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They will send you plates where you registered the car. Also, they will hit you with a fee equal to sales tax for your state. Also, cops will start noticing you, should you have out of state plates, as if you were MI resident with MI license, you have 30 or so days grace period to obtain MI state plates.
Good luck.
I just bought a car in Atlanta (I live in Minneapolis) via fed ex. The car came without plates and had Georgia paper temps on. The dealer mailed me title and sales tax check written to the MN DMV, the dmv gave me plates when I paid all the MN fees and will be issuing me my MN title in a few weeks.
If/when you buy a car out of state, get a temp tag. The temp will allow you to drive the car to your home state at which you get your permanent tags. I don't know about Michigan, but in N.J. You pay the sales tax when you register your car at the DMV, unless you have already done so when you bought the car (I.e. at a dealer) and you submit proof of payment of the tax to your DMV.
I bought my last car in DE and I live in MD. I just payed the MD tax and registration to the dealer in DE and they called up and confirmed my insurance and gave me a temporary DE tag. A few weeks later they called me up and said my MD tags were in so I drove up and got them. Simple.
I live in Ohio (as the name implies), and some years ago bought a car in Maryland, from a private party, while traveling on business. I drove back to Ohio with the former owner's plates. The next business day, I visited our good friends at the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles, presented the former owner's signed and notarized Maryland title, paid Ohio sales tax, obtained my Ohio title/registration/plates, and mailed the Maryland plates back to the former owner.
Most dealers that are near multiple states are set up to handle customers from over the line. So I would think that dealers in Toledo could handle a Michigan registration scenario like the OP's. Worst case is they issue only an Ohio temp tag and you have to do the reg on your own back in Michigan.
You will always end up needing plates at your home location or some location where you have an address to register the vehicle. You won't arbitrarily get permanent Ohio plates just because you bought the car there.
You'll also pay the Michigan sales tax and not the Ohio one. Unlike typical point of sale purchase in a store, sales tax on a vehicle will always be collected by the state where it is registered. With few exceptions this can all be handled by the dealer though.
If you're talking private party instead this gets a bit more complicated. You need a plate that allows you to get home and then handle the Michigan registration. This is easier in some states than others. I wouldn't count on sellers leaving plates on and such. For one, since a transfer has taken place, that's not usually a legit plate at that point. For two, most sensible sellers shouldn't let you take them. I know I wouldn't.
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