mjeds

Tax on a vehicle in CA is figured on the fair market value if you do that, CA wised up to that long ago.


if there is a real purchase price near to the fair market value then they base the tax on that, but if it is so far off it's obvious that you are trying to avoid the taxes they assess on fair market value.


the only way to avoid the taxes to a point is to "gift" the vehicle, but there are a bunch of rules regarding that, maximum value of the vehicle, relationship to the party you are transferring to etc.

TranV

iTrader: (4)

I was thinking about that and will get someone to inspect the car for me...it's a Chevy dealership so I hoping it should be okay...thanks for the advance notice though.

kitsune

iTrader: (1)

I thought the dealer only can charge you their state tax? And if you pay TX state tax, you don't have to pay CA tax and the dealer will handle the registration for you in CA?

2URGSE

Unless it's someone qualified to inspect a vehicle, I would not count on someone random to do this.

Also, you need to think about getting the car back to CA. Are you driving or having the car transported?

SoCalISF

I purchased my car from a dealer in Kansas, after missing being able to get it direct from the original owner by one day.

Car had 7032 miles on the clock, and I spoke to the original owner, the original salesman, the service writer, and the only tech to work on it since new, prior to consummating the deal. Car had only seen minor precipitation one time, was a weekend vehicle for the couple who purchased it new, and was impeccable in every way.

Additionally, a friend/co-worker who lives and works in Overland Park, Kansas where the car was for sale (I work for a large corporation with a large presence in Kansas), looked the car over top, bottom, in and out prior to the deal.

Here is how it went down...

Asking price was $49,500. I low balled them and offered $42k. They countered and I wrote them a check for roughly $44k, the total negotiated price of the car only, plus a document processing fee of like $39.

Upon delivery of the car in California I had to smog the car, go to a specific California Highway Patrol
location and have a VIN verification done by a specifically trained CHP officer (they don't all do it), then pay the taxes (specific for my county), registration fees, transfer fee, etc. at the DMV.

The dealer out of state handled no part of the taxes or registration other than providing me with the original title from KS.

msgs350

iTrader: (2)

I bought out of state and shipped the car to WA state. Dealer I purchased from gave me the option of paying estimated tax with the car purchase or seperately when registering in my home county (King). No out of state tax was ever mentioned. I payed for the car and doc fee and they sent the title/registration paperwork to my nearest DMV and I will pay the taxes there when registering.

I believe some people want it rolled in when financing, as it would make their down payment go towards both the car and taxes.

2URGSE

I'm surprised their SWAT Team didn't have to check out the car.



J/K

Congrats!

mjeds

Tax on the vehicle is based on where the vehicle will be registered, both county and state.

I bought a vehicle from an Auction in TX in 2005, since the auction was a licensed dealer, the tax was assessed based on my home address where the vehicle was to be registered.

The dealer did all the paperwork, submitted the forms for registration etc to the CA DMV and they collected the taxes at the time of purchase.

The only difference I saw in the purchase was I was sent a notification by the CA DMV that I needed to provide proof of a smog test dated AFTER the date of purchase before I was able to pick up the plates from the local DMV.

The car was shipped to me, I had to tow it to a smog station, one of the few times I have ever used AAA towing my wife insists I pay $100 a year for, (this was noted on the notification that I could not legally drive the vehicle on CA streets). It was smog tested, I was told what needed to be done make it CA certified, I had it towed home and went to the DMV to get a 90 day temp sticker so I could get the SMOG crap CA certified, once that was all done I went to the DMV and picked up the plates.


Back in the 1990s I bought a car in WA, at the time I purchased it onsite in WA, the process was basically the same, taxes were paid at the point of purchase based on my home address, the only difference there is that I drove the car home, so the dealer gave me WA temp tags, and when I crossed the CA State line I stopped at the first DMV I could locate, received temp CA tags that allowed me to drive the car for 90 days while I got it smog tested and waited for the paperwork from the dealer to process and the plates to be issued.


In both cases the vehicles were NOT CA smog certified they were 49 state vehicles, and in both cases I had to do a couple hundred in work to have them CA certified.

I still have the 1995 4Runner, every two years it has to be smog tested, full test.

2URGSE

I don't miss CA smog laws.....what a pain in the @$$ to have a modified car there.

kitsune

iTrader: (1)

WOW! Thanks for the heads up on the tax info.

I might be moving to Socal in the next year so going to have a hard time for some of my cars. Probably have to start getting use to the visual checks.

mjeds

visual checks aren't a big deal, just make sure you have your OEM intake if you have put on an open filter type CAI, or make sure the CAI has a CARB sticker on it.


the biggest issue with visuals is stuff being disconnected, make sure it isn't.




I recently read that by 2018 CA is going to an ODBII plug in smog test like many other states, no more tail pipe testing except on pre-ODBII vehicles.

TranV

iTrader: (4)

OK! a little update in case someone need to know this info in the future. My main 2 concerns for this process was tax and registration due to smog.
1) TAX: Dealership is to pay tax where the car will be registered. if not, you will have to pay the diff..
2) Smog: if the car is not 50 states certified it's ok to bring into California as long as it has over 7,500 miles on the odometer.
thanks for all the info guys

lolfunxion

iTrader: (25)

CA already is on OBII? I've had several vehicles smogged lately, no tail pipe sniffer - just plug in and test for a certain year up, probably whatever year OBII is standard.

Unless some backwoods towns haven't upgraded to the OBII plug because they spent all their profits on banjos, it should be state-wide.

mjeds

some places are still using tail pipe, my wife had her Camry hybrid done last October because it is past the 8 year mark and they still used the tail pipe test on it.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Some places only do smog checks on transfer of ownership. It all depends on the zip code where your car is registered. I seriously considered getting a PO box in Amador County when I lived in Sacramento. My Supra was always required to go to a test only station despite never once having failed a smog test. Just one of a number of reasons I left CA 8 years ago and have not looked back.

http://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/Program_Map.pdf