[bavarianboar]

Hi guys,

Another question for a friend who is planning to pick up a CPO from a dealer in SoCal and drive back to Seattle,WA on a weekend.

Is there a temporary registration that can be purchased to drive back through CA and Oregon before the vehicle is registered in WA. It is a used car, so maybe things are different?

He plans to pay taxes to the WA state when he registers the car.

What are his options? Is the dealership going to give a temp registration valid for say a week or so.

TIA

[fruition3000]

Im sure they will give you an out of state/non-resident temp tag for at least 20 days

[andrewket]

Originally Posted by bavarianboar

Hi guys,

Another question for a friend who is planning to pick up a CPO from a dealer in SoCal and drive back to Seattle,WA on a weekend.

Is there a temporary registration that can be purchased to drive back through CA and Oregon before the vehicle is registered in WA. It is a used car, so maybe things are different?

He plans to pay taxes to the WA state when he registers the car.

What are his options? Is the dealership going to give a temp registration valid for say a week or so.

TIA

I have done this on several occasions. I would double check what the tax situation is in California. Last time I considered purchasing a car there, I came to the conclusion that it needed to be shipped out of state to avoid California sales tax, even as an out of state resident. Most states, if you show that you paid sales tax in the state that you purchased the car from will give you the same amount as an offset. If the tax in the other state is higher than your home state, there will be no additional taxes due when you title the car. If the opposite, then you owe your home state the difference. Since CA has one of the highest sales tax rates, you'll likely pay more buying in California then locally or from a different state. In some cases you can sign a waiver that you're tax exempt in the state that you're purchasing the car in, but that has only worked for me once. In this case I then paid the full amount of the tax due in my home state.

YMMV.. but I would double check the situation, especially in California. I had one dealer offer to ship the car to Las Vegas for me just to avoid this issue.

Also, another thing to look out for is that the out of state dealer doesn't title the car in their state. I once purchased a car in Ohio when I was living in Illinois. I wanted a temp registration to drive it to Illinois and then I would title and pay taxes there. To do that (new car, first title) you need the certificate of origin from the dealer, which they get from the manufacturer. I didn't know that, and the dealer I bought it from titled it in Ohio anyway. I literally got a title from the Ohio DMV to my home address in Illinois. Then I had to pay to title it AGAIN in Illinois. And then when I went to sell the car, carfax said it had two prior owners, and I kept having to explain to people that I was in fact the original owner, that I had two titles in my name from two different states. It was a pain.

Andrew

[chromisdesigns]

There are interstate compacts that regulate this sort of thing. It depends on the specific pair of states, as to how it is handled. Check with the dealer you are purchasing from, they will have the info. The thing to watch out for is if there is NOT a compact between the two states -- then you can be liable for the sales tax BOTH PLACES! Avoid this situation like the plague!

Generally, between compact states, you pay the tax in the state where you buy the car, and get credited for it in the state where you actually register it. If the registering state tax is more, you then pay the difference. You don't get a refund if it's less, however.

Years ago, we tried to buy a BMW in CA, when we were living in DC, and discovered there was no compact in effect between the two jurisdictions. The only way we could have avoided paying tax twice was to have the car delivered out-of-state, like at the Nevada border. That would have involved hiring a driver, paying his return transportation, etc. Or else we could have shipped the car, at considerable expense. So the deal fell through.

Watch out for this gotcha!

[bimmer_335]

Dont pay tax to WA... take the car delivery in CA and pay taxes there... your dealer can have this done without any hassel.

If you pay taxes to WA ... CA will not let you drive a car tax free ... here in PA you get dinged even if you have purchased a car 11 months ago and just move to PA... do research !!!

[Tom K.]

I recently did this, purchasing a CPO E90 in VA. The dealer collected all taxes for MD as well as the registration & tag transfer fees. I drove the car home with 30 day temporary VA paper tags provided by the dealer. About two weeks later, my new MD registration & tag sticker were forwarded to me by the dealer and I mounted my old tags with the new sticker. I expect to receive my new title from MD within a few days.

I suspect other states operate in a similar fashion.

Tom

[Marcus-SanDiego]

When I was living in another state, I bought a car in CA. In order to avoid the CA tax, I took possession of the car at the NV border. The CA dealership collected tax for my state (almost 3 percentage points lower in my state than in CA).

I bought the car from a Sacramento dealership. It was a two-hour drive east to NV. I literally followed a guy the dealership hired to drive my car to NV. I drove a BMW loaner from the dealership. As I recall, I did some paperwork in front of a notary in NV (saying that I was not a CA resident, that I would be titling in a different state, etc.) when I took possession of the car.

[andrewket]

Originally Posted by Tom K.

I recently did this, purchasing a CPO E90 in VA. The dealer collected all taxes for MD as well as the registration & tag transfer fees. I drove the car home with 30 day temporary VA paper tags provided by the dealer. About two weeks later, my new MD registration & tag sticker were forwarded to me by the dealer and I mounted my old tags with the new sticker. I expect to receive my new title from MD within a few days.

I suspect other states operate in a similar fashion.

Tom

I've done the opposite - purchased in MD while a resident of VA. The MD dealer collected the VA sales tax (not MD), and was able to title/register directly into VA. This is because the MD dealer, which was a 20 miles from VA, was registered with VA. I would only expect this type of situation in neighboring states, and then only with dealers right on borders.

Andrew

[bavarianboar]

thanks guys!