Can you tell what a previous owner paid by the "Fees Paid" line on a CA Title?

I'm not from CA, but I'd think not. It's possible that the number includes fees other than sales tax. But also in most states, if you trade in a car, the amount that you pay sales tax on is reduced by the value of the trade-in, so that the tax paid would not reflect the actual value of the car.

 

You probably can figure it out. It does include fees other than sales tax, but if you know roughly how much those fees are, you can do the math.

There is no trade in deal in CA, so you don't have to worry about that.

 

Find the line that says "Use Tax", if you have it itemized.

It varies by county, but in San Diego County we pay 7.75% on vehicle purchases (currently). So, purchase price * .0775 = the use tax.

EDIT: Every time I have sold a car here, the buyer seems to want to report (to our DMV) the price paid as lower than actual to evade/reduce this tax. They chafe a bit when I say no, but obviously it's illegal. If that happened with your car you may not get a 100 percent accurate picture of the selling price.

 

you might find out what they told the dmv they paid.

 

Put it this way: at 7.75% it is another chunk of $$$ you have to come up with when you go to change the registration. And they do not take I.O.U.'s.

 

What advantage is it knowing what the last guy paid? If you feel satisfied with the deal than that's all that matters

 

There is no credit for the value of the trade in, in California.

 

+1

 

Unless you know the complete history (i.e. was there any titling fee, deferred registration fees, etc.) you'd only be able to guess as to what the previous owner paid. But if we were to assume San Diego or Orange County, then there's 7.75% tax to be paid. If X * .0775 = 1340, then we could guestimate that the previous owner paid $17,290 for the car if he bought it the previous year (when the registration was due.) But registration fees reduce by a percentage for every year that you've owned the car, so in California, you would have paid the most registration when you take the car from the dealership, and each subsequent year, your registration fees drop by a percentage. Hence, not knowing how long the previous owner had the car, the above "guestimate" is just that - a guestimate that could be off by a lot.