My Montana plates arrived!

[MisterDave]

If a Montana company has a sales person in each state, can't they give each sales person a company car?

So you just tell them it’s a company car?
I am probably going to have to go the Montana route... and I am guessing the odds are good that I will get pulled over at some point. Not for driving, but just to check the car. Just trying to figure out how I would handle it.

 

[Lonny]

I think you would tell them that you have an LLC business in Montana that owns the car. But this may not be correct.

 

[Ross]

Yes, there is nothing wrong with driving a company car. They might wonder why it has Montana plates, but lots of sales people work in multiple states. You could also tell them that you own the LLC business... but unless I'm asked, I don't volunteer too much information.

 

[OptimizePrime]

Has anyone been pulled over with Montana plates? I’m just wondering how that conversation would go. I imagine the cop would ask why you have a local license and out of state plates.

Goblin is registered under MT LLC, LLC is listed as a qualified driver on your insurance. Ticket goes to your driver's license. Exactly how it would go if you drove a friend's car and got pulled over or if your child got pulled over in your vehicle. It's not illegal to have assets under a business name, it just happens to be out of state.

 

[ctuinstra]

Every police office worth his salt already knows about your Montana plates.

The company I work for used to register all of their company vehicles in another state (in which we do have an office and is completely legal) because the “benefits “ were better. But after a few years our state caught on and got upset that they weren’t getting the revenue so they made a very threatening phone call. Now we do it like they want.

Not trying to discourage anyone, just telling stories.

Anytime I see Montana plates, My first reaction is not that vehicle came from Montana

 

[Karter2026]

Every police office worth his salt already knows about your Montana plates.

The company I work for used to register all of their company vehicles in another state (in which we do have an office and is completely legal) because the “benefits “ were better. But after a few years our state caught on and got upset that they weren’t getting the revenue so they made a very threatening phone call. Now we do it like they want.

Not trying to discourage anyone, just telling stories.

Anytime I see Montana plates, My first reaction is not that vehicle came from Montana

I agree. I have heard rumblings that our tax hungry state is working on how to handle this. They feel they are losing too many tax dollars on big items like RV's and supercars.

 

[Oldchevyguy]

Has anyone been pulled over with Montana plates? I’m just wondering how that conversation would go. I imagine the cop would ask why you have a local license and out of state plates.

I haven't been pulled over (yet lol) . I've driven by alot of cops. They sure turned there heads alot. If I were asked the question you pose, I would say " I own a company in Montana" That's the truth, and that should shut them up. It's perfectly legal! I live in two places. Northern NY state and central Florida. In both areas, there are a lot of out of state plates around. Snowbirds in Florida, and Fort Drum in NY. No one cares.

 

[Rttoys]

I own a company there, but Covid had me shut down to here.

 

[MisterDave]

Probably a dumb question.... But when I apply for insurance... I am assuming I need to get insurance before I start the montana process? Do I tell my insurance company that the car is owned by an LLC but I need to insure it in my name?

 

[KSLunsfo]

Probably a dumb question.... But when I apply for insurance... I am assuming I need to get insurance before I start the montana process? Do I tell my insurance company that the car is owned by an LLC but I need to insure it in my name?

From OptimizePrime 5 posts up, it seems it will be in your name with the LLC listed as a qualified driver. Believe I read that right... I'm still back and forth on whether or not I want to go this route... decisions decisions... It would be nice to just have an NC tag and not attract anymore unnecessary attention than I already will be, even though this is supposedly all legal. I know how butt hurt big brother can get when missing out on taxes...

 

[Ark :D]

Then big brother should make it less impossible to register our cars.

 

[MisterDave]

So I just spoke with my insurance agent and I just decided to be very open and honest about what I'm looking at... She told me that if the car was registered in Montana that I would then need Montana insurance. She claimed that with the laws in RI they cannot insure a vehicle that is registered to an LLC in another state. She had never heard of anyone doing the Montana route but she was surprisingly positive that that plan would work well for me. She is working up a quote for me if I decide to register it here.

 

[OptimizePrime]

Can they insure a vehicle that is registered out of state in your name? If so, insure it under your personal name and put the LLC as a qualified driver.

An LLC can't get a speeding ticket or wreck your car, but you can - so you have to insure it under your name.

To convey ownership of the vehicle you just got caught speeding in - the LLC is listed as a qualified driver and the Gob is registered to the LLC. That's all they need. In other words, you are the parent and your LLC is the child. You got caught speeding in a car your child owns, the cop won't impound / arrest you because you're the parent of the child.

Guys, this is all legal and has been going on for decades - there's no need to tiptoe around. If you watch enough YouTube, you'll start to notice that most of the exotics are tagged in Montana. Another example I just came across is EuroCharged - LLC in Kalispell

Let's look up that Owner Address

That's weird... no location

HQ per their website is in Katy, TX. This took all of 5min to put together, all happening in plain sight.

 

[Lechlis]

Can they insure a vehicle that is registered out of state in your name? If so, insure it under your personal name and put the LLC as a qualified driver.

An LLC can't get a speeding ticket or wreck your car, but you can - so you have to insure it under your name.

To convey ownership of the vehicle you just got caught speeding in - the LLC is listed as a qualified driver and the Gob is registered to the LLC. That's all they need. In other words, you are the parent and your LLC is the child. You got caught speeding in a car your child owns, the cop won't impound / arrest you because you're the parent of the child.

Guys, this is all legal and has been going on for decades - there's no need to tiptoe around.

This is exactly how I setup my insurance.

MT license plate, PA drivers license, VA insurance policy. Insured through Progressive.

 

[MisterDave]

Can they insure a vehicle that is registered out of state in your name? If so, insure it under your personal name and put the LLC as a qualified driver.

I will ask her that specifically, but what she said is that they can't insure a car that is owned by an LLC that is out of state. She suggested that I get a Montana insurance company to insure the car.

 

[Lechlis]

I will ask her that specifically, but what she said is that they can't insure a car that is owned by an LLC that is out of state. She suggested that I get a Montana insurance company to insure the car.

As a data point, this is verbatim what my Progressive agent told me initially. I then had @Oldchevyguy’s agent call my agent and suddenly a quote appeared in my inbox. It seems to be a balancing act between simply not knowing and not caring enough to do the research.

 

[benjy]

Guys, this is all legal and has been going on for decades - there's no need to tiptoe around. If you watch enough YouTube, you'll start to notice that most of the exotics are tagged in Montana.

This is interesting, and something I haven't stressed over too much since Utah should be straightforward to register my Goblin. I did a 5 minute search to see if I could counterpoint your confidence. There are certainly quite a few articles that try to debunk the idea, but most of them are full of hypothetical scenarios.

This article from a MT border town in WY was my favorite... They spend a good chunk of the article saying it's a bad idea, then dropped this nugget:

In 2014, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that a resident who created a Montana LLC for the sole purpose of avoiding Louisiana’s sales taxes had followed the law. The justices specifically rejected the idea that the resident’s LLC was formed for an unlawful purpose.

“Use of particular business entities to avoid taxes and other liabilities, far from being fraudulent, is a common and legal practice,” the court wrote in a decision specific to Louisiana law.

Some other articles do indicate that some states have gone after residents for tax evasion, as I was reading through the article it listed Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee and California. The TN one said the guy signed an affidavit saying he would remove the car out of state within 3 days, so there's that... Seems like most of the states are going after individuals for TAX EVASION.... which we're not really doing here. It may in the best interest of a Goblin owner to pay sales taxes in the state they live before transferring ownership to the LLC... just a thought?

https://jalopnik.com/the-pitfalls-of-the-montana-license-plate-scam-1711216059
https://rvtailgatelife.com/montana-llc-registering-rv/
https://www.cartersheltonlaw.com/bl...ding-companies-for-criminal-sales-tax-evasion
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-i-avoid-state-sales-tax-using-montana-llc.html

 

[Murcielago311]

Here's an 'interesting' watch on how Georgia is going after Montana plates.

 

[ctuinstra]

As a data point, this is verbatim what my Progressive agent told me initially. I then had @Oldchevyguy’s agent call my agent and suddenly a quote appeared in my inbox. It seems to be a balancing act between simply not knowing and not caring enough to do the research.

BINGO! Even in Missouri, one of the easiest states, we run into people that really don't know how to do anything outside of the ordinary with these special builds. Some will help and others will just dig their heels in and not be of any help. Keep going until you do find someone to help.

 

[Ross]

Here's an 'interesting' watch on how Georgia is going after Montana plates.

They are going after people who are avoiding taxes on high end cars... not so much people who can't register in state.
Then they help work with the state to get the cars legal in their local state.

Funny/ironic how it is the tax collector who is recommending the state works with residents to get vehicles titled.