I am looking at a used car for sale by a private party in Florida. I would like to fly down and drive it back to Massachusetts. Can I get temporary plates in Florida that would let me drive it back legally. If so, how much does it cost ahd how long does it take to get. Do you have to have any type of state vehicle inspection as well?
No temp tags in FL 
No state inspection. I would check and see if MA will issue temp tags.
I BELIEVE you can drive it for 3 days with a bill of sale, and no plates?
Didn't some guys with an Audi S4 buy that car like on the opposite side of the country, (cali or washington?) and drive it to New England after taping the ENTIRE car up with blue painter's tape? With no plates?
I flew into Orlando in November and bought Entropyman's ZX2.
You can (I did) get temp tags. It didn't take long and there wasn't any inspection. You do pay some tax to FL though. When I was getting the title transferred here in OH the lady at the DMV didn't believe me and had to call her supervisor about me only having to pay the difference in the tax rate. I was right
edit: I had proof of insurance for the car as well (required at the DMV to get the temp tag iirc).
That's a FL temp tag in the picture
My father drove his RV up to New Hampshire last year and bough a new Fit when he was there. He got NH temps for it and registered it in FL when he got home, so this kind of thing can happen.
I'd try for Massachusetts temps.
I would try for mass temps too.. owing to how Mass loves to tax people, you would probably wind up paying Florida AND Mass taxes
Crap I have given bad info.
I tried to get temp tags for a car out of state. I was thinking of it from that point of view. They told me they needed to inpsect the car before I could get a temp tag for it. Hard to do when the car is in GA.
At this point If I try this one, I will drive a truck with a trailer down
GET IT INSURED! Proof of insurance, a title, and a bill of sale should be good enough for any cop, assuming you're not going 30MPH over the limit with a bottle of whiskey between your legs and a dead hooker in your trunk.
Whatever you do, DON'T do the cardboard "Tag applied for" thing. That screams "This car is stolen."
Or, you could call Florida and Mass. DMV's offices and ask them. You're gonna want to block off a solid 8 hours of your time for that. 
poopshovel wrote: ...assuming you're not going 30MPH over the limit with a bottle of whiskey between your legs and a dead hooker in your trunk. .
Would a live hooker in the trunk be okay?
what if the dead hooker is between your legs and the bottle of whiskey is in the trunk?
Then you are a very confused young man
Wonkothesane wrote: Unless Florida is different than Ohio, Maryland, South Carolina or New Jersey (places I've bought cars from), I just went to the DMV and got a temporary tag that was good for 30 days or whatever. Normally it costs less than $100, and they give you a notorized title transfer pink slip at that point that you can take to local DMV and get your perm tags and plate as if it were local. It really isn't any big deal, they do it all the time.
I'm pretty sure you can do that here. I've seen the tag office here in Daytona, but never applied for a temp.
Call it bad judgement, but I've always brought a tag from home. It probably exposes me to some ridiculous potential legal risk in an accident, but it also reminds me to drive carefully in the new car. Poopshovel is right, insurance is an awfully good idea too.
I just bought a car from Michigan. I sent the seller my proof of insurance and he was able to get me a 60 day temp tag from Michigan for the car.
I'd get the temp tag from MA, they do issue them.
Tom Heath wrote: Call it bad judgement, but I've always brought a tag from home. It probably exposes me to some ridiculous potential legal risk in an accident, but it also reminds me to drive carefully in the new car.
Bad idea. My understanding is that you can be charged with a crime as a result.
I always thought that if you had the title and bill of sale you were good to drive the car for a short period of time without a tag. I bought a car near my inlaws (MD) thinking I could drive it home (SC) without a tag. I got pulled over and told that I had to leave to car until I came up with a tag. MD would not give me a temp tag.
I would get a temp tag from your home state. That's what I've done every since. If it's a car you're going to tag when you get it home anyway, get the title from the seller before hand and go ahead and get a tag for it.
jwdmotorsports wrote: I always thought that if you had the title and bill of sale you were good to drive the car for a short period of time without a tag. I bought a car near my inlaws (MD) thinking I could drive it home (SC) without a tag. I got pulled over and told that I had to leave to car until I came up with a tag. MD would not give me a temp tag.
I thought the same thing, but, years ago, when I bought my e30 M3, I was following my wife home from Asheville, NC to Charlotte, NC and got pulled over almost immediately, due to no tag. Luckily, the seller came back to meet me, and let me drive home on his tag. Otherwise, I would have had to leave the car, wait for the tag office to open the next day and get the tag then.
dyintorace wrote:jwdmotorsports wrote: I always thought that if you had the title and bill of sale you were good to drive the car for a short period of time without a tag. I bought a car near my inlaws (MD) thinking I could drive it home (SC) without a tag. I got pulled over and told that I had to leave to car until I came up with a tag. MD would not give me a temp tag.I thought the same thing, but, years ago, when I bought my e30 M3, I was following my wife home from Asheville, NC to Charlotte, NC and got pulled over almost immediately, due to no tag. Luckily, the seller came back to meet me, and let me drive home on his tag. Otherwise, I would have had to leave the car, wait for the tag office to open the next day and get the tag then.
I had to get my mother-in-law to come pick us up. We then had to go borrow the tag from the seller to get it back to my in-laws. We ended up leaving it there and meeting up with my in-laws half way after we had gotten a tag and mailed it to them to put on the car. Big pain in the rear.
Check with the state where the car will be titled (MA in this case). Most states have some procedure that will get you a set of tags to get it home. It also saves paying double fees and taxes in many cases.
Contrary to what has been said there is a procedure for MD resident to use it is just a bit time consuming. MD does not issue temp tags to private parties, instead they issue a permanent tag but the registration card is only valid for 30 days. I have used this process twice.
My brother found me a car like what I wanted. I had him check the car out and on his OK sent him the money for it. He paid the seller, got the bill of sale, title, etc. took possesion of the car and sent the paperwork to me.
I took the bill of sale, title and proof of insurance to the DMV and got the tags for the car. Then I had 30 days to go pick up the car get it back to MD and have it safety inspected. Once I had it inspected I went back to the DMV and they gave me a registration card valid for two years.
In reply to Flatspot:
I have gotten temps recently in FL. I needed a FL insurance policy to get the temps. There may be a different "transport" temp that can be issued on an out of state insurance policy.
I would try to get a MA temp to drive it home or just get it shipped. There's a lot of companies that transport the snowbirds cars and between the cost of a flight, hotels, meals, gas etc. it's probably cheaper to ship the car. They can even pick the car up at the sellers house if the seller won't bring it to their local pick up spot.
http://www.floridadrivers.com/vehicle_registration/faq_registration_motor_vehicles.php
"Florida law provides for a variety of legal uses of temporary license plates. The most common is by motor vehicle dealers to allow customers who don't have a license plate to transfer to be able to drive their newly purchased vehicle off the lot. The license plates are valid for 30 days, which gives dealers ample time to apply for titles and registrations for their customers.
If you are not a dealer, but you have acquired another vehicle and transferred your license plate from your old vehicle to the new vehicle, a temporary license plates may be obtained from the tax collector's office so you may demonstrate your old vehicle while it is for sale.
Non-residents also are eligible to secure a temporary license plate for "in-transit" purposes if they purchase a vehicle in Florida and want to drive it back home. However, proof of insurance (from Florida or home state) and sales tax in the amount required by the home state must be paid. If you feel you may be eligible for a temporary license plate, inquire through your local tax collector's office or the regional DMV office that serves your area."
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