Avoiding CA Sales Tax
 

I'm from Vancouver and am considering buying a 986 from San Diego. The plan was to fly down to SD and drive the car home. HOWEVER, the dealership tells me that if I drive the car off the lot, I have to pay sales tax, even though I'm from out of state. Anyone got experience on how to avoid this - or do you know if I can even get this claimed back. The only solution they offered was to put it on a trailer and I pick it up at the Nevada border.

Thanks in advance...

I went through the same thing. The dealership did offer one other option. They said that after they received payment they could overnight the paperwork to me and I could get my temporary tags in my home state then fly out and drive the car off the lot. It would have worked for me but I am not sure it would work for you. I ended up buying a car in Denver anyway. If you want the name of the dealer PM me and I will be happy to send it to you. They had quite a few nice P-cars in stock.

One thing you can count on, Uncle Sam, or in this case, Aaaahnold, are bound to get their cut.

Unfortunately, as I understand it, when you import a car into Canada, you have to go through the equivalent of the UK's MOT to get the car registered. If I'm correct, that would make it impossible for you to get the registration prior to importing the car.

You could check with Transport companies, but that's likely to equal, or come uncomfortably close, to the sales Tax total anyway.

Maybe, if you trusted someone from there, perhaps a member here, they could pick-up the car in SD and meet you in Las Vegas. Buy them a Bus ticket back to SoCal. It would certainly add some excitement to your trip.

I'd do it, but I'm 1000 mi. away from SoCal and by the time you were done, you wouldn't have saved much, if anything. Sorry, that's the best I can come up with.

Many luxury dealers in California have a "drive off" service that delivers the vehicle to an out of state buyer at the Arizona line. Paperwork is completed and delivery is made out of state. Not sure how California Department of Finance views this "service"...but one can guess.

If you are not a resident of CA, you are NOT liable for CA sales tax.

Your dealer is a liar, as all CA dealers know this.

He is trying to commit fraud.

Danger Will Robinson! :barf:

Your dealer has to supply you with a temp reg from CA, that is a one way ticket out of the state to wherever you are going. This costs him $15 and he will want you to pay it back to him.

I used to do this all the time for my out of state buyers.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm also thinking the dealer might be taking a cut from his transport company. He's been pushing towards a carrier "he always deals with" and may this is just a way for him to get a little extra profit.

BUYER BEWARE !!

Personally, I would write this guy off. If he will try to sleaze you on this (BTW-he can lose his license for this kind of crap) why would you trust him on the car?

Be careful out there.

Is this true for all states? (Sorry if this is a dumb question).

If you buy a car out of state, you aren't required to pay sales tax on it? Do you ever have to pay tax in your home state for an out of state car purchase?

Thanks,

Joe

Pretty much. Yes, you have to pay sales tax for the state you reside in. For example, I purchased my car in Ohio, then broght it back to Illinois and paid the proper sales tax for my county.

You are right, you are supposed to pay sales tax in the state that you register your car in and not the car you purchase your car in. There are transports that can move your car to your state and you don't pay the sales tax because the car does not touch the ground. I have seen deals with transport companies that will take the car off the lot for you and give it to you a few miles away and you can drive it home from there. Why not make it easy and buy and register your car here in Oregon or in Montana. No sales tax!! and in Oregon your registration is $45 for two years. You may run into other problems if you have Oregon plates and a Texas license or something like that.

That's true of everything subject to Sales Tax. My wife and I do alot of travelling and we often shop for clothes, antiques, even some big ticket items when we're away.

We don't pay sales tax since we're not residents, but there's a catch. We cannot take the items with us, we must present out-of-state ID, and have the items shipped to our home out of state. Saves us a bundle.

My state allows up to $760/person/yr. on internet and out-of-state purchases tax free. You are supposed to report any purchases exceeding that total yearly amount on your Tax form.

With a car, it's hard to get around, because once in your home state, they valuate the car at the DMV and charge Sales Tax accordingly.

Funny though, many years ago I bought a Ferrari out of state. When I went to the DMV, the clerk valuated the car, but then winked at me and asked if it needed any work. I said well, there were some blemishes in the paint, but to get them out, a total repaint would be needed - that you don't touch-up a Ferrari. He responded with "well that's what? $10k-$15k for that type of paintjob?" I said "yea, probably, if not more" even though I had no intention of repainting it. So, he knocked off $15k in the value and charged me Sales Tax and Registration accordingly. Musta been a Car Nut. Hope we don't have any State or IRS agents as members here. ;)

Of course, assuming your state has a sales tax. Usually, you pay where you register the car.