Registering a car as a foreigner - US East Coast

Hi,

ealier this year I inquired about buying a car as a tourist.

Now I'm trying to do it and meeting some difficulties.

While a motel or Bed'n Breakfast address seems acceptable, as long as
the DMV can mail the title there (and I don't advertise it being a
motel), and while it proved no problem to get insurance (DCAP, but
there's also a German agency providing some), New York State has an ID
point score system that gives me trouble. You need a total of six
points of ID that you can provide through various means. My passport
would be worth three points, my credit card one, but I had baned on my
driver's licence providing the rest, which it won't - it's an
international licence, and as such, not "out of state" but "out of
country".

There might still be some routes to take (http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/
forms/id82.pdf) but I could also get 30 day temp tags by the dealer
and try my luck elsewhere. Connecticut procedures seem to be even
stricter, no registration without CT driver's licence at all, but the
plan is to travel down the Eastern Seaboard all the way to Miami by
September 25th. Does anybody happen to know a particularly "easy"
state along the way or has any other advice?

Regards
Peter

In article
>,
Peter Konrad > wrote:

> Hi,
>
> ealier this year I inquired about buying a car as a tourist.
>
> Now I'm trying to do it and meeting some difficulties.
>
> While a motel or Bed'n Breakfast address seems acceptable, as long as
> the DMV can mail the title there (and I don't advertise it being a
> motel), and while it proved no problem to get insurance (DCAP, but
> there's also a German agency providing some), New York State has an ID
> point score system that gives me trouble. You need a total of six
> points of ID that you can provide through various means. My passport
> would be worth three points, my credit card one, but I had baned on my
> driver's licence providing the rest, which it won't - it's an
> international licence, and as such, not "out of state" but "out of
> country".

I looked at the requirements for a non-driver ID card...it
only needs 4 points, but also needs a SSI card. Rats.

There are 4 items that don't say they need to be from the US:

- union card
- pay stub or employee ID card
- high school diploma
- utility bill

Any chance you can get someone to overnight express you a
utility bill and pay stub from home?

Have you explained your situation to the DMV and asked them
what to do? You cannot be the first foreign national to want
to own a car in the US. In fact, I'd think that would be common
in NYC.

Can you check with the embassy or consulate from your home
country and see if they have any suggestions? They must have
had people run into this situation before.

-john-

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dear Peter,

I don't know if things worked out for you in the end with buying the
car.... I imagine not. We tried for a month to figure out a way of
doing it and realised after A LOT of hassle that it simly is
impossible to register a car as a foreigner ANYWHERE in the states. We
were very lucky - the dealer we bought our car off had a connection in
the DMV who signed off the form for us even though we didn't have the
full points needed. NY state is particulary tricky since 9/11 but we
learned that it wouldn't have been possiblw in any other state
either.

Hope somthing worked out for you.

eve

On 16 Okt., 21:43, wrote:
> dear Peter,
>
> I don't know if things worked out for you in the end with buying the
> car.... I imagine not.

Oh yes it did, albeit I had to drive some 3600 miles for it <g>

>We tried for a month to figure out a way of
> doing it and realised after A LOT of hassle that it simly is
> impossible to register a car as a foreigner ANYWHERE in the states.

I wouldn't go that far, but it certainly was a lot more trouble than I
imagined.

All I can say is:

They don't ask too many dumb questions in the Wild Wild West, although
it is a good thing to know a local and be able to use his address.

The New Yorkers were completely anal about their darn ID point score
system, they didn't like my Master Card (because it was issued by the
largest German bank), they found some flaw with my passport ( I still
have no idea which), the list goes on and on. Particulalry amusing
when you look at some of the people that actually DO get their
vehicles registered there, on the sole merrit of being US citizens...

Regards
Peter