My mother 's doctor has told her that she needs to quit driving due to poor vision. My mother who lives in State A wants to give the car to my 19 year old daughter who is attending college in State A. I live in state B, 500 miles away. The car is great...a 2011 Honda civic with 7200 miles! My daughter has been driving 4 years with no accidents or tickets and attends a small college on a full tuition scholarship in a very small town, so I am okay with this gift (though still nervous!). I started to research this, but thought someone on MMM might know the following. Will it be cheaper to insure if I add this car to my insurance? (This might be good as I have a 1M umbrella policy). Since my mother will not be driving again, she is dropping all insurance. To put on my insurance, do I need to be the registered owner? And, more simply, what do we do to actually transfer title? Since DD's permanent address is still with me in state B, I'm guessing we need to license it in state B anyhow (unfortunate as state B has property tax on cars and State A does not.). Do we have to pay a sales or transfer tax when it's a gift?
Thanks in advance for any advice. I must say I cried after I got off the phone with my Mom; it us so hard to see her lose her independence. But she is a great role model; she said, "it's sad, but I can't complain. I've had a great run." May we all say the same some day.