Out of state purchase

[HickoryHusker]

I have lined up a short bus for purchase out of state. I'm hoping some of you have been down this road before (ahhh what a metaphor) and can offer me some advice. My plan is to one-way Grayhound it to the actual city, test drive, purchase, and then drive it home.

Is this how it's done?

How are license plates worked for something like this? Any other issues? I want to go into this with my eyes open.

Granted I realize driving a used bus seven hours back home is a huge risk unto itself... But I'm game.

[Steve]

You will be fine driving it home without plates, however you definitely should at least tell your insurance company and make sure that you will be insured. When I do this they just want to know when I will be doing it and we go through all the paperwork and send it to their underwriters after I have it home.

[sportyrick]

We purchased our bus in Salt Lake and drove to Mo from there w/o any plates. I think you could drive a school bus anywhere in the country and no one would question you. Insurance, a bill of sale and the title would probably suffice for most states. sporyrick

[wmah]

Dealers will give you a permit tag for the back window. Insurance I don't know how they work. I just went out there and drove it back and didn't worry about insurance figuring I have my truck insurance number to give to a law man if I was stopped. I didn't figure a collision would happen. Also myself I drove out and pulled the truck back. My uncle did ride I think a train out and drove his car home and another friend flew out and drove a car home. By doing this it is harder to say no to a bad bus or car in my opinion because then you went there and would turn around with nothing but paying for a trip to nowhere.

[Train-train]

I was just considering this same issue about insurance and plates. I discussed it with my insurance guy and he stated that he could start the insurance immmediately and it would be good for one year. A temporary policy was not available. For me, this one year policy was for basic coverage, which is probably the only coverage I will put on it anyway. The policy would cost me $273. I asked about not starting it until spring, that's when I want to begin to run it down the road, he responded..... "Your not Going to pick it up until spring then?" So, no room for dickering. The guy I have been thinking about buying from offers a reasonable delivery cost. trying to tally up the pros and cons right now.

[HickoryHusker]

I failed to mention that my first choice would be to find on in or at least closer to the great state of Indiana. Any heads-up on available short bus in that area? Figured it was worth asking before I buy a ticket across country.

I have a million ideas and no bus to try them out on! Very ready to get started!!!

[paul iossi]

check with Gerg at Florida church bus, on the internet, I think he has a yard in Ohio

[Train-train]

Try Kerlin's located in Silver lake IN.

[lapeer20m]

i think that if you have insurance and the title in yoru hand you'd probably be good to go. i agree that in most cases you could drive most anywhere in a school bus and not be hassled.

in michigan, you can drive a vehicle from the point of purchase to your residence as long as you have the title and the insurance. i'm sure that most every state, including michigan, has the option to buy a temporary tag so you can legally drive the vehicle across state lines. Again, i think insurance is the biggie.

if all goes as planned i'm getting ready to drive to lousiania to buy a bus. I plan to do one of two things.....either purchase temporary plates while i'm there, or just buy lousiania plates for the vehicle. I don't see any good reason to have michigan plates verses any other state. A friend of mine in chicago has a bus with michigan plates, and another friend of mine had his truck plated in ohio even though he as a michigan drivers liscense.

[Demonknight]

http://www.busmartinc.com/BusMart/Default.aspx?id=28 *and the wife wonders why I BM every bus page I run into) hope that helps a bit...I also have one (BM) in Minnesota if you'd like it?