Where to purchase vehicle & TT

donn0128 wrote:
Many people buy, license and register in South Dakota. Low fees is the main reason. Met a couple last year from Germany who were on a one year journey. Made their purchase via internet, so when they landed everything was ready and waiting for them. Thats also how they got a 1year visa instead of the usual 6 months. At the end of their year they had arranged to drop the truck and trailer at the dealer to sell for them.

I don't understand how this German couple got a 1 year visa because they purchased via Internet? Don't happen to have there email address do ya?

I wonder about getting a trailer custom made so it can have the door on the driver's side, and be able to be rewired for 220 with ease once back in OZ, perhaps with conduit for all 120VAC wires so they can be easily replaced if necessary. Plus, with it being custom made, the door can be on the UK side, as opposed to the continental curb side. This way, it will not be awkward to use on the left-hand driving roads when back.

I don't know any custom travel trailer makers, but horse trailer companies can do this. For toy haulers, DuneSport has been mentioned.

Have you checked on how much modification will be necessary after you get back to OZ to prepare a RVIA standard trailer to be legal (and registered) there.

Just to start: I know from Aussie membert of the Titanium Owner's Forum that the entire electrical system has to be rewired and an access door has to be cut in on what we call the Driver's side (this often requires extensive interior revisions) and there may be more.

Just something to consider.

Offered sale prices for RVs do not usually include taxes and fees (those will be added on during the sale). Price differences for the same TT may partly reflect options, will mostly reflect what the dealer thinks he can ask in the local market. You will find variations in price among dealers in a single state.

Price differences for a "similar" TT might reflect that the models for which you are comparing prices are not so similar as you might think. Different manufacturers build TTs differently: structure, materials, build quality, so have different costs and different prices. Even within a single manufacturer, different model lines offering similar floor plans will reflect quality and cost differences, 50% to 100% not unusual.

People who live in states with high sales taxes will try to buy and register a RV in a state that doesn't have sales taxes (Montana is a popular "no sales tax" state). People who live in states with high registration fees or annual property taxes will try to register vehicles in states without those taxes. The usual mechanism in both cases is to set up a legal entity in the low tax state to own the vehicle, which gets leased back to an individual who resides elsewhere.

South Dakota is different. South Dakota is popular with full-time RVers who are trying to avoid paying state income taxes, and so domicile themselves in South Dakota, which does not have such a tax. South Dakota is more popular for this than some other no income tax states is because its laws enable domicile for people who are not physically resident, registration fees and vehicle taxes are reasonably low, license renewal and absentee voting are made easy, and it is possible to get medical insurance that covers one outside the state. But the easy legal climate also works in favor of solving vehicle registration problems for non-resident aliens.

If we live in one state and want to purchase vehicles in another, how easy or difficult, and what are the added expenses, depends on the tax laws of each state and the reciprocal arrangements between the pair of states. Cross border vehicle purchases, to register in your home state, are usually easy. But some people live in one state, purchase in another to avoid a sales tax, and register outside their state of residence. Some people get caught by the state they live in, end up paying penalties in addition to the taxes.

But as a non-resident, this should not matter for you. I suggest you think more about who, in what state, can make your plan possible, rather than trying to pin down the lowest purchase price or the lowest taxes and/or registration fees.

An agency in South Dakota or Montana would be the most likely place to start, because the state tax driven market for these services points to those two states, depending on which tax the client is trying to avoid.

Coming from Australia, your port of entry is probably California. While California might be one of the worst places for cost and red tape, even in California there are agencies that work out things like this for non-resident clients. Because of the amount of ex-pat traffic back and forth in the petroleum business, there is likely a legal firm or agent in Perth that has connections with an agent in LA or Houston that takes care of acquiring and registering vehicles for visitors, although my experience is that most cases are handled by leasing.

the best prices on RV's, will be in the Midwest, since that's where the vast majority of RV's are manufactured.
you'll see price differences of 20%-30%, between prices in the Midwest and the West Coast.
the West Coast will be the highest in the country for new TT's, generally speaking. and due to that, used prices are generally higher since new ones cost so much more.
we live in California and drove all the way to Chicago to buy our HTT, to save over $4000 on a trailer that had a retail price of $22k.
we were able to get a brand new trailer, for what a 5 year-old and smaller one would have cost us in California.

plus, registration fees/taxes in California are some of the highest in thc country.

Many people buy, license and register in South Dakota. Low fees is the main reason. Met a couple last year from Germany who were on a one year journey. Made their purchase via internet, so when they landed everything was ready and waiting for them. Thats also how they got a 1year visa instead of the usual 6 months. At the end of their year they had arranged to drop the truck and trailer at the dealer to sell for them.