Buying A Vehicle From Private Seller... (sales, insurance, home)

[ObiJuan2080]

I moved here to VA Beach from NYC, which I call the "Land Of Convenience" as far as transportation goes. I practically lived in NYC my whole life. I am 33 years old, now in VA Beach and am about to take a road test for my first ever driver's license this Friday. Here is what I wanted to know and please forgive me if I run on too much;

I had months (since August...you know about the two month wait for Learner's Permit holder before their first road test etc..) to research cars. I decided to buy from a Private Seller. My problem is how to go about well...everything, well maybe not everything.

Insurance: I know I have to have it before I can drive any car I purchase...but how do I go about getting insurance for a car I don't yet own? Do I call them to buy insurance before I go to the Seller? Do I buy insurance online before I go to the Seller? Can I even do any of those things if I don't own the car yet?? OR do I call immediately after purchasing but before driving it away?

Title & Plates: I know I have to obtain a Title from the seller. There he/she and I must sign some things. That's fine. This I know and please feel free to add anything I left out of this phase of car buying from Private Seller. Also, I've read by having the Title, IF I get stopped by a police officer, that showing them the Title, would get me off the hook, so long as my next destination is the DMV to get a license plate and to get the car registered. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I was told that I couldn't buy a license plate if I don't own a car. Yet driving without a license plate is illegal. Am I missing something here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Spazkat9696]

Call around and ask for quotes stating you do not yet have a car, and just want a policy to cover you if you drive someone else's car. Then after you buy the car you can just call and add it to your policy. What you don't want is to wreck on the way to the DMV and have no coverage because it'll be a driving without insurance ticket.

You will have to sign that you have insurance to register the vehicle, but they do not require proof unless you have a SR-22.

Just take the signed title to the DMV and for a hefty chunk of time and money they will issue you a new title, registration, and tags. If you want specialty tags they will give you paper tags until your new ones come in the mail. Oh you're going to have to pay sales tax at the DMV too. In the past people would say write on the title that they only paid 1$ for the vehicle to bypass this, but now they use blue book value.

You'll be fine with the title and no plates as long as you head directly to the DMV. Do not park anywhere other than your own property (off street) without tags or the DMV, or you'll get a ticket. If you have a good friend they can take you to get the car, and you can just leave it at the sellers house, go get the tags and then go back to get the car.

[bigpossum]

You can get a piece of $5 paper from the DMV on line that allows you to drive a vehicle from purchase point to home one time on a specific date and you still need insurance. I think it is called a trip permit.

[gregir]

Make sure you get a bill of sale from the seller. It will be your proof of the tranasaction along with the title. You can call most insurers and get quotes before you buy the vehicle providing you know the year and model. Once you buy it you can call your insurer and have them issue coverage right then with the followup payment/paperwork later.
Before you purchase the car it is smart to find out if the seller has the title or if they have financed the car and their bank has the title. If their bank has it you may have to wait until you get the lien released and the title in your hands. The DMV in Virginia is much better these days than in previous years. There are still lines but my experiences with the DMV employees have been pleasant and the wait times are signfciantly less than they use to be.