SuzieQ Posted April 19 Report Share Posted April 19 Very excited to join this forum which I discovered while I was gathering information on buying an RV in the USA. My hubby and I are Australian citizens. We have been RV-ing in Europe, on an off, since 2011. We store the motorhome in the UK before flying home at the completion of our tours. We are currently in France and fly home mid June. We would really love the opportunity to move our exploring to the US and would greatly appreciate any advice on how a non resident can own, register and insure an RV to explore the USA. Apologies if I have missed a thread already offering advice kind regards Suzie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulecreeper Posted April 20 Report Share Posted April 20 19 hours ago, SuzieQ said: Very excited to join this forum which I discovered while I was gathering information on buying an RV in the USA. My hubby and I are Australian citizens. We have been RV-ing in Europe, on an off, since 2011. We store the motorhome in the UK before flying home at the completion of our tours. We are currently in France and fly home mid June. We would really love the opportunity to move our exploring to the US and would greatly appreciate any advice on how a non resident can own, register and insure an RV to explore the USA. Apologies if I have missed a thread already offering advice kind regards Suzie. This is not an easy question to answer. Buying and insuring will be the easy part, it's registering that might be sticky. In the US, vehicles are registered by state - California, Arkansas, Florida, etc. - and in order to register a vehicle in any state, you must be a resident of that state. This means that you must live in that state for at least part of the year and have a bank account there, or pay bills and/or taxes there, or something to show you have a physical attachment to that state. It can be done, but others will have to chime in here and give you more specifics. Perhaps there are other foreigners on here who have done this and can give you specific advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXiceman Posted April 20 Report Share Posted April 20 Contact the Excapees headquarters for information in setting up in Livingston, TX. They may have some ideas. We knew one couple from Denmark that kept a motorhome here and registered in Texas. They came over and traveled on their visas and then back to Denmark with the motorhome stored in the southern USA awaiting their return. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted April 20 Report Share Posted April 20 (edited) With any luck, Bruce T will reply as he lives in Gold Coast and kept an RV in the USA for many years. Edited April 20 by Kirk W add a link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuzieQ Posted April 20 Author Report Share Posted April 20 23 hours ago, SuzieQ said: Very excited to join this forum which I discovered while I was gathering information on buying an RV in the USA. My hubby and I are Australian citizens. We have been RV-ing in Europe, on an off, since 2011. We store the motorhome in the UK before flying home at the completion of our tours. We are currently in France and fly home mid June. We would really love the opportunity to move our exploring to the US and would greatly appreciate any advice on how a non resident can own, register and insure an RV to explore the USA. Apologies if I have missed a thread already offering advice kind regards Suzie. Thank-you to everyone so far. I understand it may be tricky, as it can be in the United Kingdom. I’m guessing we’ll have our work cut out for us but what an amazing opportunity if I can meet requirements to get this underway. Again very appreciative of advice Suzie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandsys Posted April 20 Report Share Posted April 20 5 hours ago, Kirk W said: With any luck, Bruce T will reply as he lives in Gold Coast and kept an RV in the USA for many years. Kirk, It might be helpful to put a date on Bruce's post so people will know how current that information is. We all know how rapidly some things change while others stay the same for a long time. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted April 20 Report Share Posted April 20 21 minutes ago, sandsys said: Linda Bruce still frequents the forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce t Posted April 21 Report Share Posted April 21 I'm here! It's not as hard as it may seem. But from experience some make it overly complicated. Caveat- it's been a few years since we sold up in the USA. 2018. So things may have changed. Join Escapees. And get your address. Open a bank account if you can. I know BofA will help non residents. Now a caveat. I'm not 100% sure a bank account is essential. But it will help. You can't get a SSN so be prepared for a few complications. Find your RV. Insure your RV. It MUST be insured first to get registration. Note - registration does NOT include the compulsory insurance as it does in Australia. Sit down because your insurance will be expensive by Australian standards. Register your RV in Livingston using the Escapee address. Go RVing. Caveat - this is all assuming you buy and register in Texas. Something I would recommend. Caveat - each county has different registration requirements re inspections etc. Be prepared for those differences. PM me if you need any help Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandsys Posted April 21 Report Share Posted April 21 6 hours ago, Kirk W said: Bruce still frequents the forums. Yes, but you linked to a page he wrote for your blog that does not have a date on it. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce t Posted April 21 Report Share Posted April 21 Linda the link Kirk posted is from 2009. I haven't read through it for some time but doing so just now I can't see much that is out of date. Phones and internet aside much of the information is still relevant. Anyone who is considering such an adventure is encouraged to do their homework and double check everything. What worked for us may, or may not, work for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuzieQ Posted April 21 Author Report Share Posted April 21 10 hours ago, bruce t said: I'm here! It's not as hard as it may seem. But from experience some make it overly complicated. Caveat- it's been a few years since we sold up in the USA. 2018. So things may have changed. Join Escapees. And get your address. Open a bank account if you can. I know BofA will help non residents. Now a caveat. I'm not 100% sure a bank account is essential. But it will help. You can't get a SSN so be prepared for a few complications. Find your RV. Insure your RV. It MUST be insured first to get registration. Note - registration does NOT include the compulsory insurance as it does in Australia. Sit down because your insurance will be expensive by Australian standards. Register your RV in Livingston using the Escapee address. Go RVing. Caveat - this is all assuming you buy and register in Texas. Something I would recommend. Caveat - each county has different registration requirements re inspections etc. Be prepared for those differences. PM me if you need any help Bruce Thanks so much Bruce… the insurance in the UK is three (3) times more expensive for non residents, than residents, so point thankfully accepted, we will factor this into our budget. The East of the USA and particularly the south east, would be a perfect starting place for us… Thankyou. Suzie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuzieQ Posted April 21 Author Report Share Posted April 21 Many thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted April 21 Report Share Posted April 21 1 hour ago, SuzieQ said: The East of the USA and particularly the south east, would be a perfect starting place for us I suggest that you take a close look at Texas before you choose with Florida as your other alternative if being east is important. Very few states allow you to use a mail service as the address to register a vehicle, but both of them do so. In most states your are required to have physical address of an apartment or house for vehicle registration. Also it is important to understand that in the USA, many such things are controlled by the state government and so laws vary from one to the next. Individual states have much more control here than in most countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce t Posted April 22 Report Share Posted April 22 One other consideration. Storage. For the last 10 years we based ourselves around Dallas/Fort Worth. We were lucky finding storage each time we returned to Australia. But storage can be very hard to find. We also used Dallas as there is a direct flight back to Australia. That saves more than one headache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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