Selling a car to out of state buyer?

[Brian]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody knew for sure about this topic.

I am selling my car to a Washington guy. He is flying down to pick it up and then driving it back up there.

The concern is the license plates. I have specialized plates on my car and I want to retain them. Now, he doesn't want to drive the car all the way up to WA with no plates. makes sense, I understand.

Has anybody sold to an out of state buyer and the buyer drove it away? Did you keep the plates on there or what?


I'm thinking about having him drive the car up there with my plates and then mailing them back to me once he gets up there.

[R@ddy]

yeah, have him do that, otherwise its too risky.
hopefully he mails them back :b

[Brian]

Yeah, I'll probably do this.

[Teddy]

Yeah, the only thing you can do is have him mail them back.

[stinky_180]

My friend bought a Lotus Exige in WA and he drove back to California with his plates. Your best bet is to have him mail your plates back.

[Brian]

Done and done.

[mehsilvia]

Woah! Slow down.

I walked into the DMV, told them i wanted to retain my Personalized plates, and was selling the car.

Filled out a few forms with all the title/registration info (of the vehicle i was selling) and they handed me a brand new set of sequential plates with tags.

On the form for you old Personal plates, you have a choice to "hold/retain" them or immediately assign them to another vehicle (if you have one to put them on right away).

Done and Done.

[DreamN]

^ Werd. Also, this information is available on the CA DMV website. It's under the registration area.

[Brian]

Yes I know I need to fill out the application to retain my plates.

I was not able to find out much/any information about selling the car to an out of state buyer on the DMV site.

The DMV lady I talked to said I could keep my plates and the new buyer could put a new set of CA plates on the car.... but that doesn't really make sense to me. He isn't a CA resident, nor is he registering it here.

mehsilvia - did you sell your car already? Did you sell it to a CA person? OR, are you telling me that before even selling the car, you KNEW you wanted to keep the plates you had, so you just simply went in there and got new regular plates for it.

[mehsilvia]

Originally Posted by Brian

Yes I know I need to fill out the application to retain my plates.

I was not able to find out much/any information about selling the car to an out of state buyer on the DMV site.

The DMV lady I talked to said I could keep my plates and the new buyer could put a new set of CA plates on the car.... but that doesn't really make sense to me. He isn't a CA resident, nor is he registering it here.

That is why YOU do it. Before the sale. As if you simply wanted to put shit regular plates on.

And when the dude does show up, he drives off with a set of valid sequentials, and NOT your personalized plates.

[Brian]

yeah yeah yeahhhhhh yes sir. makes sense now. I don't know why I didn't think of that before. DUH.

So I guess maybe tomorrow I'll go pick up some new sequential plates for the car and send them away with the car to good ol WA.

Duhhhhhhh Brian.

thanks for the help.

I guess I can pony up the $18. lol

[Brian]

Oh hey, do you need to bring in the personalized plates with you to show them or anything?

[mehsilvia]

I did, but they didnt need them or even want to see them.

Lady at the DMV was kind of a bitch. Looked at me all retarded - "what, you wanted to keep those" - lol

[mehsilvia]

And that $18 is a nice guarantee your getting those plates back!

Dunno if i would trust that shit with someone out of state, or local if you think about it.

[Brian]

thanks very much.

Guess I'll lock this now.


Gotta keep my Olympic plates!