How To Buy A Car In Usa
This article was co-authored by Michael R. Lewis. Michael R. Lewis is a retired corporate executive, entrepreneur, and investment advisor in Texas. He has over 40 years of experience in business and finance, including as a Vice President for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. He has a BBA in Industrial Management from the University of Texas at Austin.There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 105,564 times.
how to buy a car in usa
Buying a car is a big event and contains several steps, even for American citizens. There are actually very few, if any, separate requirements for visitors or immigrants from other countries who wish to buy a car in the U.S. Nevertheless, understanding all the requirements is important and will make the process easier. Along the way, there are some resources that may be helpful to foreigners in the U.S.
If you are thinking about buying and importing a vehicle from the U.S. or Mexico, please visit the Registrar of Imported Vehicles web site to find out about vehicle eligibility, how the process works and fill out the vehicle import E-form.
Transport Canada maintains a list of vehicles that are compatible for import from the U.S. and Mexico, better known as the Registrar of Imported Vehicles Compatibility List. The information is provided by vehicle manufacturers on a voluntary basis.
The list's accuracy cannot be guaranteed and its content can change without notice. There are also no guaranties that a vehicle listed as eligible can be successfully modified to meet Canadian requirements.
This web site is meant as a helpful reference. It has no legal force or effect. To fully understand the law, consult the Motor Vehicle Safety Act S.C. 1993, c.16 and the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations.
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We have done this ourself more than once. We have read in multiple places online that it is impossible to buy a car as a foreigner in the USA and due to the serious lack of information online and scattered around the internet via various forums, we decided to write a guide to try to help out other foreigners who may want to buy a car in America.
We have purchased cars without issue in Florida and Nevada so these are good States to consider if you want to buy a car as a foreigner. I think it is because there are a lot of foreigners who live in these States so it is a bit easier there, even when dealing with sellers. In Florida, the seller of our vehicle was more than willing to help us out where we were a little confused as to what was going on.
You may also want to factor in the sales tax of the place you are buying the car and how expensive registration and insurance is in that State. For example, we read Oregon does not have sales tax which can save you 7-10% up front. As we have not personally experienced buying a car in Oregon, we are not sure how easy/hard it is as a foreigner there, sales tax aside.
In States where it is easier to buy a car as a foreigner you will still need a USA address. You will need to receive the Title to this address so it is important that you use an address where you can actually access mail or have mail delivered to.
You want to find a company that will forward your mail on so when your title arrives in the mail you can forward it on to wherever you are on your journey. In Vegas, we used a company called iPostal1 who will scan in any mail we receive and on-forward our mail. We needed to verify our ID to set up the service so we drove into their store to do so.
In saying this, there are some insurance companies that will insure foreigners for cars. In Florida, we used the insurer Pearl Holding Group without trouble. In Nevada, we used Progressive Insurance.
The Dodge Grand Caravan has a V4 motor as opposed to a V6 motor in the Chrysler Town & Country. This means it will have slightly better fuel efficiency however, with lots of luggage, people, mattresses etc, a V6 motor will perform a lot better on highway driving etc. Something to consider.
The 2002 did not have the stow and go seats so I believe only newer models of the Chrysler Town & Country do this which we found to be really worthwhile. We dumped our 2002 Chrysler Town & Country seats in a bin in Florida which seemed a bit of a shame as we did not have anywhere to store them!
You can look for a car in places like offerup, facebook marketplace or craigslist when buying a car. Of course you need to be aware of scammers on craiglist. We bought our first car via craiglist in Florida and our second car via offerup in Vegas.
The most important thing is to make sure the person has the title of the car when you buy it from them. This makes sure the car is not stolen or otherwise and there is clean title to the property when you buy it.
If you happen to be in Vegas, we know a good reliable mobile mechanic who can do pre purchase inspections. His name is Jordan and his number is +1 702 335 2390. He charged us $115 for a pre purchase inspection.
Our car happened to need new tyres which we got done at Tyre Works in Vegas for around $100 a tyre. When we were getting new tyres on, the mechanic at the tyre shop noticed the wheels would not align properly as parts behind the wheels had broken. Jordan was able to fix this for $800 including parts which was cheaper than Tyre Works quote of $1100.
Usually the price of second hand cars are subject to negotiation so be prepared to haggle a little if you are buying a second hand car. Both times we purchased a car we were able to get a few hundred off the final price with the use of an old fashioned haggle.
America has carfax which is a site which allows you to look up the history of the car to know whether it has been in any accidents, how many owners it has had, if it has been recalled and whether the title is clean.
When we bought our car in Vegas, the dealer gave us a slip of paper to take to the DMV to register the car. They give you temporary plates to use for 30 days, so effectively you have 30 days to get to the DMV to register the car and get your new plates from them.
Anyway, this was great as it meant we were able to hit the road and not have to wait for ages for our plates. We had a mail on-forwarding service so we were able to get our title when it came in and did not have to wait. If you buy a car in Vegas, the lady we used in Vegas JROD Multiservice at 8425 W Flamingo Rd Suite 2, Las Vegas.
The way they get around rules like needing a social security company is by setting you up as a company and buying the car in the name of the company as opposed to the name of an individual. They usually charge around $1,000 USD for this service. This is necessary in places like Colorado but not really necessary in other States like Florida and Nevada.
One of these companies you might like to check out is visitor.us if you are interested in a service like this. Personally, I think it is worth saving the money and time to do the process yourself. There is also a risk these companies are scams although it does not seem likely.
Another reason we decided against going through these companies is because we wanted to get our plates straight away. It took us about 1 day to get plates through the DMV using a $100 fast track DMV service whereas I believe some of these companies take a week or so to get you the plates through the registration as a company.
Can I buy a car with international driver license? It depends on the State. In Florida and Nevada you can. In Colorado you have to take a driving test and get a local license. Make sure you check the State you intend to buy the vehicle.
The storage company also scratches their head as to why they disposed our car and the saga is ongoing. From our experience, we would advise selling your car after your journey rather than put it in storage.
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