Buying Bike Out of State; Looking for Legal Info

Hi,

I've read so many threads, I'm dizzy. Can anyone give me the legal procedure for buying a bike in Massachusetts and riding it back to NY? I know how to transfer title, register and insure it once it's here. But how do I ride from MA to NY legally?

Is there a temporary tag I can get from NY dmv? From MA dmv?

Thanks for the help!

Ps, tried calling DMV and they're too busy to take calls--not even a 45 minute hold...just hung up on me!

Call the Dansville office at 585-335-6700. They will pick up right away and are always helpful. When I've done out of state fly and rides I had my own insurance and used the current plate on the bike. In some states they do stay with the bike anyway. In cases where they didn't I simply borrowed the plate. And yes, I was pulled over with a borrowed plate once and the officer did not have a problem with it.

Thanks--good information. You borrowed a plate from another of your bikes or from someone else?

They did pick up right away and said: you'll have to contact MA.
I'll try them...
No luck in Mass--they said I could make an appointment to talk to someone on Wednesday.

Anyone else have tips?

In MA they do not stay with the bike - they have to be turned in at the RMV.

Borrowing a plate from one of your own vehicles is kind of a gray area. The MA RMV allows it if you've disposed of your old vehicle and purchased a new within 7 days:

I'd suspect that NY has something similar... if it were me, I'd put a plate from one of my other bikes on it and ride it home. Just don't speed or otherwise draw attention to yourself.

I'd slap a plate on it w/ a current rego sticker and ride it. Dress and ride like a BMW rider...you'll be fine.

This is how you do it in ME and I will bet every State follows basically the same procedure.

In ME you go to your town where you usually register your bike and get a 7 day temporary plate for a small fee. This will enable you to go buy the bike, put temp plates on it and drive it home. Of course you should notify your insurance company immediately after you buy the bike. If you already have an insured bike all you need is to notify your agent and they will cover you.

The problem I had was that I wasn't 100 percent sure that I would buy the bike in VA so I had to take a gamble with the temporary registration.

I borrowed the plate from the seller. The bike IS still legally registered and MY insurance covered the bike.

Do like I did for NY but look up MA DMV offices. The main numbers in most states suck. The local offices sometimes have a direct number. (Like the Dansville office)

Neither ny or mass offer temp tags it's a real pita

MA does not issue temp plates... and any "new" registration would have to go through your home state of NY anyway.

Here are your options:

1) Drive it home with it still registered under the seller with his (MA) plate attached. You'll then have to send the plate back to him since he has to surrender it when he cancels his registration in MA. (This option only works if he hasn't cancelled his registration yet, and he doesn't have a problem with you riding around on something with his name attached to it.)

2) "Attach" (the term for putting plates on from another vehicle) plates from your old/other motorcycle, try not to get pulled over, and practice you "Sorry officer, I didn't realize" speech. As pointed out earlier, MA has a provision for using old plates on a newly acquired vehicle if 1. It's a recent swap 2. you can show you no longer have possession of the vehicle the plates came from and 3. you have a bill of sale. This isn't technically what you're doing, and thus doesn't make what you'd be doing "legal", but knowledge of this law certainly may be able to grease the wheels of justice on the side of the road it the conversation comes up. If you have a good story and you deliver it confidently, you may just be able to get the MA cop to let you continue on your way... or you run the risk of having your bike towed and needing to find a way home.

I guess the thing is you need to ask yourself what would happen if someone merges into you and you crash on an "unregistered" (or "uninsured?") motorcycle in either MA or NY... I recently bought a bike in CT and was prepared to just ride it back to MA, but after soul searching I decided to just rent the $30 Uhaul motorcycle trailer and not risk the ticket and tow on the side of the highway.

Either way, make sure you have a copy of the Bill of Sale with you... otherwise it can be tough to prove to a LEO your story is true.

All great responses and all the factors I've been trying to consider.

The seller isn't comfortable with me riding the bike with his plates still on for the exact reason you alluded to--and I don't blame him.

I'd love to rent the trailer (I've done this before) but I got rid of my truck last winter and would have to rent a truck too. It would end up being about $300+ and mean sourcing and procuring a truck and trailer in NYC which, in past experiences, was a pain in the ass.

@chuckracer: I don't have another bike with a plate to use or I'd probably do that--and it's a bmw which would make me a bmw rider and thus, immune to all law enforcement hassles.

I tried to find local numbers for smaller branch offices so I could talk to someone but had no luck. The few local numbers that I found were disconnected and the rest are the central call center number.

Maybe there is no magic bullet and I'll have to take two trips. Hard to believe though.

Years ago when I bought a car out of Florida I simply made a plate sized "In Transit" sign and used it. I was passed by numerous police and didn't get stopped. I do however ALWAYS have my insurance agent issue insurance for the vehicle. Not having that would be the killer if something happened.

I've got the insurance lined up so that shouldn't be an issue.

That's huge... having the insurance in place is most of it. (Having it actually registered is the other most of it.... but I guess that's really all of it.)

It does sound like if you want to do everything proper, you have to make two trips (get everything signed over, bring paperwork back to NY, get it registered, then go back to pick up the bike with the new plates).

Just another example when the "right answer" is also the "stupid answer."

You can have him fedex you the docs and register it In ny and just take the plate out there with you

I'm tempted to do that but he probably won't want to give me the signed title and receipt without the full payment and I don't want to give the full payment before checking out the bike and making sure everything is on the up. Therein lies the rub

Yea true that is always the hang up. Have you tried reaching out I an inmate in the area to check it out on your behalf?

I just did that for an out of state friend. We've done it for each other many times.

I really think State governments are no longer necessary. This scenario is just plain stupid.

I still recommend that you go down and talk to your issuer of plates in NY. Here it is the towns. Other places would be the DMV. You know, you are not the first person to to go through this procedure. Thousands of people do it everyday. It is hard to believe that everyone has this problem and there is no solution?

In my first post relevant to my experience in Maine, I used the words "temporary Plates". The proper term would be "Transit Plates".

Why not just ride it home without a plate? If you get stopped, show the officer you're BOS and current insurance. I was stopped doing this one time in PA and after showing him all the paperwork he let me go.