Buy, register and insure an RV as non US citizen

kb0zke · June 10

Interesting discussion. The man who bought our Foretravel last year was from The Netherlands. He said the only way he could legally buy it was to set up a LLC in Montana which owns the coach.

bruce t · June 10

Folks also need to understand that the Feds and state authorities have different views. I got involved/started a new civil war some years back when the DMV in Livingston said one thing and the Feds in Tyler said another. The Feds gave me a letter to present to the DMV in Livingston who told me "this is Texas and we do it our way". Long story short the Feds won.

I say this because anyone trying to quote black and white rules will hit a brick wall somewhere. Just be flexible and patient.

agesilaus · June 11

First thing: I am no lawyer. But the Montana LLC scheme is generally a tax avoidance tactic often aimed at high tax states since MT has no tax on RV's.

Hill_Country · June 11

On 2/15/2022 at 10:12 AM, Robert and Ingrid said:

We ar Robert and Ingrid and live in the Netherlands (Europe) and are full-time RVing. We want to travel the US in an rv on our 6 month visa. Therefore we want to buy an rv or bring our own. Our questions are:

Is it possible as a non US citizen with a valid visa to buy and register a vehicle using the address of a mail forwarding service?

Is it also possible to bring our own European RV and then register it in the US?

Can we get an insurance using the address of a mail forwarding service (for both our own European RV or an RV purchased in the US?

best regards from Robert & Ingrid +31652361793

Welcome (again) to the U.S. You probably know that there are a number of communities in the U.S. which have a very strong Dutch heritage. (I grew up in one of them.)

You can do nearly anything you want while here on a tourist visa. There have been some added hoops to jump through in the past few years, but they are minimal. An international airline website usually has a lot of information on the visa requirements. Also, the local embassy website.

Rather than me tell you what I think you can do, I suggest you contact Escapees and ask them. I know they have publications discussing the requirements for U.S. citizens to change domiciles and I'm sure they've been asked the question regarding international travelers. They can also provide mail forwarding service - which will give you kind of a home base and which will determine your licensing requirement, etc. Some states have different tax and licensing requirements and as an RV'er, you can pretty much pick whichever state is most convenient for your circumstances. Escapees also has an insurance agent that is familiar with RV's and will be able to tell you what the insurance company will require. FWIW, many RV'ers chose to register their RV with a Montana LLC because that state has no sales tax.

I drove in the U.S. on a foreign drivers license for several years and had no problem. It drove some cops nuts, but I never got a ticket.

Bringing your own RV to the U.S. can get complicated if it is not U.S. made and meets all the U.S. standards, although there are a lot of exceptions.

If you're considering buying an RV in the U.S., most dealers have a person on staff or use a service to handle the title and license details and they can give you some advice. They won't get paid if they can't transfer the title to you so they will be motivated to help.

There are also several companies that rent RV's, usually class C's. They deal with international visitors all the time and will be excellent sources of information.

Have a great trip.

Kirk W · June 11

Robert and Ingrid have not visited here since February of 2022, however Barry, also from Netherlands posted asking for advice last Sunday and has been back.

USALove/Barry, have we helped any and do you have any additional questions that we might be able to help you with?