My buyer is from TX and wants to drive it back

He wants me to keep my MA plates on and drive it back to TX I plan on canceling my insurance and registration so how would that work?

If you got the money and a bill of sale it shouldn't be an issue. You can ask him to provide an insurance verification showing he has coverage before he drives it off but the tag stays with the vehicle.

Most states have a temporary tag for just such an occasion. You both show up to your local license bureau and they transfer the title and issue a temporary plate. They don't collect any sales tax because ultimately (TX in this case) that state's DMV will issue a new permanent title and collect the applicable tax. That way, YOU walk away totally separated from the vehicle in case of accidents, etc.

What additional liability do you have if the tag goes with the car? I'm not a lawyer so I'm just curious. The last few I have bought out of state came with the tag.

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I thought the tag/plates goes with the car? I also thought, but not for sure, that there are provisions to register a new car once the sale happened and outline a timeline for that to happen. As soon as the bill of sale is signed and title handed over the car ceases to be mine and thus stops being my responsibility.

The buyer should get a temp plate from their DMV and bring it with. I have personalized plates on my cars, so those stay with me... In AZ you can drive without a tag on a recent Bill of Sale.

Personally I wouldn't give my plate away. I'd be shocked if there would be any real serious blowback though. Tell him to bring his own.

In OK, the vanity plate is in addition to the regular plate. You can display the vanity plate but are required to keep the regular plate in the car at all times and to renew its registration. Call a tag agency or dmv to get a definitive answer for protocol in your state. I will say kudos to the buyer for wanting to drive it home.

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Check with your license bureau of department of motor vehicles. I would think you would want something official to have to show when you tranferred ownership of the vehicle. What can happen is with "your" plates any parking ticket, or toll road charge, the car acquires on the way back to Texas will come to you. Unless you have sufficient offiical documentation to show you were not the owner of the car at time it accumulated these charges you wil have a heck of a time getting them dismissed/sent to the rightful owner.

He is entitled to nothing and you have a ton of risk. Your BofS should inform him your insurance is cancelled, his must be activated, he is responsible for damage, parking tickets, etc. The plate nor reg should go with the car. A bill of sale in the car will get him out of any inconvenient stops. Rules about temp reg and plates vary state to state. You have no Ob. Don't give in just deliver the logic to the buyer.

It varies from state to state. In New York you can put plates from another car that you own on your newly purchased car just to drive it home. I doubt that would work inter-state though. Also in many states you have to turn your old plates into the DMV. In any case, I wouldn't give him my plates. Let him work out what he has to do. Something that I learned long ago - Just because you can't figure out how someone is trying to screw you doesn't meant they're not trying to screw you.

In CO for example the plates do NOT stay with the car. In CA though they do. Not sure about MA or TX. When I bought my car from NJ, I went (by myself) to the NJ DMV with the car and bill of sale and they sold me a temporary transit tag for $5. My main worries were: A) If I used the previous owner's plates and there was an issue it would cause him a hassle as well as myself in case he de-registered the car. B) If I traveled with just a Bill of Sale and no plates it would potentially mark the car as more interesting to the police than one with plates, driving 2000 miles wasn't attractive that way. C) I didn't want to bring the plate that would eventually end up on the car with me since it would not yet be registered that way until I got home. It's doubtful that you can pre-register an out of state car anywhere without the car being there. He (or you) should inquire with your local DMV as to what the proper procedure is for cases like this. Most likely there is a temp tag option that the buyer can stand in line for at minimal cost. Someone above is correct that if he blows through every (or any) toll both or gets a parking ticket or somehow gets identified as being a problem, it will lead back to you. Sure you have documentation that it's not your problem but it's still a hassle that I wouldn't want to deal with (this used to happen in CA every once in a while, we'd sell a car and then get a notice/ticket in the mail for something that happened a week later. You had to send in a copy of your liability release form to get off the hook). Tell him to bring the plates from his other car and bolt those on if he doesn't want to do it the "right" way. I'm sure he's probably not being malicious, just hasn't done this before and this seems the easiest option. It doesn't need to be a problem, just research it and let him know the correct way to do it, obviously you want to sell the car.

In FL and MI the plates stay with the person who owns the plates... not with the car. My guess is to go to the tag office and get temp tag. Just a guess though.

VA plates do not transfer to the new owner. They go back to the DMV (or the new car you register them for). As already mentioned, you take risk by letting him use your plate, but he also takes a risk too. You could be a scofflaw and he gets pulled over for your mountain of unpaid tickets I know some states (as already mentioned) transfer plates to the new owner, but that just seems like a bad idea to me from either side of the coin.

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Hi I plan on canceling my registration and plates the day he comes to pick up the car so the plate won't be linked to me any more anyway He will have his proof of insurance, bill of sale and title in hand so I think he should be fine

Don't let him drive with your plate. If he can't figure out what to do, still don't let him drive away with your plate.

The Texas buyer should be able to obtain a vehicle transit permit. That's how Texas does it since plates do not transfer between owners. Transit permit is good for 5 days.

Maybe I oversimplified this but I've done it twice in the last 5 years - once from Arkansas and just 5 months ago from Tennessee - both back to Texas. In both instances it was a private party sale, I had a bill of sale, the title, and proof of insurance - I just didn't want to drive with no plate so I asked the sellers if I could "use" their plate for transit. Both agreed - once home I FedEx'd the plates back to them and registered the car in Texas. Pretty easy. Also, forgot to mention that seller had his money, saw my proof of insurance so letting me use his plate wasn't an issue.

In CA, the plates stay with the car.

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In MI if you sell the car and leave the plate on it, the new owner will get a ticket, the plate will get confiscated and possible the car impounded for improper plate/reg violation. The only thing you need is a signed title. With the signed title you are allowed to drive it straight home, regardless of where home is.

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I sold my 996 TT to,a fellow RLer. I allowed him to keep my tags for his drive from Florida to NY. He mailed the tag back. I did get a bill for a couple unpaid tolls from his trip home. I sent the toll agency a copy of the bill of sale and haven't seen any additional bills since.

I bought my first 911 in California and drove it home. I kept the California plates on the car, but I went to the DMV in California and paid $15 for a title transfer. When I got the car home, I took it in to my local DMV and registered it, and paid sales tax.

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I did exactly this 2weeks ago from Colorado to Charlotte when I purchased my C4S.

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This. I have done this a few times. I have even done it online and printed it from my house. It is a painless process. On the reverse, when I sold my car to an out of state person, I did let him drive it with my plates. I did immediately notify DMV that I am no longer the owner of the plates, just in case something happened. As said above, in Tx, plates remain with the car.

I picked up a 928 in MA with expired MA plates and drove it back to TX. The seller gave me the title, bill of sale, I had an insurance card and it was all fine. Sent the plates back when I got home. Notify the DMV of the sale, and that you won't be responsible for tolls or tickets. As long as you can prove you sold it with date and time, you are clear.

I would say that as long as you have a bill of sale, you wouldn't have any legal liability even if he does have the plates. If you're really concerned, be sure it is notarized.

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CA vanity plates are registered to the owner, not a specific vehicle. My Boxster was 5CHN3LL before my 996. As far as liability - your state DMV probably has a transfer/release of liability form, hopefully online. As soon as I sell a car, I go to my desk and file that form online, just in case the new owner gets drunk, picks up an underage hooker, and runs over a diplomat walking a white rhino... True for normal plates; not true for CUDA911 and 5CHN3LL...

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Hey, there's a really talented Chinese lady at our local mall that can make customized license tags for any state. I'm thinking about getting her to make me a California "CUDA911" and "5CHN3LL" for my 996 before my trip to Az. This will allow me to drive vetty vetty fast through streets of Scottsdale while giving the finger to all those speed cameras! ha! Wonder what Gonzo's custom reads? ha!

Texas will give him a temp tag for a duration of time. I was being nice when I sold my '90 and let the owner use the tag for the drive home. That drive home ended up being almost a year and while the DMV knew the tag was no longer valid the local Toll Road authorities hounded me for quite some time due to this *** using the car with my tag on the pay roads. Keep your tag and let the new owner get his own temp tag.

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Here's what we can do about toll roads in the Austin area, not sure if the same in DFW: What if I sell my vehicle? You can remove a vehicle from your TxTag account by logging into your account online or by calling the TxTag Customer Service Center. It is important to update your account and deactivate the TxTag sticker that was on your vehicle right away so your account is not linked to a vehicle you no longer own. Even though your vehicle has been sold, you are liable for toll charges until the title is transferred to the new owner or until you submit a motor vehicle transfer notification. If you receive a toll statement, download the transfer notification form VTR-346, and call us at [phone removed] once you receive confirmation of the transfer from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV), which should take 5-7 business days.

In MA, the tags either get returned to the DMV or within 7 days assigned to a replacement vehicle. In no scenario do they go with the car with a buyer. So, either craft a deal with the buyer and take your chances or ....

In Tennessee the plates are supposed to stay with the owner, not the car. But no matter, don't let him leave with your plate on it. All he needs is a proper bill of sale to get home on.

Well, seller sets the rules. You don't trust the buyer to spend $20 to mail them back? If MA sez they want their plates back tell him so. As covered, TX temps are as easy to get as your tax office is busy. You can buy temp tags for up to 30 days for a car you don't even own. If the deal is truly done and new owner has the papers he could pay his tax, order vanity plates and get a temp tag and be done for zero extra expense or time lost. I believe its TX law that your liability is covered in any car that you drive and comprehensive coverage is automatic (as long as you have it on another auto) and is in effect for ??? weeks on a recent purchase.

My father did that once. Never got the plate back.

Does buyer have a screwdriver and a car he's not bringing with him?

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Buyer may have sold that car and have the plates on his desk. Problem is, they are Texas vanity plates that spell out "UNFAIR" and buyer is afraid that attaching them on a car may possibly subject them to road dirt.

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So good.

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The buyer's initials are K and K. He also asked to provide pics of the engine boroscope pics and throttle body...

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He really only wants your title. He plans to purchase the entire official parts catalog contents from his local dealer's parts department, then sit in his living room and open about a million silver boxes in various sizes and build the car up from scratch to make sure it is just as good and reliable as you advertised it. Then take it all apart and give it a good cleaning with Porsche-branded water and soap and put it back together again before selling it for half the price that you sold it (the title) to him for. Where's that Don Knotts picture we all know and love?

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There is no way the owner of that plate would consider driving the car down roadsession's driveway much less all the way to TX. It would be moved by crane from it's current location onto a flatbed which would take it to his new favorite engine build in FL...

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Incorrect again. He would give you the receipts for said water and soap that he did purchase, but then the buyer would find out later on after all the paint melted off that he felt he could make something else just as good, but cost a lot less.

I live in MA and it has unusual rules. You should insist that the buyer bring TX temp tags as you need to return the plates to the DMV. Why open yourself to a headache if the buyer does not return them to you.

Buyer claimed he was bringing new plates with him and had paperwork from the TX DMV to prove it, but it was later determined he sh!tcanned those and made is own using some sheet metal he bought online. New plates broke apart and fell off midway through the drive. Another RL member contacted the metal vendor later and was informed that the material in question was NOT appropriate for use as a 996 license plate. It was really clean, though.

This thread is exactly why I won't leave rennlist even after my pcar leaves the garage :-)

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Incorrect Said person will park a trailer with a lift and disassemble and ultrasonically clean every part and put it back together and then transport it in said enclosed trailer to tx

Call your DMV and figure it out. I've bought my car in Tennessee, then drove it across the country to California, with TN temporary tags on it. Valid for 30 days. Cost me 25 (?) dollars. The only issue was an ******* MA state trooper that wanted to play 'who's your daddy..', as he threatened to impound my car for the lack of proper plates. Which would've been illegal for him to do. I've had a signed title, insurance (and proof thereof), the temp tag I purchased after buying the car at the local DMV before leaving for a 3 week trip. Easy peasy..

For giggles, Google whether MA recognizes temp tags from other states.

I traded my '99 for a great beachfront property in Nigeria (worth at least 75k). Is it OK to let him borrow the tag to drive it away if I have a cashiers check as collateral?

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That's a good one! Since it's our good friend KK you know you'll be able to trust whatever he tells you.

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Bingo. I've done this before when I lived in TX and picked up a car in NC. Takes 5 minutes online at the TX DMV site, then you print out a temporary paper plate. Painless as it gets.

I've bought a car out of state and driven it back a few times and sold cars to people driving across a few states to get home and have found you are better off leaving the tag currently registered to the car on it for this drive. If you get pulled over, simply provide the signed bill of sale and title, they will let you leave no issue. The problem with using your own plate is that your own plate is likely not registered to any vehicle OR registered another vehicle, niether of these situations are legal. Providing the bill of sale will likely mean no issues, IMO it's an easier explanation using the PO's plate and mailing it back.

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TN to CA via MA - you took the long way

Quick update. Buyer picked up car. I left my MA plates on. I canceled my insurance and plates that morning. Buyer had his insurance papers and my bill of sale. Buyer drove it to TX. Buyer mailed me my plates back. Easy peasy.

Nice. Thanks for the update!