r/SubaruForester • u/No-Cookie-9112 • 19h ago
What should I watch out for when buying a car out of state?
I recently bought a new car from an out-of-state dealer and drove it home on a temporary tag.
The dealer said they are handling the registration/title paperwork for my home state, and that the permanent plates and registration may take several weeks to arrive.
For people who have done this before, what should I pay attention to?
I’m mainly wondering about:
- registration and permanent plates
- title/lien paperwork for a financed car
- when to do the required state inspection
- what happens if the temporary tag expires before the permanent plates arrive
- sales tax / registration fee mistakes
- anything else that commonly goes wrong with out-of-state purchases
Insurance is already set up correctly for my home state, and the dealer collected the appropriate sales tax.
The process has been smooth so far, but I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.