WOF USA? DMV Transit Plates? Ride with Kiwi Plates ?

[GoNasty]

none of those names you lot are rotten lol

Ezi Self Storage Oak Creek Milwaukee, right by the General Mitchell Airport and the guys name is Kendall lol

[GoNasty]

you lot are rotten

Ezi Self Storage, Oak Creek is the the storage facility , close to General Mitchell International Airport.

And the guys name to deal with is Kendal and nothing like Tequila Nando Sando or any thing like it lol

[Stormdragon]

I can't give much advice, but I will note a couple of thoughts:
While the state/s you bought the bikes in may vary, California at least, allows you 10 days to transfer ownership of a vehicle. If the registration is up to date on the bikes and you transfer ownership when you pick the bikes up, and you are out of the state of ownership by the time the mandatory change in registration is due, you might, (I stress might) be okay with any cops if you explain that you're driving them across country specifically to export them. Especially if you can have copies of your export paperwork on hand at the time.

I don't know if you can get insurance to cover a vehicle you don't 'own' yet, but you can get international insurance for yourself. There might be provisions either from a NZ company that'd have all your data for doing so, or possibly a rider from an international company would cover you. MedicalSOS I'm sure doesn't do vehicles, but I'll just mention it in case you're interested.

Annnnnnd.... Since you're going through Indianapolis, I highly recommend giving yourself a few hours to stop in at the Auburn Cord Dusenberg Museum. The building is an amazing piece of Art Deco history, and they have a nice motorcycle collection on the second floor.

[longwayfromhome]

The problem you have is two-fold - the period between the sale and the re-registering + plus the out-of-state move. This means you have lost the plates and you are effectively registering the bike for the first time. If its the same as PA, NJ and CA (where I have done registrations), you have to undergo an inspection as well to get plates.

Note: You have to have plates to get insurance etc if the bike is on the road.

I don't know about WI (the state Milwaukee is in) but DMV don't have any leeway in these things and I think the bottom line is you may have to pay the 5%. I must say when I moved state (twice) I never had to pay a state sales tax (in PA and CA) - it may be that she just didn't understand you (your accent will be very hard for her to understand). Be sure you have very clear evidence of the bike being purchased in other states and it being registered there at the time. The correct document is the signed-over ownership papers (title).

I would not take any notice of advice that suggests you ride less than completely paperwork perfect... the very first thing that is asked in any situation (cops, insurance etc etc) is ... please show me your licence, ownership papers and proof of insurance. You must have these sorted before riding anything on the open road.

What I suspect you will have to do is:
1. Trailer the bike to the nearest DMV (strongly suggest you don't ride it). Get there early in the day, this may all take a while. You may like to check that you don't have to make an appointment for an inspection, some places you can't just arrive and get in line.
2. Have proof of ownership (this will be the NJ/MD ownership/title papers signed over to you - known in some movies as the pink slip).
3. Get bike inspected (usually the same place, not so in some states e.g. NJ).
4. Get plate and sticker.
5. Ring up the insurance (you should have previously arranged this to be efficient) and provide plate details.
6. You should then be able to ride off. Get insurance to fax the papers to you at a hotel that same day.

This will probably take most of a day if you are lucky. Please be patient, I am not joking, the "system" is huge in America and they have lots of people trying to weasel it so are pretty strict. The NJ DMV was so bad that my mild-mannered wife had to be physically restrained and escorted from the building by me.