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Can a UK resident buy a car in the US?
by moyang ·
Me and a couple of my friends will be travelling to the US when we have completed university and its gonna be a massive trip driving from houlton, Maine all the way down the I95 (stopping at various places new york, washington and ill be also travelling to milledgeville, GA to see an old friend) we will then end up in orlando/daytona not sure yet, where we will stay for a week or 2, next we travel through alabama to nashville, TN then on to memphis, TN through arkansas to oklahoma city then from there come back on are selfs through missouri into kansas city thenn we will go to perry, ks then non stop to denver to see another friend of mine, through the rockies into utah, then salt lake city and through navada all the way down to los angeles. its a massive undertaking but we really want to see more of the us and thinking about doing this over 4/5 months. Can i buy a car there and will they let me get insured? will i need a US driving license, i dont want to rent as they wont let me drive all that way lol Ive been to the us soo many times i know people from all over (Oregon, florida, new jersey, colorado, north carolina, georgia, tennesee and california not mentioning people from canada i know.) i probably know more people from different states then a US national.
Sorry for the life story 
Luke.
Of course. However, the UK resident would still need to comply with the laws of the state in which he intends to purchase the vehicle; and the laws and their various requirements vary dramatically from one state to another.
If sold as a retail vehicle to a private individual (versus a business or corporation), the state is likely to require the buyer possess a valid driver license. Based upon the principle of “full faith and credit” between the U.S. states whereby each states agrees to accept as valid the laws of the others in matters that may span jurisdictions (additional interstate compact agreements also exist between certain member states that afford an additional degree of reciprocity for all matters driving-related), any driver license you obtain in one state is valid in every other (with the exception of certain “provisional” licenses like youth exemptions for operating farm equipment etc.).
With the exception of two states (New Hampshire and Wisconsin) the buyer will be required to possess automotive liability insurance sufficient to comply with the particular state’s minimum required coverage. Most dealers will NOT accept “border” insurance for the purpose of affecting a vehicle purchase as they are special policies that exist under certain exceptions of law that exist only in those states (“full faith and credit” is not universally accepted for contractual agreements and obligations). You may have to obtain an itinerant form of auto insurance (a common item for the many resident aliens who live and/or work in the U.S.); and any local telephone directory can provide you with scores of local agents who can provide you with the required paperwork on-site. You can most-likely also find an online provider capable of doing the same, but you will need to research that on your own.
Once you’ve provided for both of those minimum requirements and have been vetted by a mandatory anti-terrorist check (performed immediately and on-site), you should encounter no obstacles whatsoever to buying a vehicle (although establishing a local mailing address and telephone number within the U.S. will go a long-way toward making the process even-easier while avoiding what I’m certain would be a litany of “gee… I dunno…” responses at every turn that would only unnecessarily draw-out your buying experience.
If you happen to know where you’re going to be, I’d recommend calling in-advance a local new and used car dealership and ask them for their help and guidance. With selling cars being entirely dependent upon a dealer’s ability to find financing for customers and helping them navigate the myriad regulatory requirements and paperwork, each dealer usually has at least one member of its clerical staff whose sole purpose is to live and breath the banal, arcane, and convoluted requirements necessary to maintain full legal compliance.
Additional potentially-useful resources may also be each individual state’s Motor Vehicle Department web portal.
