Brits touring in the USA update 2019

Just a current update to any Brit or traveller to the US thinking of buying a TT, RV or fifth wheel for touring the US. We have just returned after 3 weeks in the States. Much of what we needed to know we had researched mainly from this forum and jackiemac, to whom we owe an awful lot. We set up a bank account using TransferWise, this will enable you to automatically open a US bank account with full US banking detail to facilitate bank payment transfers for your major purchases. It will also give you a debit card which you can use anywhere if you hold currency of that country on it. As UK residents, we set up an LLC in Montana, and a mailing address before we went. The company we used are excellent and I would strongly recommend them to anyone going from the UK or any foreign visitor not intending to take residency. We had already picked out an intended unit, in our case a new fifth wheel, and found a dealer with one in stock which they kindly held for over 6 weeks without deposit until we arrived. We needed an international drivers permit to hire a car from Alomo, some rental companies may not require it but for under ?6, it is not worth the risk. We purchased both the tow truck and fifth wheel in Texas, and registered them through our LLC in Montana thereby legally avoiding sales tax in Texas, (nearly $6000 in our case) Total cost $1200. The car dealer would not release the vehicle until payment had been cleared and proof of insurance was provided. The RV dealer let us stay in their yard fully hooked up until we were ready to leave, and any (very) minor issues had been rectified. Be very careful where you insure your unit, there is a huge difference in cost from state to state for exactly the same policy with the same provider. We saved over $2000 by buying through our registered state. Once you have made your purchase the unit(s) will have temporary plates for three months until your permanent plates arrive. We are currently back in the UK prior to our intended return for medical reasons, and our units stored in Las Vegas, but if we can get medical cover sorted for long term, will be trying to get Visas to enable a longer stay before we return hopefully in May.
I cannot emphasise enough, the help and support we had from this forum in realising our dream, and it was a true pleasure to meet some of the people in person at the Q rally. If we can in return help anyone else, it will be our pleasure, just drop us a PM for contact detail.
Further update 02/13/2019
When we emailed the company in Montana dealing with our LLC saying we were back in the UK, and asked what it would cost to send the plates to us here, 4 hours later (due to time difference) we received a reply that the plates were on the way. They arrived here on Wednesday 10.00AM our time, what service, UK companies take note! Efficiency is alive and well in the USA.

I can't emphasize how useful your post could be to future visitors. The steps were written very clearly, and in a logical order. Though it isn't a whole lot of good to me, it will be for a lot of others. Maybe a moderator can make it a sticky, or rewrite and put it in the library.
I hope you enjoyed what time you spent here, and wish you didn't have to leave early.

Look forward to getting the update this evening!

Interesting info! May I just very gently point out that an International Driving Permit is NOT necessary for those visiting the US from English-speaking countries. It's purpose is to translate foreign driving licenses into English (which, obviously, is not necessary if yours is already in English). So, for example, if an international visitor from, say, Mexico or Croatia, were stopped by the police, their International Driving Permit would be handed over with their license, and the officer could immediately read their details. That is the permits sole purpose.

The confusion comes from a clerical error a few years back (2012, I believe), in which a revised bill did not specify the obvious (or, supposedly obvious!) proviso that English-language countries didn't need the permit.

The bill was amended in 2013 to reflect that language (see this: http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/billsummaries/2013/html/445). So while it's only a small fee, it is NOT a necessary expense if your license is already in English.

Nice to hear from you Tony. I am sorry you had to leave early, and hope you do get back in May. Best of luck to you.

(We were the ones parked in red motorhome across from you at Quartzsite. Kevin gave you the Kiltlifter beers.)

Tony, We enjoyed meeting you both, and our chats around the campfire at Q. Hope your plans work out for an extended stay.

SusanV said:

Interesting info! May I just very gently point out that an International Driving Permit is NOT necessary for those visiting the US from English-speaking countries. It's purpose is to translate foreign driving licenses into English (which, obviously, is not necessary if yours is already in English). So, for example, if an international visitor from, say, Mexico or Croatia, were stopped by the police, their International Driving Permit would be handed over with their license, and the officer could immediately read their details. That is the permits sole purpose.

The confusion comes from a clerical error a few years back (2012, I believe), in which a revised bill did not specify the obvious (or, supposedly obvious!) proviso that English-language countries didn't need the permit.

The bill was amended in 2013 to reflect that language (see this: http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/billsummaries/2013/html/445). So while it's only a small fee, it is NOT a necessary expense if your license is already in English.

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Susan it appears you are referring to a Florida senate bill. That may not be true in all states. As a former driver license examiner in North Dakota I can recall that during my service an IDL for required for ALL foreign licenses because of the need to specify class of license.  We had several instances of foreign drivers (including English licenses) caught driving tractor trailers with only a car allowed on their home license.  Most of these were people working on local farms.  That may have changed by now as I retired 15 years ago but usually things like that are slow to change.

Bill

We had to deal with this for about a year through some of the work we do with the UK market, and it is our understanding no permit is needed in the US, not just Florida, if your license is already in English. I'll see if I can find more....

Whilst I am not qualified to comment on whether you need an IDP or not, the point I was trying to make was that it is better to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it, especially as it is so easy and cheap to obtain. in our case, we needed it just to hire the pre-booked car, even though there was no mention of it when we booked the car from the UK
regards
TonyL

TonyL said:

Whilst I am not qualified to comment on whether you need an IDP or not, the point I was trying to make was that it is better to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it, especially as it is so easy and cheap to obtain. in our case, we needed it just to hire the pre-booked car, even though there was no mention of it when we booked the car from the UK
regards
TonyL

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Good point Tony.  Sorry I sort of messed up your thread.  Good info for others coming over.

Bill

We kept ours but they only last a year. I think our were ?10 each from the Post Office and we had to go to Edinburgh as local office didn't issue them.

We had to travel about 30 miles to the nearest Po to get ours, cost ?5.50 each but the lovely lady on the counter said a lot more post offices were about to offer IDP's because of possible Brexit. (sorry about the swear word!!)

If your license is in English, it can't be translated into English, so.....

Sorry to hear there are still some companies getting a kickback on unnecessary IDPs. We fought the good fight for about a year through our national and international contacts, and thought it had been cleared up. Still having to warn UK visitors over the scam sites that will fill in your Visa Waiver for a fee when it's absolutely free if you do it yourself, so I guess the whole IDP thing shouldn't come as a surprise.  :-\

Given Tony's experience, I'd be inclined to obtain and carry an IDP if I was visiting the US with a UK DL licence. Our state of California has not and does not recognize an IDP - see here, but it would be interesting to know if any of the car rental companies in the state require it; None of them did when I was a visiting Brit, but that was many years ago.

In Florida, at least, they are not allowed to require it, and it has been our understanding that is the case nationwide, since 2013. The IDP is intended to be used only by law enforcement. If you're stopped for a traffic violation, or other issue that requires the officer or sheriff to view your driving license, you need an IDP that translates your foreign-language license into English for the officer's ability to read it immediately. During the months in 2012, when the law's language was ambiguous, we interviewed officers and sheriffs in Orange County who stated they only ask for the IDP if they can't read the license themselves. Florida has a large ethnic population, so many of our officers read Spanish and/or Portuguese, and in those instances they didn't ask for the IDP. For languages they couldn't read, they required an IDP. Obviously, for English, it was literally never an issue, and visitors weren't asked for an IDP even during the time when the language had not yet been corrected. However, many companies, especially car hire companies, jumped on it. It was a revenue generator, and they used scare tactics while the law was being amended. Some tried after the amendment as well. Guess those who could get away with it just kept going.

Common sense tells you an English driving license can't be translated into English. It's already in English, so it's a total non-issue.

I don't understand how an IDP is a revenue generator for car rental companies. As Tony and Jackie mentionede, in the UK at least, an IDP is issued by the post office, and the fee goes to the UK treasury.

Common sense tells you an English driving license can't be translated into English. It's already in English, so it's a total non-issue.

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As those of us who have lived worked, and communicated in both countries for many years know, the UK and the US are two countries separated by a common language; One reason we have alternate UK/US terminology in our Glossary of RV Terms 

SusanV said:

However, many companies, especially car hire companies, jumped on it. It was a revenue generator, and they used scare tactics while the law was being amended. Some tried after the amendment as well. Guess those who could get away with it just kept going.

Common sense tells you an English driving license can't be translated into English. It's already in English, so it's a total non-issue.

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SusanV, you seem to have some background with this issue.  I wonder what it is.  Rental car companies don't make a dime off of an IDL so I really wonder how you are convinced that they do.  Also, while an English license may be in English a lot of the other data on it may not correlate to a US license in any state. I haven't seen an English license in years so I cannot be specific but I do know we had a highway patrolman bring an English license into our office one day and ask if it allowed that driver to drive a 18 wheeler semi-trailer from state to state.  Without an IDL that specified his privileges it was impossible to tell and the patrolman refused to allow the guy to drive the truck until he proved that his English license also allowed it.  Commercial Drivers Licenses are a whole nother breed of animal.  JMHO.

Wish I still had my dual-language UK DL. I just checked my Dad's DL from 1956 (issued before the days of my A4 size full-page DL). It says: "is hereby licenced to drive MOTOR VEHICLES of all groups". FWIW this was back in the day when UK DLs were issued by the county.

We do have experience with it. We were part of the process of bringing the flawed law to the attention of lawmakers, and to the car hire companies and law enforcement. We're international travel journalists specializing in UK to US travel, and we spent a year working to bring clarity and closure on this issue. It was resolved in 2013, though there were a few car hire companies that ignored it and kept telling travelers they required it. I leave you to your assumptions as to why. Nonetheless, they are wrong.

Didn't mean to hijack this topic. But you don't need an IDP if your license is in English.

Thanks Susan.

I can't remember exactly what ours look like but when we get back in May I will dig them out.  I think this new option on the DVLA website is really good and you can easily get the info or allow another organisation to get it by providing a code so no real reason for the IDL.....