Assuming you trust your relative, why not have him/her purchase and
register the vehicle or get the temp permit and you buy it from him/her
when it's in VA? Pre-prepared and dated bills of sale are all that's
required I should think.
On Monday, August 11, 2003, at 06:29 PM, Automatic digest processor
wrote:

> Date:    Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:56:57 -0700
> From:    JD Foster <jidd@JIDDWARE.COM>
> Subject: Re: Calif: Buying out of state
>
> Mike,
> Do you tell everyone who has mechanical problems to just "go read a
> Bentley"?  Sure, information is out there, but I though the reason
> we're on
> here on this list is to help one another and share insight,
> experiences and
> information.  There is a WORLD of difference in what is "documented"
> procedure from CA DMV and what is real-world experience.  Am I
> mistaken?
> Don't get me wrong, I agree that too often some (not all) people are
> lazy
> and expect people to look things up for them.  I can assure you that
> isn't
> the case here. I've been through the DMV website MANY times; I
> particularly
> dig the online create a custom plate database that checks your request
> against all the existing personalized plates.
>
> The big question wasn't really "how to register an out-of-state
> vehicle in
> CA", but more specifically what (and who's) hoops do I have to jump
> through
> in order to legally drive the thing home from PA.  Additionally, I'm
> not
> physically in PA to handle the transaction and they require everything
> to be
> notarized.  I've registered plenty of vehicles in CA, including one
> out-of-stater (my Z3), and one salvaged-title that I restored and put
> back
> on the road (a wrecked S-10 blazer that I converted to a live-axle
> 4wd).
>
> For those still following the story, I finally found out this
> afternoon that
> under no circumstances would PA issue a temporary registration to
> transport
> the vehicle without me being there in person.  I was initially to have
> a
> relative take delivery of the vehicle and store in in VA until I go
> back
> there this November, but it turns out that he can't legally drive the
> thing
> from PA to VA because PA won't issue the temp permit.  It looks like
> the
> best solution at this point is to compensate Chris for towing it down
> to VA.
> Then, once I have the title I can handle the paperwork with CA DMV and
> get a
> temp permit through them.