So while I was busy realizing my calendar blunder, George was doing some research about buying cars in Washington. Last week, he revealed that plates go with the owner, not the car in Washington, which made us all nervous, but he said he’d keep looking.
You see, in California, there is a significant grace period for how long a driver has to register a recently-purchased vehicle. And we’re Texas and Oklahoma licensed drivers, which also have some areas of flexibility. So either way, we were in a justifiable legal grey area. Further, in California, the plates stay with the car, so we were less likely to attract attention. On both previous trips, we just drove with our open titles in our suitcases and old plates on the bumpers and that was legal, if not entirely wise, in the short-term. (Except when Evan got pulled over for it in Utah…) Also we weren’t driving through a foreign country.
In Washington, the “Correct” way to buy a car private-party is in the parking lot at a licensing office because the seller rips the plates off the car when they sell it to you. Further, I would imagine that the “correct” way to cross an international border would be in a car with a plate on it or some significant volume of official state-issued paperwork. We can’t register cars in Washington because we don’t live there, but George found two things that would be helpful!
A Trip Permit would allow us to legally drive an unregistered vehicle. There’s a 60-day option that provides temporary plates. Also, Washington even offers Quick Titles which are print-on-demand when re-titling a vehicle. That would make selling so much easier! Private parties have been wary of open titles, and reputable dealers won’t take them. So this is a perfect find, and it makes me feel a lot better.
Except for the part where we can’t do it.