UGH. This might get a little lengthy, so I apologize.

Up until this point my experience buying and owning my new 4Runner has been flawless. Now I'm in a nightmare of a situation trying to get my car registered before my temp tags expire.

I bought the car June 30th from a dealer out of state. I gave it a couple weeks, and when I still hadn't received my tags in the mail as promised, reached out to the dealership. They said everything looked fine on their end, and to contact my local tag office for more info. When I contacted my local tag office, they had nothing under my name or the VIN of the car in their system.

I contacted the dealership again at that point, and was told my registration paperwork had not been mailed to my local tag office yet (almost 30 days later at this point!), but they were going to send it overnight via UPS.

Okay, great. Sounds good, right? I'm set to leave on a road trip from Tennessee to New York two days after my temp tags expire so I wanted to make sure everything was squared away well before then.

-cue nightmare music- Lo-and-behold, three days later it still hadn't arrived. Come to find out, UPS LOST my package containing all my registration information (all my paperwork I signed at the dealership, the Manufacture's Statement of Origin, etc.). Their reason? The weather had something to do with it...it was raining.

Now I'm really in a pickle. The whole process has to be started over again, including the dealership mailing me new copies of the paperwork which I then have to sign and mail back. The dealership has to get a new MSO which could take up to EIGHT DAYS, etc. etc.

Now, my local tag office in TN says they can't/don't issue extensions on temp tags, but the dealership is legally permitted to issue me up to two temp tags. Dealership in GA claims, their system is new and will not permit them to issue a second temp tag.

Dealership said if we can't get my registration complete and my permanent plate on my car by the time my temp tag expires, their solution is to lend me a dealer plate. Are they allowed to do this? I've searched on Google, but I can't really come up with a clear answer on whether I'm legally allowed as the owner of the car and non-dealer employee to drive with dealer tags. It gets especially complicated when you factor in that I'll be going through like four states, all of which might have different laws pertaining the usage of dealer plates.

If I was just using the dealer plates at home to drive to and from work, I wouldn't worry about it as much. My car potentially getting impounded at home in Tennessee is way different than it getting impounded in New York, 800 miles from home...

I'm at a loss and completely frustrated at this point. Does anyone have any feedback or similar experience with stuff like this?

Well, I did some more digging and found this: Dealer License Plates

So it doesn't look like the dealership's backup plan is a viable one.

Am I justified in asking the dealership to cover the cost of a rental car for me if this isn't resolved by the time my temp tags expire?

I know I'm a little late to this but I know a few people who use dealer tags as their personal tags. They drive all around. From Florida to Canada. No police problems, no border problems. Cops don't ask who's tag it is or why you're using it. They just check license, insurance, registration.

Technically the cars belong to the dealership. .. technically. But in your case technically so is your car since the paperwork never made it to your DMV.

Not saying you should or shouldn't do it. Just saying what I have experienced

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