So im looking to pick up a Toyota soarer. i live in Cali, yes i know the bull**** carb laws and all that but im looking for help to get past all that. i heard you can register the vehicle out of state but im not to sure that fully works. and im going for the 1JZGTE variant and i heard they run rich as hell so it might be impossible to get it legal here. i wanted to know if anybody has ever got there car registered here. and yes i know about those sketch smog checks where they fake it but i'd be screwed if they go out or i get caught. anybody have any 2 cents??

Thanks!

 

Welcome to CL.

My advice? First, obey the law, although I agree that California has some of the toughest emission standards in the country. Second, many states will allow you to register your car out of state if you also have a legal address in that other state (for instance, if you stay there part of the year). Third, if you are active-duty military (you didn't say if you were or not), many states will also exempt you from registration laws for that reason.

 

There are some areas in California where you don't have to smog your car. Of course you have to smog it once when you first register it but if you can get help passing it the first time then you should be good after that. Maybe get a PO Box in one of those areas and register the car to that address. If you register your car in another state, once its in California for longer than 30 days the law says you have to register it here. Someone told me that plate readers on cop cars can track how long your cars here so once that happens you'll start getting letters in the mail. Also with how everyone is cracking down on the Montana loophole, tax hungry California might come after you for tax evasion.

 

if you are using the term "import" to mean bringing say a JDM car like the Toyota Soarer into the US, your issues aren't state, but Federal, and unless the car is more than 25 years old you're basically wasting your time as it's not going to happen...

Bringing a used car from another state into CA isn't hard. You simply need to follow this - https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/de...sts/outofstate

 

let me elaborate, its in the US already in California its a 92' Toyota Soarer. so over the 25 year thresh hold. im deciding on weather to make the move on the car and just for over 7k for it to be carb legal but im not to sure if it passed barley or passed easily. id like to modify the car and put some blast pipes new single turbo setup and a few other parts. so my main concern is carb and ways to get around it, or just fork up the cash and just reinstall the stock parts every 2 years

 

Look up the cities in California that don't require smog and register the car to a PO Box or something else there. From a legality standpoint I'd say that's your safest bet because California has been cracking down on people registering their cars in other states. Or you could have someone pm you a guy that'll help pass you

 

You could just get a SC300 and rebadge it

 

Be careful with the no smog counties. That covers ongoing smog exemption, not (as I understand it) the first registration of an out of state vehicle which is almost certainly going to require the car to pass a smog test before the DMV will register it.

 

Good point. At first glance when he said the car was already in California I figured it was already registered. I'm sure someone on the forums can pm you a smog guy they know that will pass you so you can at least register the car.

 

i actually want a SC 300 but finding a semi low miles one with at least what im looking for is near impossible.

 

i heard you can get smog exempt on a 25 year old car or is that a no no in california. i heard they make you try to pass a test and they give you the options to fix it and if you still fail they let you pass. im still kinda clueless cause this is going to be my first car and im hoping to get a car i wont regret getting and something i really want not some beater i have no respect for. but i appecriate the help everybody

 

Unfortunately I think the car has to be no newer than the 1975 model year to be smog exempt in California. The 25 year limit more generally speaks to the ability to circumvent compliance with Federal safety standards and so on, the two are otherwise unrelated. In your case, the car already being in the US is a big plus, but the fact that it is out of state means you will still have the CA hurdles to clear.

Ultimately that may prove more trouble than you may feel it's worth. Good luck either way!