Okay, I’m moving from Boston to California this summer, a process that seems far too difficult, but that’s beside the point. I plan on buying a new car at some point, but not sure that I want to buy it here and not in California. One of my uncles mentioned that there are services that look for drivers that are willing to take other people’s cars from one place to another. This would be great for me, as it would allow me to get my stuff from here to there and to just buy a car out there. I tried looking on line for them, but I could only find car carrying services. Anyone in doperville done this? Is it worth doing or should I go back to the drawing board?
There do exist companies that have someone actually drive your car rather than put it on a car-carrier; however, as you’ve found, the car carriers are much more common. Keep looking. I have never used one of those services, but have had a car carried cross-country twice. It’s pretty expensive ($1000 at least), don’t know how much a driver would cost.
Wouldn’t it be easier to buy the car in CA? You’d be paying MA title/license fees, then paying someone to haul your car out there, then paying CA title/license fees. Doesn’t make sense to me. Is there some reason you want to buy the car in MA?
Don’t forget that California has stricter emissions standards than the rest of the country. There’s a good chance if you buy a car in MA and bring it to CA, you’ll also need to pay extra for CA smog equipment. You might even want to look into what that would involve for your old car, if you’re not sure when you’re going to take the plunge. It’s quite possible that leaving the old one behind and putting the new one at the top of your to-do list in CA may be your best bet. You should have no trouble at all getting around Davis by bicycle and bus until you find the car you want.
We had a family move into our 'hood recently from another part of the country (im in Missouri, they’re from South Carolina, I believe). The moving service (sorry, no recollection who it was) used a full-sized semi for all their stuff, and that included a late model Volvo sedan that was the first thing to disembark when they pulled up. I had never seen that before but co-workers tell me its not uncommon for bigger moving companies to offer that option.
Also, I’ll second/third what the others say - you’re costing yourself money and time by buying the car in MA v CA.
Sorry if I was incoherrent, I’m sick and so how that prevents me from saying what I mean. What my uncle meant was for me to volunteer to be said driver for someone else, ergo getting me across the country with my stuff, then I could buy a car out there. Also, we have pretty tight emissions out here, almost like California’s.
You weren’t incoherent, unless you were incoherent in such a way that my (very mild) inebriation let me understand you perfectly while others were left confused.
I was right about to yell at all of them for misreading your OP.
Information on registering an out of state car in CA is here.
Makes sense now that I re-read it … must have scanned it too quickly.
You’re looking for something like this