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SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: buying a car out of state

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Old Oct 14, 2009 | 11:19 PM
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buying a car out of state

Have a question for forum members here

What is the formal process of buying a car out of state (from a private seller, not a dealer),,,and he still has loan on the vehicle i am buying ..........
i am thinking it's pretty difficult since i won't have a tag to drive home,,,

thanks in advance for the response
htn
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by htn
Have a question for forum members here

What is the formal process of buying a car out of state (from a private seller, not a dealer),,,and he still has loan on the vehicle i am buying ..........
i am thinking it's pretty difficult since i won't have a tag to drive home,,,

thanks in advance for the response
htn
here is what you gotta do, its not without some risk, but this is how you cover your all mostly.

find out who his loan it with, talk to the bank and get the current pay off, so lets say you are buying a car for 50k and the guy owes 30k to bank of americw for the sake of argument, you pay him with a cashiers check made out to bank of america for the 30k, with the loan number int he memo, so he has to pay it off, if it is a loca bank like that, insist that together you go to the branch to pay it off when you are there to pick it up. you can insure a car you havent registerd yet, so you just insure it. if the guy isnt an asshat he should let you drive the car home on his plate. id he doesnt, you can go to the local dmvand get a temp transport tag but thats gonna be damn near impossible without a title. so you better make sure he lets you take the car in his plate, when he send you a title, you send him his plate. i also get a copy of his lic and try to do the transaction at his house, and look and see if the address in the lic matches the house. you should be fine, i have bought and sold probably 10 cars out of state, never had a problem
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 01:47 AM
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Make sure that whatever portion is left over past what you are paying for the car, is sent at THE SAME TIME as your payment. Otherwise you could go thru hell trying to get the title after having sent $30K, but he still owes $5K or more to the bank.
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 08:03 AM
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Originally Posted by GFEAR
here is what you gotta do, its not without some risk, but this is how you cover your all mostly.

find out who his loan it with, talk to the bank and get the current pay off, so lets say you are buying a car for 50k and the guy owes 30k to bank of americw for the sake of argument, you pay him with a cashiers check made out to bank of america for the 30k, with the loan number int he memo, so he has to pay it off, if it is a loca bank like that, insist that together you go to the branch to pay it off when you are there to pick it up. you can insure a car you havent registerd yet, so you just insure it. if the guy isnt an asshat he should let you drive the car home on his plate. id he doesnt, you can go to the local dmvand get a temp transport tag but thats gonna be damn near impossible without a title. so you better make sure he lets you take the car in his plate, when he send you a title, you send him his plate. i also get a copy of his lic and try to do the transaction at his house, and look and see if the address in the lic matches the house. you should be fine, i have bought and sold probably 10 cars out of state, never had a problem
Not every state has the plate stays with the car rule. Some states allow you to put your own tag on the vehicle for transportation, 30 days. Since in some states the plate doesn't stay with the car the owner of the now sold vehicle needs the plate to get a partial refund of fees, taxes, etc.
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 08:17 AM
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Originally Posted by amdeutsch
Not every state has the plate stays with the car rule. Some states allow you to put your own tag on the vehicle for transportation, 30 days. Since in some states the plate doesn't stay with the car the owner of the now sold vehicle needs the plate to get a partial refund of fees, taxes, etc.
Sure. That's why I usually let him
drive home on mynplatr and mail it back to me or vice versa. Worst cast you just report the tag stolen but I haven't been screwed yet
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 09:19 AM
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thanks all,,,,The seller seems to be pretty ligit.....he provided me with credit union that holds his title and loan number so i can find out exactly how much he owes. He also said that since it's a really small local credit union,,,they have the title at the location and will release it once we pay it off.........the only troulbe right now is he's not quite comfortable letting me drive the car home with his tag,,,,,,,,,,,,
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 11:26 AM
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Originally Posted by htn
thanks all,,,,The seller seems to be pretty ligit.....he provided me with credit union that holds his title and loan number so i can find out exactly how much he owes. He also said that since it's a really small local credit union,,,they have the title at the location and will release it once we pay it off.........the only troulbe right now is he's not quite comfortable letting me drive the car home with his tag,,,,,,,,,,,,
If you have a friend in the car business he can write you a temp tag if you give him the vin and mileage. That's what I did a week ago.
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 01:37 PM
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Just drive home without the tag, what state is this?
I regularly drive with no license plate here in CA.
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 01:50 PM
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Get a trip permit from your state DMV/ licensing dept and you should be good to go. My state trip permits are generic and will work on anything up to 105K lbs.
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Old Oct 15, 2009 | 08:29 PM
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I am in NC,,,,,,,and buying the car in Dallas, Texas,,,,,14 hours of driving without tag???
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 04:32 AM
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If your that uncomfortable, get the vehicle transported from his residence to yours
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 10:38 AM
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i cant believe you drivign on his tag is a deal breaker for him, if you tell him.
"im trusting you to send me the title for a car i have already paid for, you can trust me to send your tag back to you"

he'll do it
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 10:51 AM
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This is exatly how I just purchased my SL600. Flew to Chicago with a bank check and he let me drive home with his plate. Once my check cleared, he sent me the title and I sent him the plate back.

In this economy, I'm sure people aren't knocking his door down to buy this car. You're probably the only fish he's got on the hook anyway. He'll make the deal.
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by htn
I am in NC,,,,,,,and buying the car in Dallas, Texas,,,,,14 hours of driving without tag???
yeah, so?
I once drove from Birmingham, Alabama to Houston, TX without tags.
I also drive around every day of the week here in CA without tags.

If you show the cop your bill of sale, and explain that you are just driving it home he really shouldn't care... stop being so worried about a minor thing.

Or just ask him to borrow his plate, OR bring one of yours from another car....
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 02:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Fantasm
yeah, so?
I once drove from Birmingham, Alabama to Houston, TX without tags.
I also drive around every day of the week here in CA without tags.

If you show the cop your bill of sale, and explain that you are just driving it home he really shouldn't care... stop being so worried about a minor thing.

Or just ask him to borrow his plate, OR bring one of yours from another car....

thats regional. im in florida, we test drive bran new dealership vehicles that we have modified every day with no tags, i had one guy get pulled over once. in the northeast, nj or ny or ct? you wouldnt make it 2 miles before you would be pulled over and the car towed. thats a fact.
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Old Oct 16, 2009 | 05:01 PM
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How do so many people in CA drive without tags? What's the main reason, if any...
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Old Oct 17, 2009 | 01:38 AM
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Originally Posted by GFEAR
in the northeast, nj or ny or ct? you wouldnt make it 2 miles before you would be pulled over and the car towed. thats a fact.
try that on the NJ turnpike and see what happens to you
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