Car inspections and moving to another state

[shadowclaw]

Hi everyone,

The other day I realized that should I be accepted into a PhD program across the country, I'm going to be in a weird car situation. I live in Pennsylvania, and am applying to schools all over the place (the farthest is in Oregon). The issue is that I don't technically own my car. My father does. My student loans pretty much bar me from getting any substantial loans, so my car was financed using my father's credit, and thus is registered to him. I still have 2 and a half years of payments left (although when and if I go to school next fall, it will only be 1 and a half). So the car cannot be transferred to me for a while.

Pennsylvania is a state that requires inspections. If I went to a school somewhere on the East Coast or even in the Midwest, driving home for a visit would be fairly easy and I could get an inspection done then. However, a road trip from Oregon is quite long! Considering I would only have to do it twice and then the car could be registered to me isn't so bad, but it's still a potential problem. I would need to be gone for at the very least a week (probably longer), which may conflict with my schedule.

Has anyone else been in this situation? How did you work out out? I may also have issues with the insurance company, since my car will be in another state.

[ss2player]

My experience going from PA to TX: inspection shouldn't be a problem, they don't check car ownership usually (but change your insurance to your new state!). As for registration, you just register it as having a lien on the vehicle and they won't need the title. Keep the bill of sale, though.

Keep in mind this varies by state, so check out OR policies.

[ERR_Alpha]

I actually just moved to PA so I am in the opposite situation. My car is titled in both my mothers name and my name, so that made it easier. What I did to ease the process was getting an inspection right before I left NY to give me ample time to not worry about that. My biggest word of advice would be to pay off the car loan ASAP. You can't retitle a car in another state with a loan from elsewhere, so paying off the loan is step #1. After that, your dad can sign the title over to you.

Legally, you're given 90-120~ days to establish residency in a state. However, from what I've heard, your insurance should understand if you got into an accident in Oregon because you were going to school there. I know some insurance companies will let you keep your home car insuance as a graduate student as long as you use your home address as your permanent address.

So, as long as you don't total your car, you should be fine. good luck!

[shadowclaw]

Thanks for the input. Depending on the school I attend, I may or may not have to establish residency (depends on if the school has different in/out of state tuition). If I didn't need to establish residency, I wouldn't worry much about it and just maintain my residency as PA and keep my permanent address as my parents'. It wouldn't solve the car inspection issue, but it might be fine with the insurance company, like ERR_Alpha suggested.

 

However, I believe the majority of the schools I am applying to do have different tuition rates (and my top two choices do), so I would have to establish residency after a year to maintain my funding. I'm not sure if that will make a difference to the insurance company, since the car will remain registered in PA until it's paid off and switched into my name (or more likely, the car will die as soon as it's paid off and I'll have to buy a new one). I will probably just have to ask the insurance company to find out how things work on their end. Really, I am most concerned with how to deal with inspections.

 

Then again, by the time I get to a PhD program, I won't owe that much on the car. I make peanuts right now and can't afford to make more than the monthly payment on the car, but if I get lucky, I might get a good stipend and an affordable apartment, leaving more money available for other things. I might be able to get that car paid off sooner.

[Crucial BBQ]

Vehicle inspections are State-dependent.  If you are not driving on Penn. roads, you do not need the inspection.  I cannot think of one Midwest or West Coast State that requires inspections.  I could be wrong, but I don't think that registration is dependent upon passing a vehicle inspection in Penn.  Realistically, you don't need to do it.  Of course, if you were to drive back home with an expired inspection sticker... 

 

Another possibility would to just sell the car and purchase a used vehicle once you settle in.  People on the West Coast and in the MidWest don't seem to drive as much as those on the East Coast do, so depending on where you end up you might not even need it (although if you grew up in Penn. you might think that you do).  

 

To the insurance:  your rates are determined by your location, amongst other things: not the State the vehicle is registered in.  If your insurance provider thinks you live in Penn., and you get into an accident in Oregon; if they find out you live in Oregon they can legally refuse your claim. It is illegal to live in one State while holding insurance from another. The reason being that insurance rates and laws vary State-to-State.  The minimum policy requirement might not be the same in Oregon as it is in Penn. 

 

If your grad program does not require you to claim residency then you can legally keep the Penn. registration and insurance while simultaneously being a resident of the State in which you are attending school as long as the only reason you are in that State-as far as anyone else knows- is because of school.  

[Between Fields]

Vehicle inspections are State-dependent.  If you are not driving on Penn. roads, you do not need the inspection.  I cannot think of one Midwest or West Coast State that requires inspections.  I could be wrong, but I don't think that registration is dependent upon passing a vehicle inspection in Penn.  Realistically, you don't need to do it.  Of course, if you were to drive back home with an expired inspection sticker... 

 

Another possibility would to just sell the car and purchase a used vehicle once you settle in.  People on the West Coast and in the MidWest don't seem to drive as much as those on the East Coast do, so depending on where you end up you might not even need it (although if you grew up in Penn. you might think that you do).  

 

To the insurance:  your rates are determined by your location, amongst other things: not the State the vehicle is registered in.  If your insurance provider thinks you live in Penn., and you get into an accident in Oregon; if they find out you live in Oregon they can legally refuse your claim. It is illegal to live in one State while holding insurance from another. The reason being that insurance rates and laws vary State-to-State.  The minimum policy requirement might not be the same in Oregon as it is in Penn. 

 

If your grad program does not require you to claim residency then you can legally keep the Penn. registration and insurance while simultaneously being a resident of the State in which you are attending school as long as the only reason you are in that State-as far as anyone else knows- is because of school.  

 

 

As an example, Missouri requires inspections on cars older than five years. In general, if you live in the Midwest, you're going to be driving a lot, unless you're in Chicago or another big city. Even in St. Louis and Kansas City, almost everyone drives because public transportation isn't as developed/accepted as it is on the coasts. But, yeah, it's state-dependent on the inspection part.

 

Regarding the OP's question about insurance: It depends on who's providing your insurance, because each state's regulations are different in terms of how much coverage they need. In my case, Illinois doesn't require me to license the car, because I'm a student, but my insurance agent isn't licensed here so I have to get new insurance. It doesn't matter where your car is registered, but where it's 'garaged'.

[shadowclaw]

I think I am gaining a better understanding of how this car stuff works. The only person I ever knew who moved to another state but didn't have the car registered to them was a girl I worked with for a while. However, she kind of stole the car from her mom. The loan and the registration were in her mom's name but she made the loan payments. Then one day she got into a big argument, hopped into the car with her boyfriend, and drove from Florida to Pennsylvania and stayed at a relative's house until she got a job. Coincidentally, she never made another payment on the car and never contacted her mother. About a year later, a private investigator finally found her and the car got repossessed while she was working. So she's not really a good source for information on how to go about these things.

 

So to summarize what everyone's been saying: don't worry about the registration, the inspection only matters if I decide to drive back to PA, and make sure I get new insurance in my new state. Sounds like a plan!

[rockhopper]

I live in Texas and I'm originally from Illinois, my car is in my mother's name, and because of my insurance I keep it that way. 

 

Also just a bit of advice I wish I'd taken... I moved here 3 years ago I didn't change my residency until recently, which is technically illegal (it didn't matter whether I was out of state for my assistantship and I was somewhat resistant...) However, Illinois has %5 state income tax, Texas has NO income tax. I should have changed that shit the day I moved here. Don't be that guy (me). If you can save yourself some money without it screwing up too many things insurance-wise, do it. 

 

I chalk it up to learning a lot about the real world since I graduated college