Yes, I remember the stickers as well. I'm not sure any more whether it was yearly? i seem to recall you could get longer periods as well?

You could get fined if your car registration plate did not have one. So they often got stolen! happened to me, never noticed until cop pulled me over.

MO introduced special security tabs as they called it which were more difficult to peel off.

Jeroen

Folks, looking for some advice on car financing. I financed my Accord in Feb for a 4% 66 month loan through a CU arranged by company. I did not have a credit rating at that time so went with this option.

Now, my credit scores have started appearing and my scores are all in the 700-720 range across agencies. Should I refinance or wait for a few more months to push up the score even more? I am hoping to get something close to the 2% rate, need your inputs on whether this is realistic or a pipe dream for now.

@guha_2001, in the US almost anything can be negotiated...to use the colloquial term, you can always get "a deal". Try asking the finance company to lower the interest based on your new credit rating. It might just work.

This post is to share experience of buying a car long distance.Since my Acura lease was coming to an end - I was looking at a sporty car. I had enough of luxury for 3 years and I decided I would go sporty this time.

The last 3 contenders were

1, Mustang GT
2, Camaro SS
3, Jeep Wrangler
4, WRX Sti

I'm not going into pros and cons of each vehicle. I'm going to point out the process by which I found the cheapest price for each of the cars.

joined http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/ for the mustang. Looked at all the purchase and ordering threads. Found that the cheapest price was offered by a dealership called Koons In Baltimore. They even refund your flight tickets - if you are flying in to buy the car.

link to Koons. I also found that koons is also the cheapest for the Wrangler too. Chcek out their inventory online - the prices are crazy.

http://www.koons.com/


Anyway I decided to go with WRX Sti. I applied the same process in a different forum --- www.nasoic.com. the dealer preferred in that forum was Heuberger , Colorado. I talked to the internet salesman and his price + shipping was much lesser than cars around Detroit. Placed an order with him.

In 2 months the car arrived. They did the financing and threw me a great deal. they overnighted the paperwork to sign and included a return overnight envelope. Once they got the paperwork - they called their preferred shipper and the shipper delivered to me in a week.

It is amazing to see that most of the big dealer car salesmen are on the forum. Any issues you bring up are seen by the forum members and they are brought to a speedy resolution. Any bad remark against the dealer/ salesmen on the forum brings down a lot of internet business.

Hope this thread is still alive. I read all pages but a bit unclear on whether a car can be purchased on Indian license in California.
Instead of renting a car till we get all documents (SSN, address proof etc) and license done, can a used car be purchased using India license? If its possible, any major cons?
Also, anything to be done once all documents are in place?

The law is fuzzy on this one.

• Yes, a car can be purchased with an Indian license.
• Driving with a foreign license is not allowed for residents. The term "resident" is loosely defined here.

In immigration terms, a H1B / L1 who lives and works here is considered a non-permanent resident and not a visitor. The DMV website (California at least) clearly says foreign licenses are for visitors.
However, from tax purposes you are considered a resident once you've filed your taxes. So are you a visitor till you file for the first time? That's not defined clearly anywhere. This is highly open to interpretation (by cop / judge) depending on the situation so I would play it safe.

I have seen people who drive on Indian license for the first few months, get speeding tickets and nothing bad happen. At the same time I have also seen an incident where a guy crashed (T-boned) another car when he was renting with an Indian license, and they charged him with unlicensed driving, they wouldn't even look at his Indian license.

My opinion, play it safe. Apply for SSN, get the license as soon as possible. In my case it didn't take more than a month. However I had been driving during that month with my Indian license, because I didn't know the rules well enough. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't risk it.

As pointed out, best check with the local DMV.

Apart from what they say, you need to check with your insurance company.
I started work in 2009 initially in Kansas, I could buy a car with my Dutch license no problem and I think legally I could drive it up to 12 months on my Dutch license. However, the insurance company demanded my wife and me getting our US license within three months.

It certainly used to be possible purchasing a car and get it insured as a foreigner. Even as a tourist. Many Europeans used to pop over to the US for a holiday, buy a car, drive it for a few weeks, sell the car again and fly home.

But with how the world is today, it might all get more complex. Our experience, even in 2009 was that you could do not much without a SSN.

good luck

Jeroen

Thank you Rajushank84 and Jeroen for making this clear. Will do the US license path. Thanks so much!

It is possible - I know a couple of people who did the same, but the insurance is killing if you don't have a local license (with a record), or have a new license.

I did not have a SSN, got a letter stating that I was not eligible for a SSN from the SS office, coupled with a letter from my university as proof of residency, etc.
Submitted the same at the DMV while applying for a license, and purchased a pre-owned vehicle as well.

Best bet is to wait it out for a little while and get a permanent license. Until then, there should be no issue with using rental cars provided you have an authentic looking license - the paper licenses many of us had is difficult to use in case of serious trouble.
Heck, they wouldn't allow us entry into clubs when presenting the paper booklet license!

I am in the market for used car, and came across a lot of used 3-series. I like this one particular. But having heard stories about maintenance / repairs costs in US for used BMWs makes me hold back. Any one has experience on buying used BMW in US ? Any inputs will be really appreciated.

https://www.erhardbmw.com/used-Bloom...3B5C52DF597843

I cannot comment on maintenance costs, etc. - as it is all dependent on how the car was maintained.
When I bought my car in the US a few years ago (2009) - I was able to get a warranty on the car for 6months / 1 year (don't recall exactly) so ask the dealership if they have any warranty they are willing to provide and what all is covered.
Regarding routine maintenance - there are a host of smaller service centers that can help you out at lower labour rates (which is the real killer). Buying parts online, doing some maintenance yourself, should also help!

However, please do check the condition of the car in detail, known problems and if they have been rectified (timing chain was one issue on the 328i that was replaced by BMW for example), along with a full service history.

BTW, I don't see anything wrong with this car, it's a big market so if it does not work for you, just give them back you lose only a couple of thousands if you have bought at good prices. Do negotiate or buy a longer warranty if that's an option,

Thanks for your input, & yes I gathered from my colleagues here that labor cost is the real big impact when it comes German cars. I am planning to drop by a local service center to see the difference.

Hi All,
Have been going through this thread for a few days.

Must say, this is a terrific thread for people who are new to US.

I have recently moved to US , Phoenix, Arizona for around 3 odd years and was looking to get a car. My stay might get extended for a total of 5 years.

Looking for some help from all the experienced people on Tbhp and specially who are in US.

While multiple options are available in the used car segment, I found one which seems to be a decent offer for a new car.

Not sure how many people still buy a Chevrolet here in US.

I have seen this offer for a Chevy Cruze for around 13.5k and spoke to the dealership also. The MSRP is around 20.5k for the car.

This is without taxes and registration and document fee.

I just wanted to find out if this is worth exploring further.

From the look of it, this looks like a good discounted offer.

Just to add that there are multiple Chevy Cruze cars available for around the same price at different dealerships.

How much further can be negotiated ?

Is Chevrolet worth buying ?

Any thoughts would be welcome.
Thanks in advance.

This particular Chevy had lots of issues and recalls initially. At one stage in its life I seem to recall it was named the worst, most unreliable car by some consumer survey.

I guess these days all of that has been sorted. So it is just an ordinary saloon, dime a dozen.

You are in the USA, the petrol head car Walhalla. You might want to consider going second hand. For that sort of money, second hand, you can buy a much more upmarket car, or something really special. Get yourself a nice Beemer, Mercedes, Jaguar.

Jeroen