Brit touring US....ANY advice appreciated!

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Yes six months isn't anywhere near enough time for what I would plan. I'd need double that.....minimum, and maybe even 18 month. Interesting info about the more remote ICE offices. My passport is due to run out in Jan 2012 so I need to apply for a new one anyway. Still......I have a fair way to go yet as i'm looking at selling up my property.

holly1948 said:
I imagine it has been a while since ROF Radway Green made 303 British ammo for the Enfield rifles. That's one of the joys of visiting Florida, it won't be hard to find someone keen to take you to the shooting range to show you their Enfield and Garand and the like and let you pop off some ammo that you just might have had a hand in making years ago.

303? Blimey!! No idea when we stopped making that but it was a very long time ago, somewhere during mid 70's I think. There simply isn't a commercial market for 303. It's all 5.56 and 7.62 now.

Believe it or not i've only ever fired a few rounds of 5.56 and it's not uncommon to find someone who may have worked their entire life at Radway but never fired even one round!

If I manage to eventually make it to your country one place i'd be interested in looking at is the Lake City plant. Whether I could charm my way to get an inside look is another matter, but I reckon my credentials hold up pretty good and they would always be free to check me out via BAE! Radway Green was privatised and sold off with other RO factories in the mid 80's to what was then British Aerospace, now known as BAE Systems.

 
There is a place in Texas that has a large selection of RV's for sale, all on consignment. That is they don't own them but sell for private owners. This may offer the best of both worlds. They must look after the buyer and seller in a deal and of course themselves. They usually have pretty good deals but more important there web site has a large selection, and you should get a good idea of what is for sale here in the US and the prices. Give them a browse mate and learn all you can.
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/
 
Don't know if this is correct but I was under the impression you need to have a residential address in the usa to buy an rv. Can someone verify this.


Alan

 
[quote author=AlanT].... I was under the impression you need to have a residential address in the usa to buy an rv.[/quote]

Not to buy an RV Alan, but an address would be required to register it. That could be a residential address or a company address in the state where it's being registered. Some folks use a service for mail forwarding, and they can comment if they're allowed to use the address of the forwarding service for vehicle registration &/or insurance.
 
Tom said:
Not to buy an RV Alan, but an address would be required to register it. That could be a residential address or a company address in the state where it's being registered. Some folks use a service for mail forwarding, and they can comment if they're allowed to use the address of the forwarding service for vehicle registration &/or insurance.


Thanks for that Tom


Alan
 
Take a look at Gulfstream BT Cruisers (earlier then 2005) and the price point may be what you are looking at.  Found one that looks pretty nice on RVtraderonline.  Here is the link you can copy paste in "http://www.rvtraderonline.com/find/listing/2005-Gulf-Stream-Bt-Cruiser-96719747".  Located in Connecticut.  One thing you need to consider is sales taxes, license fees, registration fees and perhaps emission fees.  All of that adds to the bottom line.  I think most small diesels are above your price point but keep looking.  Good luck and perhaps we will see you in Colorado some day.

Gary
Winnebago 2008 View H
 
Thanks for that Gary.

Thats not a bad size and ample enough for me. Certainly cant see much point in going any more than 30ft max for one person anyway! From reading various ads i've now realised the percentage of diesel engined is quite small against gas, whereas here in UK and Europe it's the opposite with 99% of used motorhomes being diesel. In fact anyone who has a gas engined one here would struggle to sell it!

Yes cost of taxes, licencing/registering etc does concern me as I believe they vary according to State?
 
[quote author=Paul UK]Yes cost of taxes, licencing/registering etc does concern me as I believe they vary according to State?[/quote]

Yes, very significantly.

For clarification, when folks here talk about "taxes", we're usually talking about annual 'property tax' or 'use tax'; The closest analogy would be your poll tax, or what used to be called rates; It's a county or state tax on RVs and boats, and we have some something similar on real estate here in California.

Separately, don't forget to add sales tax to the purchase price. Unlike your VAT, sales tax is not included in published prices, and this varies by state, county, and even by city. Some states have no sales tax, whilst others can be up to 10% or so, but still a lot less than your 20% VAT.

Vehicle license/registration costs vary quite significantly by state.
 
Tom said:
Separately, don't forget to add sales tax to the purchase price. Unlike your VAT, sales tax is not included in published prices, and this varies by state, county, and even by city. Some states have no sales tax, whilst others can be up to 10% or so, but still a lot less than your 20% VAT.

Vehicle license/registration costs vary quite significantly by state.

Hmmmm.....I like the sound of no sales tax!!  :)
But would I be right is assuming that any kind of tax is only applied to a vehicle sold from a dealer and not a private seller?

Obviously i'd need to register even if buying from a private seller, so how much does this cost and when you say it can 'vary quite significantly by state'.........how significant?


 
[quote author=Paul UK]... would I be right is assuming that any kind of tax is only applied to a vehicle sold from a dealer and not a private seller?[/quote]

I don't know about other states, but here in California they get the sales tax from you when you register a used vehicle.

Obviously i'd need to register even if buying from a private seller, so how much does this cost and when you say it can 'vary quite significantly by state'.........how significant?

The only way to know if to visit the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) or State Board of Equalization web site for individual states. Here's the relevant page of the California BOE web site.
 
Paul

Here is a link to another board that has a lot of posts about the cost of plates in various states. The price can vary from $100 to $3,000, so it really matters.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/motorhome-tags-plates-how-much-83315.html

If a given state has sales tax or something similar then you would be expected to pay it no matter where you bought the coach. It's collected when you register the coach or car.
 
Paul,

I forgot to suggest that you could use the Search button above to find numerous answers to the question if you search for "registration fees" (including the quotes).
 
Blimey!!!

Colorado $2,500.00  :eek: :eek:

Louisiana $25.00

Why cant you guys get it together and make it one flat rate fee throughout?!! Though I can see that would please some but infuriate others!
But why such a huge difference between one State and another? Ten or twenty dollars fine ok.....but thousands!!!

At this rate it looks like I may well be buying in Louisiana! (Must be a catch in this somewhere!)  ;D
 
LOL Paul, it can be tough for a visitor to understand. Unlike the UK with its centralized government, individual states have wide powers and responsibilities (see here) which, in turn, need funding. Different states have widely different budgets, but they all need sources of revenue to fund their coffers. The sources of revenue vary widely, but can include things like sales tax and vehicle licensing & registration fees.

A state like Nevada gains much of its revenue from gambling-related taxes, reducing the amount of revenue needed from other sources.

A state like California has huge legislated expenditures that are tough to reverse, a huge government machine that has to be fed, and has allowed expenses to run out of control.

BTW I see that the boys from Twickenham beat the homeland at the Millennium Stadium. I forgot it was on Friday, and had to settle for watching France beating Scotland in a fast game at Stade de France. The Italy v Ireland game is recorded.
 
Paul

A lot of full time RV'rs register there coaches in Montana. This is done by getting a mail forwarding service in Montana and using that for a permanent address.

Here is a link to a TAX Free registration service for RV's.
http://www.taxfreerv.com/

And here is a link to a Mail Forwarding company in Montana.

http://www.travelersmailexpress.net/

I don't full time myself but so many that do do it through Montana that it's worth looking into.
 
Tom said:
LOL Paul, it can be tough for a visitor to understand. Unlike the UK with its centralized government, individual states have wide powers and responsibilities.....

A state like Nevada gains much of its revenue from gambling-related taxes, reducing the amount of revenue needed from other sources.

BTW I see that the boys from Twickenham beat the homeland at the Millennium Stadium. I forgot it was on Friday, and had to settle for watching France beating Scotland in a fast game at Stade de France. The Italy v Ireland game is recorded.
Wow.......what a headache!! And here I am thinking I can jump on a jet, buy a motorhome off someone, then ride off into the sunset! I can see this is going to be FUN with a capital F!!

Ermmm......'boys from Twickenham'.......if thats anything to do with football i'm afraid you've lost me. I'm one of (quite a few) brits that doesn't follow football!  :-[ ;D
 
Thanks for that Dick.

All info is useful......i'm currently on a serious learning curve!  ;D
 
Wow.......what a headache!!

Not as bad as it sounds Paul. Click the Library button above and, under Visitors to the USA, you'll find an article or two written by folks who've done this before.

if thats anything to do with football i'm afraid you've lost me

The other kind of football, but you obviously don't follow rugby  :(
 
Hi,
I have just been through most of the things you want to do in the US,so if you still looking for answers let me know,
Mal
 

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