buying a storm chasing car as a foreigner

[Cammie Czuchnicki]

Hi all,

Me and my boyfriend Tim live in the UK but are avid stormchasers with this season being our 5th over in the US. In fact, we love it so much that we are seriously considering buying our own chase vehicle so that we can have the luxury of adding aerials, a laptop mount etc to our vehicle together with being able to take it off-road and still be insured. We have had a huge amount of good (and comfortable) times renting Ford Escapes, so I think we are set on finding one of these. The plan being to use it between 1-3 months of the year and find somewhere to store it for the rest of the year. It has been recommended that we look at Craigslist for available vehicles.

As a foreigner there seems to be a number of things we need to look into and this also seems to vary by state. Buying and registering a car in either Texas, Kansas, Missouri or Colorado would be preferable as these are the states easiest for us to fly into.

From reseraching the topic we understand that we need to aquire an address in the US (possibly set up a ups address) before we can register the car. We would also need to possibly re-register the car each year, but again this is state dependent. We have come to the conclusion from what we have found so far that Texas is one of the easiest states in which to purchase a car as a foreigner, but if anyone has any, or knows of anyone else that has had any experience in these matters, any advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks to anyone with any comments / suggestions,
Cammie

 

[David Wolfson]

I'm having trouble adding up the plusses and minuses and coming up with a conclusion that buying a car is the best option or even a particularly good one, but that's your call. However, right off the top, I'd steer well clear of Craigslist or suchlike. Instead I'd deal with a reliable franchise like Carmax where you know what you're getting and where they can probably have the deal all pretty much arranged before you get off the plane. For example I see that they have 186 Ford Escapes in the Dallas area inventory ATTM. I'd also want to be sure I'm square with an insurance company before one buys the car.

 

[Stuart Wilson]

I can't offer any advice Cammie but suggest you contact Daniel Shaw who is out in The Plains now (He's an Aussie). He bought a vehicle a couple of years ago and stores it on the West coast bringing it out of storage each season. I'm sure he could give you some advice.

http://www.severestorms.com.au
Or daniel.shaw.9465 on Facebook

 

[Jon Strebler]

Avoid Craigslist for trying to buy a car. I wouldn't even remotely consider that.

 

[Cammie Czuchnicki]

Thanks to all for their comments. David, we will try to contact Carmax. Hopefully with that many cars, they should have something suitable. And we will also be sure to contact Daniel Shaw - that's a great shout - thanks Stuart.

 

[James Hammett]

Buying a used car is like traversing a minefield and Carmax has a poor reputation even in that context:

http://carmax.pissedconsumer.com/
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/carmax

Craigslist is a great way to buy a used car if it's a private seller (not a reseller) and you have an independent shop do a thorough inspection.

 

[Thomas Dolmer]

Cammie, we have had the same idea. We have been chasing each spring for 8 years in USA and paid a fortune in rental fees. We also have to rig the vehicle when we arrive each time, so having our own car would be a lot easier.

Could you please post your findings or shoot me a pm when and if you have talked to Daniel.

Thanks,
Thomas Dolmer Nielsen

 

[Ty Traphagen]

As far as getting an address, registering a vehicle, getting a license, etc goes, I've heard that South Dakota is the place to be! I lived there for 14 years. You can get an address and mail forwarding service through mydakotaaddress.com. I've heard that they're a pleasure to work with. Also, becoming a "resident" there just requires a receipt from a campground or hotel showing you spent the night there, and that gets you a drivers license, as long as you pass the test. The address you get from mydakotaaddress looks like a normal street address, so you can put that on your license. I actually found this info from tosimplify.net, as the blogger of that site became nomadic, and had to go through all of this. Plus, South Dakota usually gets some large tornadoes around late May/June. Sorry for the long post, I hope it helps! And yeah, don't buy from craigslist. Find a reputable used car dealer. No buy here pay here lots, either. They'll usually scam you, too.

 

[Stuart Wilson]

^^^^^^
Daniel Shaw as I said above

 

[Paul Knightley]

You have to weigh up the options with storing it over the winter, insuring it, repairing it when it goes wrong, etc etc.

OK, you may have the luxury of being able to go in a hail core, etc, but I think you'll be on a hiding to nothing with overheads! However, you may well prove me wrong! If so, I'd be interested in seeing your costings!

 

[Jane Herbert]

Clyve and I bought a Chevy Traverse in 2012 from Hertz who have a program that sells off ex-rentals - ours had 28,000 miles on the clock when we bought it. All you need is an address for correspondence in the state you purchase the car in. If you need any more information, just give us a shout. When we aren't in the USA and are back in Australia, like Daniel, we rent a storage garage in Newton, KS for $70 a month. This has worked well for us for the past 3 years.