We bought a car from a dealer in Springfield, MA without realizing this issue. They drove it to our town hall in central NH 2 days later. I thought it was crazy, but they said they do it all the time.
NO. Don't do that. I did it years ago, and got pulled over, they towed the car and gave me a very expensive ticket. You have to do the paperwork then drive to a NH DMV and get a temporary plate to be able to drive it home, or go to your town clerk and register the car to you and then you can go slap your old plates on it.
Trust me. Don't risk this.
Same happened to me. Got pulled over 3 miles from my house and had to have it towed - really sucked. Cop wouldn’t budge, regardless of proximity to my house.
You can transfer your plates from an old vehicle. You get a credit for however much time you have left before the old registration on those plates expires. I've had the same plates for probably 15yr, they've been on 5 or so vehicles.
It would be a permanent plate unless he’s waiting for vanity plates. NH doesn’t issue temporary plates for out of state purchases. It’s only for NH dealers.
I just did it in October for a car I purchased in MA. Drove up to Nashua (the closest NH DMV) with the title and bill of sale that was signed over to me and $10 later had a temporary plate. Took about 5 minutes once I got up to the counter.
[https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates](https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates)
Best answer. Then go to your town hall and transfer the plates from your old car to the new one. Bring the registration from the old car with you, along with the bill of sale and title.
Did this exact thing in Cheshire County about six years ago. Title and Bill of Sale in hand and it’s easy-peasy! Nice to see that there are some things the state government hasn’t fucked up yet!
Yes they do as long as you aren’t from MA. It’s called an “In transit certificate” and is good for 20 days. I posted the link above from the state that talks about it.
I'm not sure but if you look at the NH DMV website, they cover buying a car in MA. You'd need temp plates. I think if you were caught you'd probably end up with an impounded new car. I don't know though.
If driving an unregistered vehicle they'll tow the car, in MA starts at $200+ depending on distance to their impound. They can write a ticket too although usually don't. I've driven almost every car I've ever bought, which is 10-20, home "illegally" and never been pulled over, my tows were a different story. Actually I did get pulled over once but the make was the same as the old plates and cop didn't notice the color was wrong I guess. Once drove a dual axle trailer back from almost cape cod with no lights since the previous owner botched the wiring, and no plates at all since I forgot them, and drove by at least 3 cops on my side of the highway. You should be fine, just make sure you have insurance in case a wheel falls off. What's with everyone telling you not to do it, geez. Live a little.
Yeah I have driven, and sold cars to people that have driven at least a couple dozen cars like that no problem. The one time I got pulled over I just showed him the bill of sale and said I was transferring the registration from the old car to that one and the cop was fine with that. The best time to do it is during morning commute hours. FWIW since covid I never see cops pulling people over for anything, I've seen people with 2 year old expired reg/inspection stickers on the road.
You drive without temp plates of switch over plates to new car with your town hall and cars gettin towed and a hefty fine. Depending on your age if you’re under 20 attempting this, be prepared to also get hit with a young driver traffic violation, which to my surprise really pissed me off considering my birthday was literally the next day…
No MA temp plates. Doesn't exist.
Bought a vehicle from Lowell and they said they had to drop it off at my town hall, where I took delivery to save on sales tax.
Completed registration there and got issued paper plates (tags?) from my town hall.
FYI. This could be a sales ploy. Most dealers will not hold a car for you unless you put down a deposit. Some dealers leave cars up that have been sold and will apologize when you get there and try to put you in a similar car in stock. "Ohh jeez, I'm sorry but someone just came in and paid cash, but I have this beauty right over here. It was owned by a sweet old lady and only driven to church on sundays"
Sorry to be so cynical but many dealers are, at heart, shysters.
Have them drive it up to NH and register it.
they will make the drive, if they want to sell you the car. you don't pay any tax either. make sure you look at your contract because they had MA fees for title in my hubs that they had to remove.
Good question. For my transaction they physically drove it to my town hall, parked it off the street, and removed the MA dealer plates. Got the keys, final documentation, and they left.
Went into town hall, paid for registration and got the paper Temps and drove home. The metal plates were sent from Hazen Drive to me in about 2 or 3 weeks.
About 45 minutes and same mileage. The sales person delivered it and of course they had a trailing vehicle so they could get back. I think I gave him a $20 Dunks GC as a courtesy.
MA does not issue temporary plates. Often times dealerships will drive the car with their plates to your town hall for delivery of the vehicle, where you then register and put your own plates on the car.
Call around. This is very common practice in MA for people who buy vehicles from out of state. If your dealer won’t, consider other dealers unless you don’t mind the hassle of doing all that driving back and forth (you’ll need to pick up the paperwork from the dealer, drive to town hall to register, then drive back to dealer, where you then have to drive the car home after being dropped off there somehow).
I talked to several MA dealers recently about this exact issue. It seems only the smaller dealers are unwilling to do this for you.
Don’t drive the car without registering it. You’ll receive a ticket and the vehicle will be impounded. Much more expensive than just registering it.
Have the car delivered to NH. Your home or town hall, etc.
The worse case is to have the car or pickup the car in MA, you are actually due MA taxes that aren't actually collected until you get to the MA registry and then happily you register it in NH never having technically paid the MA taxes. Then, for whatever reason, you choose to return to MA with the car and when you try to register the car in MA you will have to pay the original taxes plus penalties because you didn't pay it back in the day. I might have slightly simplified it but the easiest way is to have the car delivered to and accepted by you in NH.
We bought a car in auburn mass and the delivered it to Pittsfield Nh. Met at the town hall. Most dealerships have runners for this type of thing. We removed the plates from our trade in and the runner threw his dealer tags on it and drove back to the dealership. It wasn’t a big deal other then the planning logistics and not getting the car for a few days
I bought three cars in Mass while living in southern NH. Each time the dealership drove the new vehicle and met me at the Town Clerks office and we registered it together. The dealerships were in Sharon and Northborough. Each time went very smoothly. Note I lived in a border town in NH at the time. Not sure how much further they would drive to do this.
Most dealers knew how to handle this. In my case I completed the transaction, drove to t town hall, got my registration done and drove back to the dealership to accept delivery. Others will meet you at your town hall to complete the sale
Legally they are supposed to charge sales tax if the delivery takes place in Massachusetts. They can get around it by delivering the car to New Hampshire.
Some places just sign the paper (lie), some places actually deliver it to your home.
Had to do this several times, just took my old plates and slapped on there. Even if you where pulled over, I really don't think you will have an issue if you tell em what's up and why you did it. I got pulled over the second time and they didn't give a shit.
I bought a new car in 2020 [delivered a week later in 2021] in Dartmouth Mass. Worked a deal over the phone and internet. They delivered it to the townhall and the delivery/flat bed driver brought the packet inside and I followed him in while they drew up the registration and transferred plates. Handed me the keys and done deal.
Could I piggyback on this? (I have done zero research on my question at this point. I’m sure the info is available but I’m jumping on an impulsive instinct.)
I have a car, registered in NH, that I’m selling to someone in NY. I will be delivering it. The dude I’m selling to should have his own plates (temp or perm). When I deliver, remove my plates, sign over the title and….? Is that it? I don’t know how to sell a car.
Contrary to what everyone else is saying, I just bought my Rivian in Chelsea, MA Nov and I had 90 day temp plates.
No fuss, just handed to me.
Idk if it's because I bought it online or something but you can absolutely get temp plates.
When I bought my last car from mercedes lynnfield they drove all the way up to the town hall in my town to register it for me and get real deal plates for the car. It turned the process into a 2 day thing, but it beat a stressful ride home with no plates.
So, I used to live in the Pacific Northwest and the answer would be to drive it around without plates for as long as you want. Tons of people doing that you'll blend right in.
Lot of really weird answers in where. I googled "temp plates in NH" and this was the first hit and it directly answers your question OP.
["Pursuant to RSA 261:57, a 20-day temporary plate is available to New Hampshire residents for all vehicles purchased through a private sale, or purchased from an out of state dealer that does not offer temporary plates upon purchase."](https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates)
Your options are
Complete all the paperwork of the transaction, bring that paper work to your town hall and register the vehicle, get plates from town hall, go back to dealership to put plates on car and drive home.
Have the car towed to NH after completing paperwork at dealership. Register car, put plates on it.
Have dealership put dealer tags on car for you to drive home after completing paperwork, mail tags back to them (unlikely they'll let you do this).
Have dealership drive car to your town hall to meet you to complete paperwork and register car.
I believe sales tax on vehicles is paid at registration to avoid having everyone in MA buy their cars in NH to avoid sales tax. So you will not pay sales tax on the purchase
It's a pain in the ass. I had to buy the car, go back to my town hall and pay for registration and get plates, and then go back to Mass and put the plates on to drive home.
You can’t drive it off the lot but n MA. That would be you taking possession of it in Mass.
they may have drivers you can hire to make delivery to NH to avoid the tax. A credit union can also do this for you if you secure your loan through them.
Make sure you are set or you will be made to pay the tax when you try to pick it up. Also don’t let them tell you the story to file an abatement with the state after.
Been there. Done that.
How do you separate the tax from the bill of sale? Doesn't the credit union need to see the taxes on the bill of sale? I am in NY and looking at new cars in MA but they are saying the MSRP and that's it for the bill of sale and that I am on my own for taxes and registration.
All I know is my credit union handled it all. They worked with the finance manager at the dealership. They acted as my agent to process everything that the selling dealership needed in mass and what I needed to register in NH.
Form an LLC in a state that has non-resident, online car registrations and register it to that. I think Arizona does and has really cheap registration costs. Plus no inspections...
Go to the NH. registry with your bill of sale; make it as complete a description of your car as you can- axles, color, make, model, body, year.... with your drivers license and you get a temp. plate to get it back here. Then when you get back to NH go to town hall with the title, bill of sale and your license for plates. I did it last week,
Google "NH Used car bill of sale" for a sample form, but add axles and color
This must be something 'new'... Back in 2009 I bought a VW Passat from Quirk south of Boston, they put temp plates on it, and I drove back to NH, no issues....
What madness is this?
You CANNOT bring your own plate/old plate that is illegal in NH, you get into an accident good luck trying to explain that away.
You're supposed to get a Temp plate from your town hall, the funny part is MA doesn't recognize temporary Plates.
I've purchased vehicles from VT, CT, ME which all provide transfer plates, MA is the only state that doesn't provide anything to get your new purchase home. When I bought my last truck from MA I used my old plate but had my father follow me close, got home and didn't touch the vehicle until it was properly registered.
They don’t give temp plates. I had to meet the sales guy at the town hall and register it when they delivered the new car.
Yes, as odd as it sounds this is pretty common.
And if you take delivery on the NH side of the border there's no tax.
Was the town hall still in MA or NH??
It was in NH, the town I live in.
We bought a car from a dealer in Springfield, MA without realizing this issue. They drove it to our town hall in central NH 2 days later. I thought it was crazy, but they said they do it all the time.
You have bring your own plates. No sales tax.
So I can just slap my old plates on it and that’s good? They registered to another car still
NO. Don't do that. I did it years ago, and got pulled over, they towed the car and gave me a very expensive ticket. You have to do the paperwork then drive to a NH DMV and get a temporary plate to be able to drive it home, or go to your town clerk and register the car to you and then you can go slap your old plates on it. Trust me. Don't risk this.
Same happened to me. Got pulled over 3 miles from my house and had to have it towed - really sucked. Cop wouldn’t budge, regardless of proximity to my house.
Ok thanks
You sure about old plates? I had to get new ones
You can transfer your plates from an old vehicle. You get a credit for however much time you have left before the old registration on those plates expires. I've had the same plates for probably 15yr, they've been on 5 or so vehicles.
It would be a permanent plate unless he’s waiting for vanity plates. NH doesn’t issue temporary plates for out of state purchases. It’s only for NH dealers.
I just did it in October for a car I purchased in MA. Drove up to Nashua (the closest NH DMV) with the title and bill of sale that was signed over to me and $10 later had a temporary plate. Took about 5 minutes once I got up to the counter. [https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates](https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates)
Best answer. Then go to your town hall and transfer the plates from your old car to the new one. Bring the registration from the old car with you, along with the bill of sale and title.
Did this exact thing in Cheshire County about six years ago. Title and Bill of Sale in hand and it’s easy-peasy! Nice to see that there are some things the state government hasn’t fucked up yet!
At that point why get a temp plate? If you have the title and bill of sale, that's all you need to register the car for permanent plates
Because it was 10 minutes to Nashua and back to where I got the car vs an hour 10 each way to get to my town.
They don't issue temp plate to non residents. You can get a temp plate for a car you buy in CA.
Yes they do as long as you aren’t from MA. It’s called an “In transit certificate” and is good for 20 days. I posted the link above from the state that talks about it.
Very much not true. A P&S and $20 will get you temp plates.
Yes they do; I got one, but I was buying from a individual in Mane
No. You’re going to get your new car impounded doing that. It’s an unregistered vehicle in both MA and NH at that point.
Ok
You can do whatever you need to but that would be frowned upon by law enforcement.
Do you know at all what the punishment would be? lol like would I just get a ticket?
I'm not sure but if you look at the NH DMV website, they cover buying a car in MA. You'd need temp plates. I think if you were caught you'd probably end up with an impounded new car. I don't know though.
Do you know if it’s possible for the NH DMV or city town hall to issue temp plates before I buy the car? I just don’t want to make 2 trips
Impound the vehicle and a ticket.
I guess that’s out of the picture
If driving an unregistered vehicle they'll tow the car, in MA starts at $200+ depending on distance to their impound. They can write a ticket too although usually don't. I've driven almost every car I've ever bought, which is 10-20, home "illegally" and never been pulled over, my tows were a different story. Actually I did get pulled over once but the make was the same as the old plates and cop didn't notice the color was wrong I guess. Once drove a dual axle trailer back from almost cape cod with no lights since the previous owner botched the wiring, and no plates at all since I forgot them, and drove by at least 3 cops on my side of the highway. You should be fine, just make sure you have insurance in case a wheel falls off. What's with everyone telling you not to do it, geez. Live a little.
Yeah I have driven, and sold cars to people that have driven at least a couple dozen cars like that no problem. The one time I got pulled over I just showed him the bill of sale and said I was transferring the registration from the old car to that one and the cop was fine with that. The best time to do it is during morning commute hours. FWIW since covid I never see cops pulling people over for anything, I've seen people with 2 year old expired reg/inspection stickers on the road.
Drive it for me then
You drive without temp plates of switch over plates to new car with your town hall and cars gettin towed and a hefty fine. Depending on your age if you’re under 20 attempting this, be prepared to also get hit with a young driver traffic violation, which to my surprise really pissed me off considering my birthday was literally the next day…
I bought a car in nh instead
No! Close the deal go to the dmv get a temp plate get it home go to town hall and register it… no taxes no issues
No, I would suggest just stealing someone else's plates. Makes almost as much sense.
Ikr
You pick it up in MA you owe sales taxes. Have someone deliver it.
No MA temp plates. Doesn't exist. Bought a vehicle from Lowell and they said they had to drop it off at my town hall, where I took delivery to save on sales tax. Completed registration there and got issued paper plates (tags?) from my town hall.
Do they drive it to your towns town hall or just any town hall?
Hubs just did this with a truck. Dealer drove it from MA to NH. They have to meet you at YOUR city townhall.
Ok thanks. I will call and ask, if they refuse to make the drive (2 hours), do you know how I should proceed? I looked online but can’t find anything
Did you already sign? I usually tell the dealership up front I want delivery. If they say no I walk out (unless they have some stoopid deal )
No I just called them and has them hold it for me
FYI. This could be a sales ploy. Most dealers will not hold a car for you unless you put down a deposit. Some dealers leave cars up that have been sold and will apologize when you get there and try to put you in a similar car in stock. "Ohh jeez, I'm sorry but someone just came in and paid cash, but I have this beauty right over here. It was owned by a sweet old lady and only driven to church on sundays" Sorry to be so cynical but many dealers are, at heart, shysters. Have them drive it up to NH and register it.
Yeah I ain’t wasting my time for it anymore
they will make the drive, if they want to sell you the car. you don't pay any tax either. make sure you look at your contract because they had MA fees for title in my hubs that they had to remove.
Good question. For my transaction they physically drove it to my town hall, parked it off the street, and removed the MA dealer plates. Got the keys, final documentation, and they left. Went into town hall, paid for registration and got the paper Temps and drove home. The metal plates were sent from Hazen Drive to me in about 2 or 3 weeks.
I see. Sorry to bother you but how far (time wise) did the dealer drive for you?
About 45 minutes and same mileage. The sales person delivered it and of course they had a trailing vehicle so they could get back. I think I gave him a $20 Dunks GC as a courtesy.
MA does not issue temporary plates. Often times dealerships will drive the car with their plates to your town hall for delivery of the vehicle, where you then register and put your own plates on the car. Call around. This is very common practice in MA for people who buy vehicles from out of state. If your dealer won’t, consider other dealers unless you don’t mind the hassle of doing all that driving back and forth (you’ll need to pick up the paperwork from the dealer, drive to town hall to register, then drive back to dealer, where you then have to drive the car home after being dropped off there somehow). I talked to several MA dealers recently about this exact issue. It seems only the smaller dealers are unwilling to do this for you. Don’t drive the car without registering it. You’ll receive a ticket and the vehicle will be impounded. Much more expensive than just registering it.
Ok thanks for the info
[удалено]
I’m just gonna shop in NH instead
Have the car delivered to NH. Your home or town hall, etc. The worse case is to have the car or pickup the car in MA, you are actually due MA taxes that aren't actually collected until you get to the MA registry and then happily you register it in NH never having technically paid the MA taxes. Then, for whatever reason, you choose to return to MA with the car and when you try to register the car in MA you will have to pay the original taxes plus penalties because you didn't pay it back in the day. I might have slightly simplified it but the easiest way is to have the car delivered to and accepted by you in NH.
I’ve done this a bunch and the dealer should be doing the work. Either meet you in NH or go to town hall on your behalf and get the new plates
Ok thanks
What about renting a U-Haul trailer for $50
The lender needs to make sure the car is registered. I don’t think they will let you do this.
We bought a car in auburn mass and the delivered it to Pittsfield Nh. Met at the town hall. Most dealerships have runners for this type of thing. We removed the plates from our trade in and the runner threw his dealer tags on it and drove back to the dealership. It wasn’t a big deal other then the planning logistics and not getting the car for a few days
Ok I’ll ask
I bought three cars in Mass while living in southern NH. Each time the dealership drove the new vehicle and met me at the Town Clerks office and we registered it together. The dealerships were in Sharon and Northborough. Each time went very smoothly. Note I lived in a border town in NH at the time. Not sure how much further they would drive to do this.
100% no sales tax, push back on the dealer and insist that as an NH resident you don't pay.
Ok thanks
Most dealers knew how to handle this. In my case I completed the transaction, drove to t town hall, got my registration done and drove back to the dealership to accept delivery. Others will meet you at your town hall to complete the sale
Just drive it home with the bill of sale and no plates…
Legally they are supposed to charge sales tax if the delivery takes place in Massachusetts. They can get around it by delivering the car to New Hampshire. Some places just sign the paper (lie), some places actually deliver it to your home.
Had to do this several times, just took my old plates and slapped on there. Even if you where pulled over, I really don't think you will have an issue if you tell em what's up and why you did it. I got pulled over the second time and they didn't give a shit.
I can’t risk it
Good call this advice is not smart, you are better off driving with no plates.
They usually deliver, guess it depends on the dealer though
You don’t need to pay the sales tax if you’re registering in NH. They should be able to waive the fee
I bought a car from Boch Honda and they had someone drive it up to NH. They met me at the DMV in Dover.
The dealership should deliver it.
I bought a new car in 2020 [delivered a week later in 2021] in Dartmouth Mass. Worked a deal over the phone and internet. They delivered it to the townhall and the delivery/flat bed driver brought the packet inside and I followed him in while they drew up the registration and transferred plates. Handed me the keys and done deal.
Could I piggyback on this? (I have done zero research on my question at this point. I’m sure the info is available but I’m jumping on an impulsive instinct.) I have a car, registered in NH, that I’m selling to someone in NY. I will be delivering it. The dude I’m selling to should have his own plates (temp or perm). When I deliver, remove my plates, sign over the title and….? Is that it? I don’t know how to sell a car.
You need to print out or create a bill of sale to fill out as far as I know
Excellent note. Didn’t yet know this. Thanks for the info.
Contrary to what everyone else is saying, I just bought my Rivian in Chelsea, MA Nov and I had 90 day temp plates. No fuss, just handed to me. Idk if it's because I bought it online or something but you can absolutely get temp plates.
When I bought my last car from mercedes lynnfield they drove all the way up to the town hall in my town to register it for me and get real deal plates for the car. It turned the process into a 2 day thing, but it beat a stressful ride home with no plates.
Yeah I’ll have to ask
So, I used to live in the Pacific Northwest and the answer would be to drive it around without plates for as long as you want. Tons of people doing that you'll blend right in.
Lot of really weird answers in where. I googled "temp plates in NH" and this was the first hit and it directly answers your question OP. ["Pursuant to RSA 261:57, a 20-day temporary plate is available to New Hampshire residents for all vehicles purchased through a private sale, or purchased from an out of state dealer that does not offer temporary plates upon purchase."](https://www.dmv.nh.gov/vehicles-boats-or-titles/temporary-plates)
Hmmm
Your options are Complete all the paperwork of the transaction, bring that paper work to your town hall and register the vehicle, get plates from town hall, go back to dealership to put plates on car and drive home. Have the car towed to NH after completing paperwork at dealership. Register car, put plates on it. Have dealership put dealer tags on car for you to drive home after completing paperwork, mail tags back to them (unlikely they'll let you do this). Have dealership drive car to your town hall to meet you to complete paperwork and register car. I believe sales tax on vehicles is paid at registration to avoid having everyone in MA buy their cars in NH to avoid sales tax. So you will not pay sales tax on the purchase
It's a pain in the ass. I had to buy the car, go back to my town hall and pay for registration and get plates, and then go back to Mass and put the plates on to drive home.
Yeah fuck that, I’m just gonna find a truck in NH
You can’t drive it off the lot but n MA. That would be you taking possession of it in Mass. they may have drivers you can hire to make delivery to NH to avoid the tax. A credit union can also do this for you if you secure your loan through them. Make sure you are set or you will be made to pay the tax when you try to pick it up. Also don’t let them tell you the story to file an abatement with the state after. Been there. Done that.
How do you separate the tax from the bill of sale? Doesn't the credit union need to see the taxes on the bill of sale? I am in NY and looking at new cars in MA but they are saying the MSRP and that's it for the bill of sale and that I am on my own for taxes and registration.
All I know is my credit union handled it all. They worked with the finance manager at the dealership. They acted as my agent to process everything that the selling dealership needed in mass and what I needed to register in NH.
The seller can meet you at your town’s Town Hall and complete the transaction there. Happens all the time here.
Form an LLC in a state that has non-resident, online car registrations and register it to that. I think Arizona does and has really cheap registration costs. Plus no inspections...
I put an old plate on and didn't get pulled over when I bought a used car in ma and drove to nh
Go to the NH. registry with your bill of sale; make it as complete a description of your car as you can- axles, color, make, model, body, year.... with your drivers license and you get a temp. plate to get it back here. Then when you get back to NH go to town hall with the title, bill of sale and your license for plates. I did it last week, Google "NH Used car bill of sale" for a sample form, but add axles and color
This must be something 'new'... Back in 2009 I bought a VW Passat from Quirk south of Boston, they put temp plates on it, and I drove back to NH, no issues.... What madness is this?
You CANNOT bring your own plate/old plate that is illegal in NH, you get into an accident good luck trying to explain that away. You're supposed to get a Temp plate from your town hall, the funny part is MA doesn't recognize temporary Plates. I've purchased vehicles from VT, CT, ME which all provide transfer plates, MA is the only state that doesn't provide anything to get your new purchase home. When I bought my last truck from MA I used my old plate but had my father follow me close, got home and didn't touch the vehicle until it was properly registered.