Before now, I've only brought cars privately. That's pretty easy: buy car, take title to Secretary of State office (because we don't have DMVs, for some reason,) pay sales tax and registration fee, they hand me a plate and a sticker, and I'm good to go. However, because shit's fucked up, Craigslist is full of "engine and/or transmission needs to be replaced, but I will not take a penny less than top KBB value!" ads, so I bought something from a dealership. At a dealership, they do all the registration stuff for you, and at first, I was like "good, less stuff I have to do." The paper temp plate is good for 15 days, and can't be extended. The dealership has 15 days to submit everything. Meaning, the process could start on the same day the temp plate expires. So of course, because of that and the SOS backlog because shit's fucked up, my temp registration expired a week ago and the SOS hasn't even processed it yet. 15 days for a temp plate? Every other state does at least 30. Even when shit isn't fucked up, two weeks is the earliest stuff will arrive! Technically, I'm supposed to sit around not driving until 30 days after the sale, then call the state department. Still, 15 days for a temp plate, and I can't do anything about it for 30 days? That makes no sense. The police and such are being lenient about expired/plateless cars, so I should be fine, but this is still dumb.
Don't you have any AAA locations? You can literally go into a AAA, register your car, deal with the title, and walk out with a new license plate the same day. (At least in California, it might be different in other states)
DMVs across the country have been an absolute nightmare the past two years, but 15 days with no extensions sounds absolutely bonkerballs.
It looks like the services available at AAA offices in Michigan are limited to those offered on the Secretary of State website. Which, if I was old and didn't know how to use a computer, that would be awesome, but it doesn't help me here. Even if it did, there's the matter of the sales tax and fees I paid the dealership to do it for me, that I would have to get refunded first. All together it was like $1200, and I don't have that on hand at the moment. I would imagine it's meant to cut down on them being used on other vehicles once they're no longer needed on the original vehicle, but still, 30 days wouldn't make much of a difference there.
Forgot to mention in my first post: I learned something. If one needs any kind of loan, it's best to try a credit union first. I'm paying 2.25% APR. Banks were offering 7% and the best I could get a dealership to do was 22%. They're also much easier to work with than other creditors. It's slightly more difficult to get approved, but a credit score in the mid-500s should do it. They also have membership requirements, but some have very loose requirements. The one I signed up for one just has to live, work, attend school, or attend a place of worship in Michigan.
I still don't have my plate/registration/title. I talked to the dealership. Apparently they weren't able to submit the stuff because the proof of insurance I gave them expired three days after the sale. Apparently, notifying me about this was too much trouble for them. Also, when I bought the car and asked if they'd need new insurance thing because it would probably expire before processing was complete, they were all "no, it's fine, we'll submit it immediately once the sale is complete." Oh well, I should have everything by the end of the year.
I just got a new ride, sorted everything out right there at the dealership - payment, registration, insurance, new plates etc. Took about 1.5 hours
I haven't owned a car in nearly a decade, but if I ever move back to the US permanently, it will be necessary. Not looking forward to all this nonsense.
In Illinois when you buy a car at a dealership you get new plates automatically right then and there.
Mid-500s? Unless you're saying that score qualified you for a credit union loan, I highly doubt it. New car loans usually average a low 700 score and used car loans 650+. YMMV.
Well ... not automatic. One of those papers you sign is requesting, receiving, and paying for the plates.
One thing I see driving around are cars that have a handmade sign saying "Tag Applied For". That is not a thing here, you go to the tag office, pay the fees and get the tag right there. There isn't a waiting period for the tag to process or in the process of being applied for. A dealer will give you a temporary tag. In short, the owner is basically saying "I don't have insurance or I can't pay the tag fee". Your need to have auto insurance before getting the tag.
The Great Mortgage Clusterfuck of 2007 changed a lot of things. These days all a credit score really does is determine the interest rate. Whether one gets approved depends on income and specifics on the credit report. If a 550 score is a result of late payments and defaults it will probably be more difficult to get approved than if it's a result of a limited credit history. Some credit unions stay away from subprime loans, but many of them will do them under certain circumstances. This is based on what lenders were telling me when I applied for loans and Googling stuff. But, no, my various credit scores aren't quite that low and I, personally, did not get approved with a score in the 550s. Before opening the new account my VantageScore was mid-600s and FICO was mid-700s. No idea how they got that high but I'm not arguing.
Of course, you could have a low credit score due to never having incurred debt. I never had to so much as use a credit card until my late 20s, but that was because the state paid my tuition fees and I was careful with the living budget granted. Nowadays my mortgage shows I can repay on a schedule. I had to deliberately pay for things on a credit card that I could have afforded outright in order to build my score to get approved for it though.
My new vehicle now appears in my list of vehicles on the Secretary of State website, so I should have everything in the next few days. Unless there's a screw up with the mail, that is. I made sure to make note of the plate number, in case I get pulled over for driving on an expired temporary registration like I've been doing for two months. Unfortunately, there did not appear to be an option to print out a copy of the registration. Which, that should be an option because it's just a piece of paper, not some special document with watermarks and holograms and shit.
No, I could not in any way pull up the registration on the website. However, the list of documents I can renew has all the important information, like the plate number, expiration date, VIN, make, and model. So, I made a copy of that. I've also kept the bill of sale in the car since I bought it, because I'll definitely need that if I get pulled over.
I have my plate and registration, but the package did not include the title. In some states, the finance company keeps the title until the loan is paid off. Michigan is not one of those, except sometimes, apparently? Of some lenders just keep the title even though they're not supposed to? My lender just wants a copy of it to confirm they're listed as a leinholder. It was probably just sent separately. Ah well, good thing I didn't buy a car through Carvana, apparently that would have been far worse. Everything is stupid because people don't want to do their jobs properly because they're not paid enough for this shit. People need to be paid more and also start giving a shit.