Seeking advice - PA resident purchasing car in TX

[SteveYem]

Hey all,
I'm trying to gather some intel this weekend before I get a chance to call TxDMV on Monday morning, and I'd be much obliged for any guidance I can get here.

I am a resident of Pennsylvania and on Tuesday of the coming week I'll be traveling to southern Texas to inspect, test drive and hopefully purchase a 2018 M3 from a private seller. He has the clean title in hand. I know that in TX he can sign the title over to me without being notarized, while we do plan to both sign a bill of sale and have it notarized at the bank when I transfer the payment.

At that point, I will own the car and he will remove his license plate from it. I need to drive the car about 3 hours to the north to a friend's residence, where I will arrange to have the car picked up and transported to PA via a specialized auto transport service. What I am trying to figure out is what do I need to have in the way of temporary license plate/tag/registration in the state of Texas to identify the car while I'm making that drive and for the ~week or so that it might sit in my friend's driveway awaiting pickup?

I discussed it with the seller and his understanding was that I would not need a temporary tag / plate and that carrying a copy of the signed and notarized bill of sale would be sufficient to identify the vehicle and substantiate my ownership of it, but something tells me I need to have some manner of temporary tag on the back of the car to keep everything above boards.

Does anyone here have experience with this and could lend me some guidance? Thanks in advance!

[HPD15M3]

Do not drive the car without a temporary tag. You are correct in the fact that you need to go on the Texas DMV website and get a temporary tag. You can print it out at home before you come down to Texas. I believe it is fairly cheap and is valid for something like 30 days.

You also don’t need to notarize the title or the bill of sale. Making sure that the seller signs the back of the title over to you is the most critical part here in Texas.

I’m curious why the seller doesn’t leave his or her license plate on the car. Are they personalized plates that mean something to him or her? I’ve sold many cars and left my plates on the car for the new owner.

If you have any more questions you’re more than welcome to PM me.

[SteveYem]

Originally Posted by HPD15M3

As a cop in Houston I can tell you do not drive the car without a temporary tag. You are correct in the fact that you need to go on the Texas DMV website and get a temporary tag. You can print it out at home before you come down to Texas. I believe it is fairly cheap and is valid for something like 30 days.

You also don’t need to notarize the title or the bill of sale. Making sure that the seller signs the back of the title over to you is the most critical part here in Texas.

I’m curious why the seller doesn’t leave his or her license plate on the car. Are they personalized plates that mean something to him or her? I’ve sold many cars and left my plates on the car for the new owner.

If you have any more questions you’re more than welcome to PM me.

Thanks for that input! That’s a fair point- I assumed for some reason that he’d keep his plate, but if he doesn’t have another car to use it on (or want to hang onto it for some reason) then it should stay on the car. But in any case, it seems I need to go to the DMV and get a temporary registration in my name. Good to know!

[HPD15M3]

Originally Posted by SteveYem

Thanks for that input! That’s a fair point- I assumed for some reason that he’d keep his plate, but if he doesn’t have another car to use it on (or want to hang onto it for some reason) then it should stay on the car. But in any case, it seems I need to go to the DMV and get a temporary registration in my name. Good to know!

Well if the plate stays on the car you will be fine. Having no plate on the car is excellent probably cause to pull you over. Most private sellers don’t take the plates off of the car because they will be issued new ones later on. I’ve only had one issue with leaving my plate on the car to the new buyer. The new buyer drove it from Texas to New Jersey and accidentally ran the tolls in some state. Well the registration at the time still came back to me. I got the bill for it but it was quickly taken care of as I had a bill of sale (not notarized) showing that the car was sold prior to the date of the citation.

[michael1284]

If the guy is worried about having to pay tolls and stuff, tell him to fill out the form here so that it notes that he has sold the car and removes him from the liability for tolls and stuff.

https://webdealer.txdmv.gov/title/publicVehicleTransfer