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I believe it may be possible for you to use the address of your shipping company agent to register the car.  You must ask them if you can use their address.

If you have an address in Charleston, you can register the car in South Carolina, you can buy insurance, and you can get license plates to drive the car in the USA,  Unfortunately, when you register the car; you must also pay the state tax:  This is usually 5 to 7 percent:   If you buy a car for export; normally you do not pay the sales tax.

If you can buy a car in Charleston and have it delivered to the shipping agent; you do not need license plates or insurance.  Then, you will pay no sales tax  When the car arrives in Valencia, you must get insurance and license plates from Spain.

WOW, really wish I had visited this forum much earlier...

Anyhow, I'm a Canadian citizen looking to buy a new Toyota car from New York and bring it back to Canada to save a buck or two. Most of the dealers I have been in contact with said Toyota does not allow them to sell new cars to Canada. Well, to be more precisely, new cars will have to be first registered in the States. So my questions are:

1. Can I use a friend's address in PA to register the car under my name? I believe this way I don't need to pay the NY taxes.

2. I think the dealer can provide a 30 day temporary NY license plate so that I can drive the car away. So instead of going to PA, can I drive the car directly to US-CANADA boarder and start the exporting and importing process?

3. If I cannot proceed with the regular export/import process, can I go ahead and register the car in PA and drive it in Canada? Are there any legal problems if I drive a US registered car in Canada?

Thank you very much!

If you purchase a car in New York and tell the dealer that you will export it out of the state, you should be able to claim exemption from the New York sales tax.  You can probably obtain a temporary license tag to drive the vehicle, but it would only be valid for 30 days or less.  Unfortunately, the dealer will require you to give him your home address.  If you give him a Canadian address, he will refuse to sell you the car, because he has instructions from the manufacturer to not sell cars to Canadians.

If you give the dealer an address in Pennsylvania; the dealer might accept that, but you might be technically violating the New York laws by using a fraudulent address to obtain the temporary license.  If you actually register the car in Pennsylvania, you will be required to pay the Pennsylvania 6% sales tax;

I do not know the Canadian laws regarding the importation of autos or the laws about driving a car without Canadian registration.  I believe there is a Canadian government web site that provides such information:

If you buy a new car in the USA and import it into Canada, you might be violating the terms of purchase which could make all of the manufacurer's warranties invalid;  You should carefully research that before you proceed.

 Excellent point! I sure dont want to break any laws for the sake of several grand.

What about I have my friend in the State buy the new car and then sell to me after say a month? Do you think this would work?

I believe your friend would be required to pay the state sales tax on the car when purchased.  You would not be required to pay the sales tax when he sells it to you, because it would be for export.  Thus, there would be no double tax, but you may be out the initial tax.