Oregon resident, buying California car - pay tax?

[Merlin_83]

Hello,

I know we have a few finance and money peeps on this and other forums, so I'm asking a likely dumb question here.

I'm an Oregon resident, and we have no sales tax - so if I find a car I want to buy in California, would I have to pay sales tax? The car would be shipped to Oregon and registered immediately upon arrival. I think I would but, wondering if there are any options.

The back story is I'm trying to find another 2008-2012 E90 335xi or 335i. And it's become very hard to find these cars that have not been messed with and were taken care of well. I find some on BaT - but again, taxes would annoy me. If I'm meeting the shipper there with the truck during an all-cash transaction, wouldn't that avoid having to pay the taxes?


Cheers,
Merlin

[Ervin87]

You pay tax (if applicable) to the state where the car will be registered. The seller would consider this an out of state sale, so you would not be paying tax or registration in CA. You would pay the price of the car and obtain title at time of pickup. You then register at your local DMV and pay the applicable fees.

[Merlin_83]

Originally Posted by Ervin87

You pay tax (if applicable) to the state where the car will be registered. The seller would consider this an out of state sale, so you would not be paying tax or registration in CA. You would pay the price of the car and obtain title at time of pickup. You then register at your local DMV and pay the applicable fees.

Sweet! That's awesome!!

Thank you!

[brettcp]

I was looking at a used M3 at a dealer here in CA a few years ago.. the car was initially on hold for another customer in Las Vegas, NV.. that customer wanted to come to CA to pick up the car, but wanted the dealership to exclude the CA sales tax because he was going to take it back to NV where it would be registered. The dealership said the only way they could exclude the sales tax was if they had the car shipped to the customer in NV. Apparently it had something to do with where the delivery takes place, and as a dealership they had to play by the rules.

I'm not a car dealer so I don't know the accuracy of this, just throwing it out there if its of any help.

Good luck with your search!

[GeorgeA]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I was looking at a used M3 at a dealer here in CA a few years ago.. the car was initially on hold for another customer in Las Vegas, NV.. that customer wanted to come to CA to pick up the car, but wanted the dealership to exclude the CA sales tax because he was going to take it back to NV where it would be registered. The dealership said the only way they could exclude the sales tax was if they had the car shipped to the customer in NV. Apparently it had something to do with where the delivery takes place, and as a dealership they had to play by the rules.

I'm not a car dealer so I don't know the accuracy of this, just throwing it out there if its of any help.

Good luck with your search!

You are correct. If you want to avoid CA tax, you have to get the car shipped out of state. Stupid rule

[pedro2u]

I had a similar issue when I lived in tax free NH and bought a car in Massachusetts. The only way around paying the Mass sales tax was to have the selling Mass dealer deliver the car to NH and take possession there. I made that a condition of the purchase

Same principle applies when purchasing items via internet. Tax applies only in the sellers state, not the purchasers, so items are received in the tax free state without the sellers state tax

[Ervin87]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

You are correct. If you want to avoid CA tax, you have to get the car shipped out of state. Stupid rule

CA dealers can provide a one-way permit allowing the new buyer to drive the car out of state (CA) and directly to their home.