Buying a new car in North Carolina one week before moving to NC (Statesville: sales)
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So a friend is moving to NC next month but also is in need of a new car. He takes possession of his new residence on July 12 but wants to hit up the July 4th dealership sales in NC prior to his move. For title purposes at the dealership, will he be able to close on the car purchase on July 4th weekend even if he doesn't yet have an NC address until the following week? Can he just give them that address? What he plans on doing is keeping the car in my garage for a week and then doing the formal registration process once he's actually here. But I assume even the issuance of a temporary dealer tag or title will require giving an NC address?
I've never purchased a new car here so I'm unfamiliar with the process. Just want to make sure that they won't mail a temporary title to this new address in the intervening week that the current occupant could then run off with!
The dealer... mostly just cares that the money is strong and that the paperwork is in order.
no one there is going to ask for a photo ID with a NC address on it.
the harder part will be with the insurance co to get a policy binder#.
or at least that was the harder part for me. still quite doable though.
So a friend is moving to NC next month but also is in need of a new car. He takes possession of his new residence on July 12 but wants to hit up the July 4th dealership sales in NC prior to his move. For title purposes at the dealership, will he be able to close on the car purchase on July 4th weekend even if he doesn't yet have an NC address until the following week? Can he just give them that address? What he plans on doing is keeping the car in my garage for a week and then doing the formal registration process once he's actually here. But I assume even the issuance of a temporary dealer tag or title will require giving an NC address?
I've never purchased a new car here so I'm unfamiliar with the process. Just want to make sure that they won't mail a temporary title to this new address in the intervening week that the current occupant could then run off with!
He should WAIT until he is a resident of NC before purchasing a car here. NC residents pay only 3% "highway use tax" to register a car. It is basically "sales tax" paid either on the full price of the car or what the actual balance is after trade in. I also believe there is a cap on that 3% which is paid at time of registration at the DMV. All of the information is available on the NC DMV website and should be read thoroughly. He will have to take a NC driver's test before getting a NC driver's license; he will have to have insurance on the vehicle before he can register it in NC. Buy the car in NC when you become a NC resident, that's the bottom line.
He should WAIT until he is a resident of NC before purchasing a car here. NC residents pay only 3% "highway use tax" to register a car. It is basically "sales tax" paid either on the full price of the car or what the actual balance is after trade in. I also believe there is a cap on that 3% which is paid at time of registration at the DMV. All of the information is available on the NC DMV website and should be read thoroughly. He will have to take a NC driver's test before getting a NC driver's license; he will have to have insurance on the vehicle before he can register it in NC. Buy the car in NC when you become a NC resident, that's the bottom line.
Yeah, clearly this is the fail-safe way to go, but "NC residency" is an amorphous concept in itself. To get an NC driver's license, you have to show documentation proving your NC address (e.g. an apt lease) - so that much is clear. But if it's true that the dealership doesn't care about where you live, he could conceivably buy the car earlier but still properly register it in NC within the required 30 days. The order would be - buy the car, get NC car insurance on it, take the driver's license test the week later when he's moved here, then register the car in NC.
The biggest hassle I see is getting the NC insurance before he's at the NC address, but then again, the insurance agent isn't going to care that he's not officially at that address just yet.
The biggest hassle I see is getting the NC insurance before he's at the NC address, but then again, the insurance agent isn't going to care that he's not officially at that address just yet.
the issue is how confident he is of the NC address...
in my case I was under contract to buy a house when I did my purchase.
That's about as rock solid as you can be.
The dealer's people did the DMV title and registration work.
I called an ins agent and made a min payment to get them a policy #.
Then I used the temp tag until the regular plate arrived here by mail.
And I still haven't gotten the NC drivers license.
Buying a car should not be a problem as long as the paperwork is in order.
I purchased a vehicle in NC from a dealership in Statesville March of 2010. I purchased with an Ohio DL that had an Ohio address. I purchased with my existing Ohio auto insurance. Is your friend relying on the dealership to provide financing, or will financing already be established?
Everything is just the same. Go in, explain you're an "out of state buyer" and provide documentation to prove such. Underwriting wants to see 2 years of employment, 2 years worth of residency that can be confirmed, and a specific credit score. Other documents can include 2 months recent pay stubs, past W2/tax returns, proof of bank account, etc. Buyer will have to provide proof of living at most recent address since new address is not established yet. As for insurance, I added the vehicle to my existing policy, had proof of insurance faxed to dealer, and all was fine and dandy. My OH carrier didn't provide coverage in NC, but I was making the purchase as an out of state buyer.
Buyer will most like pay state highway use tax on the purchase and get a temp NC plate. Ohio offered to let us switch and we would pay the difference in tax from NC to OH; OH charges 6% and would credit us the 3% already paid to NC.
Buying a car should not be a problem as long as the paperwork is in order.
I purchased a vehicle in NC from a dealership in Statesville March of 2010. I purchased with an Ohio DL that had an Ohio address. I purchased with my existing Ohio auto insurance. Is your friend relying on the dealership to provide financing, or will financing already be established?
Everything is just the same. Go in, explain you're an "out of state buyer" and provide documentation to prove such. Underwriting wants to see 2 years of employment, 2 years worth of residency that can be confirmed, and a specific credit score. Other documents can include 2 months recent pay stubs, past W2/tax returns, proof of bank account, etc. Buyer will have to provide proof of living at most recent address since new address is not established yet. As for insurance, I added the vehicle to my existing policy, had proof of insurance faxed to dealer, and all was fine and dandy. My OH carrier didn't provide coverage in NC, but I was making the purchase as an out of state buyer.
Buyer will most like pay state highway use tax on the purchase and get a temp NC plate. Ohio offered to let us switch and we would pay the difference in tax from NC to OH; OH charges 6% and would credit us the 3% already paid to NC.
Thanks. This sounds like a good plan. The only reason he wants to go for dealer financing is because they sometimes offer rates at 0.9% or 0% for 24-60 months, which is better than any bank will do. He has enough money on hand to pay in cash, but it makes more sense for him to get a low APR and pay over 2 years or so instead of blowing that chunk of savings at once.
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