He carries my stuff over to a lady at a desk. I see her look at the paperwork, then tips her gl***es down and looks over at ME like Im public enemy and from that point I knew I was F'ed. They wouldn't do it. I was smoking pissed having taken a day off work.. I came home, went to my local branch and although it took hours I left w/ my ***le/plates. So it's not cut and dry here in NJ and I don't need a vehicle I can't ***le.

 

Jersey is a pain in the ***, I 2nd the Broadway sugestion as your best option.
Good luck

 

After all this research, dozens of emails, several phone calls, hours spent on the phone w/ DMV the seller BACKS OUT on our agreement.

Thanks all for the advice

 

Well, at least you are prepared for the next "gotta have it"........besides, women and old cars are like busses,..........there will be another along in 20 minutes

Happy New Year!

Ray

 

too bad he backed out. Kinda makes me wonder if all your questions scared him off. Perhaps there were some issues that you touched on and he was afraid you would sniff out the problems. On the other hand, maybe he really preferred to keep the car.

regarding mileage disclosure...in WI, you are unable to record actual mileage of vehicles over ten years old on a new WI ***le. That really ****s. We have sold many out-of-state vehicles with do***ented low actual mileage and the WI resident that bought it had no way to continue the do***entation. Perhaps NJ is the same? The key is to keep a photocopy of the previous ***le.

good luck on your search. Keep me in mind. www.topnotchvehicles.com . Bob

 

Too bad the deal fell apart but everything happenes for a reason. To add to the mileage advice, here in NH they have a box like that on the ***le that says something to the affect that "the mileage exceedes the mechanical limits of the odometer" It simply means that the car has over 100k miles. So lets say it shows 12k miles. They don't want you guessing if it's 112,000, 212,000, etc. so they simply have you check that box .

 

Even when someone pays you cash always check the big bills with one of the counterfit detector pens that office max sells,at least thats where I got mine, can't be to careful when cash is involved. Learned the hard way . Good luck with your buy.

 

Just to throw this out there. I called the main help line of the NJ Dept of motor vehicles and was transferred at least 4 maybe 5 times. First operator tells me the NADA book states there were NO ***LES issued for vehicles pre '37. Next operator tells me to call Texas to check the ***le, I do ...Texas says "all good"... I mention the bit about pre '37's and theres a long pause and she says "well, it is what it is". Next Jersey op says they can't tell me if the ***le can be transferred without having the actual ***le first..I explain I haven't purchased the vehicle yet and that Im trying to avoid getting caught up in red tape..then I ask her if she would mail the ***le to her car to someone in another state without any $$$ exchanged. On and on..I'd hang up, re dial and get a new operator and get a whole new answer.....after at least an hour on the phone w/ NJ and Texas I still had NO CLUE wether I could ***le the vehicle in NJ without PURCHASING it fist. Nice.