Which should I do?

[Optimistic Paranoid]

A few people here have suggested that you wait and buy a car out there IF you decide you need one.

I'm not saying that' s wrong, but I do wonder at the logistics of it.

If you are a resident of state X, staying temporarily in a campground in state Y, can you buy and register a vehicle in Y?

Will you have to FedEx the title back to X and have someone there register it for you, and then send the state X plates back to you?  How do you handle any smog or safety inspections?  Can you handle the insurance with a phone call to your agent?  Sales tax is paid to X or Y?  (Hopefully, they won't BOTH try to collect it!)  

If anyone here has succesfully done this, perhaps they could jump in now and describe whatever hoops they had to jump through?

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

I've been trying to determine whether my car is a candidate for towing 4 down. That would take care of the dolly rental issue. I'd love to sell it and get a scooter. That would be lovely. And then at 3 this morning I woke up with the consideration that if I want to explore more of the national forest with Bella, it would be a little difficult on a scooter. So. Still thinking. I have a mechanic coming out to change oil and inspect the rv. If a bunch of repairs are necessary the car gets sold to pay for it.

A scooter can go anywhere a standard passenger car can go.  I have riding buddies who ride scooters on the forest roads with us on our dual sport bikes.  They can't do the rough trails but neither can your car.  Piaggio makes a mid sized scooter with two close set front wheels that can stand on it's own.  Very stable.

 

[LeeRevell]

A few people here have suggested that you wait and buy a car out there IF you decide you need one.

I'm not saying that' s wrong, but I do wonder at the logistics of it.

If you are a resident of state X, staying temporarily in a campground in state Y, can you buy and register a vehicle in Y?

Will you have to FedEx the title back to X and have someone there register it for you, and then send the state X plates back to you?  How do you handle any smog or safety inspections?  Can you handle the insurance with a phone call to your agent?  Sales tax is paid to X or Y?  (Hopefully, they won't BOTH try to collect it!)  

If anyone here has succesfully done this, perhaps they could jump in now and describe whatever hoops they had to jump through?
y
Regards
John

When in the Navy, as a registered Floridian, I traded my Florida registered car in on a Virginia registered car. I drove the car home and reregistered it in Florida.  Cost me less than the initial Virginia registration.  Months later at sea in the Indian Ocean I finally received those Virginia plates.  I consigned the useless tags to Davy Jones.  

 

[ttpadilla]

A scooter can go anywhere a standard passenger car can go.  I have riding buddies who ride scooters on the forest roads with us on our dual sport bikes.  They can't do the rough trails but neither can your car.  Piaggio makes a mid sized scooter with two close set front wheels that can stand on it's own.  Very stable.

Yes, but my 85 lb yellow lab won't fit on it... See my problem?

 

[anewbiewannabe]

Yes, but my 85 lb yellow lab won't fit on it... See my problem?  

Scooter with a side car?

 

[ttpadilla]

I don't know if it's even possible when you consider where you are now and where you're going but have you thought of doing it in 2 drives.

Take some of the 3 weeks with just the RV and do your travelling. Then take a bus back and pick up the car and drive it straight through.

Logistics may make it impossible and it might be a crazy idea but sometimes crazy works....

I did it once from Florida to central Kentucky. My parents had given me the van that they had in FL when they had to sell their place down there. I had a 35' RV with cargo trailer. I took it north, caught a greyhound bus back south and then drove the van north.

Needless to say it was a once only trip but if you can do it, it might be cheaper than renting a tow dolly (add up gas for 2 plus the bus fare), eliminates the time frame for the rental and lets you get some RV only driving under your belt. It also gets you some paychecks in the bank before you have to buy a dolly if you decide to keep the car.

The other possibility is having someone else drive the car down for you...NO, you can't get someone to drive the RV Tammi... and then put them on the bus to go back home. Got a niece or a nephew you can talk into it?

Time to get creative!!

Good news!  I took the RV out today.  Drove it through the tiny gate without knocking down the gateposts or scratching the motor home, drove into town and filled up the gas tank (only $140 for 3/4 of a 75 gallon tank!) drove to the next town and emptied the black and grey water tanks, drove back to my town and went to the post office, then drove home and made it back through the gate, turned it around, hooked it back up, and nobody got hurt!  Covered at least 35 miles without incident.  Best of all, my herbs never had to leave the dashboard, and that glass of water with the rooting basil didn't spill a drop.  

 

[ttpadilla]

Scooter with a side car?

Yes! Let's make that happen!!

 

[anewbiewannabe]

You go girl!

 

[Almost There]

Congratulations! We knew you could do it.

The only time I smucked something up was pulling away from parking on a sidestreet. I had a car slightly ahead of me and I turned the wheel too far getting into the driving lane. The back end of the RV swung wide and took out some guys mail box.... . Didn't break the pole, just knocked it off the post. It was 6 AM and the whole street was asleep. I set it back on the post and fled town....   In some small town in southern Alabama some poor postman got blamed when he went to put the mail in the box that day... :angel:

 

[akrvbob]

I bought my van in California (where she is going) even though I am a Nevada resident. I got CA plates and registration and then the next time I was back in Nevada I switched to NV plates. I've since switched to AZ plates (still a NV resident with Nevada DL) because of the lower insurance.

Most states are glad to take your money and license the vehicle in their state. Next time you are in your home state, you switch them back. I bought my trailer in CA also, it's still got CA plates because they were good for 5 years. No big deal.
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

Your lucky you did not bust a front brake hose, because in a front end collusion the printer is going thru the front windshield followed by the CPU.

 

[ttpadilla]

That's actually a Bose speaker (not a CPU), but I get your point.

 

[ttpadilla]

Okay, beautiful people, the decision has been made. I have reserved a tow dolly from Redmond, Oregon to Sacramento, CA where I will drop it off as I'm planning to stay and catch up with some of my friends for a week or so. This will cost me $74. Once I figure out where I'm going next, I'll make further arrangements. Thank you all for your input, suggestions, and most importantly, support.