Registering My Volvo from OSD

[SweeedV60]

I live in Michigan and have gone through a dealership that is unfamiliar with the OSD process.

When I finalized my payment to the dealer and before travel to Sweden, I was told essentially that their part was done-other than cleaning my car upon arrival from Sweden.

While they charged me $220 for the 'documentary fee, service fee, etc' I was told that it was up to me to register and plate my car through the Michigan Secretary of State. At the time, I asked for them to waive the $220 fee since I would be doing my own work and was told in short, 'no.'

Because I want a personalized tag, and because I want my car tagged and titled when it arrives sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, I visited my SOS branch Friday to pay sales tax and register and plate the car. At the SOS, I was informed that they could NOT register my car until they see papers from my port of entry into the US. I'm assuming those papers will be WITH the car when it arrives at my dealership.

So if I can't 'pre-register' my vehicle without port of entry papers, and I have a dealership that has told me I'm on my own...what next?

There is no way I'm leaving my car at the dealership for them to get some free advertising on (It's a V60 Polestar) while I wait for my paperwork to come from the State of Michigan.

At this point, I'm expecting to show up with my extra key and simply drive my car off their lot with NO license or registration. I don't suspect the dealership will feel comfortable with that-yet they've been no help so far.

I have no real problem registering the car on my own, but I WILL be asking for a refund of my $220 doc fee that the dealership has charged. It doesn't help that I'm working with the Volvo Sales Manager; I think my appeal is going to have to go up to the owner of the dealership. (Who will likely kick it back down to the sales manager.)

Any advise? Anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance.

[krzyss]

The car will have Swedish plates so it should be legal to drive in the USA for some time.
The car should be accompanied by all the paperwork that will allow you to register it.

Insurance may be a problem with car registered abroad but if you give your insurance VIN and that you want it to be insured on day x it should cover it.

Theoretical order of events:

car arrives at dealer, they do delivery preparation (check the tire pressure, my S40 was 43 PSI for the trip to avoid flat spotting and dealer did not adjust it prior to delivery)
you pick it up with paper work and drive to nearest SOS/RMV whatever it is called and register it at the spot

That should be doable.

I think there are people who drove their cars using Swedish plates for short periods of time.

Krzys

[SweeedV60]

Thanks! Completely forgot about my Red tags. I’d have been comfortable driving without any tags, so that just gives a bit extra peace of mind.

I’ll also try to check psi-another good tip.


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[Putertech]

I had the same situation for my OSD, everything had to be done by me. I was able to get all of the documentation needed and drove on my OSD tag until i was able t go to the DMV, the only plus i had was that military and vets have a separate line at the DMV which is almost always empty ;-)

[comp1]

I live in Michigan and have gone through a dealership that is unfamiliar with the OSD process.

When I finalized my payment to the dealer and before travel to Sweden, I was told essentially that their part was done-other than cleaning my car upon arrival from Sweden.

While they charged me $220 for the 'documentary fee, service fee, etc' I was told that it was up to me to register and plate my car through the Michigan Secretary of State. At the time, I asked for them to waive the $220 fee since I would be doing my own work and was told in short, 'no.'

Because I want a personalized tag, and because I want my car tagged and titled when it arrives sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, I visited my SOS branch Friday to pay sales tax and register and plate the car. At the SOS, I was informed that they could NOT register my car until they see papers from my port of entry into the US. I'm assuming those papers will be WITH the car when it arrives at my dealership.

So if I can't 'pre-register' my vehicle without port of entry papers, and I have a dealership that has told me I'm on my own...what next?

There is no way I'm leaving my car at the dealership for them to get some free advertising on (It's a V60 Polestar) while I wait for my paperwork to come from the State of Michigan.

At this point, I'm expecting to show up with my extra key and simply drive my car off their lot with NO license or registration. I don't suspect the dealership will feel comfortable with that-yet they've been no help so far.


I have no real problem registering the car on my own, but I WILL be asking for a refund of my $220 doc fee that the dealership has charged. It doesn't help that I'm working with the Volvo Sales Manager; I think my appeal is going to have to go up to the owner of the dealership. (Who will likely kick it back down to the sales manager.)

Any advise? Anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance.

Everything you need to register your car was given to you at the FDC. The MSO is most important and dmv needs this to issue you a title. They also need the sales paperwork from Volvo showing total price so they can charge you applicable sales tax. The red tags are supposedly good for 30 days. It should be an easy process but this is unfamiliar to most dmv employees so might take some time and explanation. Took us all of 20 minutes. Good luck and enjoy your new ride.

[Putertech]

Everything you need to register your car was given to you at the FDC. The MSO is most important and dmv needs this to issue you a title. They also need the sales paperwork from Volvo showing total price so they can charge you applicable sales tax. The red tags are supposedly good for 30 days. It should be an easy process but this is unfamiliar to most dmv employees so might take some time and explanation. Took us all of 20 minutes. Good luck and enjoy your new ride.

My DMV unfortunately doesn't have the best and brightest

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[mrain1]

The red tags are marvelous. After recovering our S60 R design from the Dallas dealership, I got stopped in Jacksonville, Texas. The cop came up and ask me to please slow down, because he had no idea how to give me a ticket with those plates! Wish I could have kept them on forever

[rkohou]

Are you guys sure you can use just the red plates state’swide? Haven’t asked around but would love to make sure.


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[comp1]

While I"m no expert... when you move to a different state you generally have 30 days to register your vehicle in the new state. Therefore you can "technically" drive in the new state for at least 30 days. Would this not apply to the red tags as well. We have completed 2 OSD purchases and have never been stopped or questioned about the red tags.

[FusionRedXC60]

And the expire date of 1 year is imprinted on the red plate. just kidding.

Fusion · Red · T8 · XC60

[rkohou]

While I"m no expert... when you move to a different state you generally have 30 days to register your vehicle in the new state. Therefore you can "technically" drive in the new state for at least 30 days. Would this not apply to the red tags as well. We have completed 2 OSD purchases and have never been stopped or questioned about the red tags.

I do understand what is implied here, but USA plates and law between states is one thing, and international rules might be other. Just don’t want to end up on a flatbed when a cop that had a bad morning tries to make an example out of my car.


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[j128i]

For my 2020 V60CC OSD, I did registration by myself. DMV needs to see Certificate of Origin for a Vehicle from Volvo and Bill of Sale from Volvo which are given at FDC to you. You should have them (not in the car). If you have car loan DMV needs to know where to mail the title to. With registration and plate in hand I just send a photo of car registration to dealer before re-delivery so they can do state inspection before hand. The dealer only charged me the car price no any other fee.

[skibum50]

I do understand what is implied here, but USA plates and law between states is one thing, and international rules might be other. Just don’t want to end up on a flatbed when a cop that had a bad morning tries to make an example out of my car.

My dealer is in a different state (I live near the border), so I had to get the car to my own state to register it. I just asked him to put a 30 day temporary tag on it from his state so i could drive it over the border. No problem, they do that all the time. I didn't have to pay a doc fee.

[Lofoten]

People from countries, like Sweden and the US who are party to the Geneva Convention and the Regulation of Inter-American Motor Vehicle Traffic can legally drive their own private cars bearing valid license plates/registration tags issued in their native country for a period not to exceed one year from their date of arrival. We likewise drove in Europe with our Washington State plates for a while until we got Dutch plates when I was assigned to NATO.