Thanks to the help of folks here on Prius chat we have found the car we want at a good price. The car is from a dealer in Massachusetts and we live in Vermont about 4.5 hours away. The problem is that Mass does not have temporary or dealer plates and Vermont will not give us plates without original documents (title, odometer statement, certificate of origin). The dealer cannot send us the documents by mail and they take a day to process. It seems that the only way to get the car from that dealer is to make 2 trips (18 hours). Anyone else encounter this problem? It sees like a very wasteful process just for some metal plates! Any ideas? Thanks!
You need to paid full the car to the MA dealer first by FedEx. (With Bank check for whatever balance remaining). Then they can FedEx back all the Original Paperwork (Cert of Origin, Fed Odo Statement and Invoice etc.) so you can do your own Title+Reg in Vermont for lic plates. Setup time for picking up the car afterward, don't forget to bring the plates too. Just curious, which MA dealer you bought the car from? Is the price this good to worth a trip?
Thanks for the info. The dealer is unwilling to sell the car without me there in person to sign the papers. The dealer is one suggested by another prius chat member and is the one in Wellesly, Mass. Their price is about $2000 cheaper than our local dealer who refuses to discount from the MSRP. Monopoly power at work for ya! We are currently researching prices in New Hampshire as they offer temporary plates.
Unless you are doing the financing with the MA dealer, there's nothing to sign in front of them before you get the Vermont plates. Ask them to fax you the invoice/buying contract with the Out-The-Door price and your name on it. Then arrange your own finance prior and paid the car in full up-front (Mail them the Bank Check). Once they cash out you already own this car. There's no reason for them not to mail you the necessary paperwork (Cert origin, Odo statement and Paid Invoice receipt). Then you'll need to get Insurance paper and DMV form to title/reg this car for your state plates. Whatever papers they need you to sign in person, you just do it on the pick-up day instead. If they insist you have to come in first, then justify if the price saving will worth 2 trips to this dealer or not. For remote car buying, it does worth visiting first if the distance is reasonable because you can look at the car in person and make sure you are buying what you want or expect. Don't 100% believe in what the sales guy said, ask for the Windows Sticker because it never lied.
Would you drive to Rhode Island? I live in Maryland, found the Touring model I wanted in Rhode Island. For the story see: http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/41972-c3po-crapulous-personal-prius-purchasing-qdyssey.html 14 day temp tags were no problem. All I needed for the purchase was proof of insurance, driver's license, and cashier's check for balance. Out-of-state buyer didn't appear to phase the dealer, Toyota of Newport, one bit. It might be puffery but they said that the previous week a buyer flew in from Nova Scotia, and one was due in from New Jersey the next day.
I don't know if you can do it in either state but here you can get a temporary permit to drive an unregistered vehicle on the road to move it from one place to another. Ask at your local motor vehicles office what you can do, I'm sure they will have a solution. Ask the dealer if he can help with freighting the car to your state.
Thanks for the suggestions. The local DMV said there was nothing they could do since they require original documents to issue a tag. I will see if the dealer can ship the car to us as an alternative. Perhaps by the time we sort this out the 2009s will be out
To be issued a registration label here I would also need the genuine docs but for a permit I could walk in with the vehicle details on a scrap of paper. Oh well.
I found a dealer with a slightly higher out the door price ($21,940 v. 21,853). The key is that this dealer is in New Hampshire and they have temporary plates. One dealer was lower at $21,584 but seemed very flaky and I suspect that the price might not include everything despite what they wrote.
