Ca registration

A friend of mine in California took European delivery of a car which he kept in Italy. When it came time to bring it back, the DMV wanted to collect the use tax that they were not due. They rejected his overseas import paperwork as insufficient proof that the car had been out-of-state! Fortunately he was able to produce detailed service records from Europe and they eventually gave up. I think he may even have had to show photographs. It was ridiculous.

 

I spoke with AAA today. I purchased a car in Denver 2 weeks ago from a private party. The car will be in Nevada for a few months. I asked about putting the car on my insurance if I register it with a Montana LLC. She said the car had to be registered in California to be on my policy. I said I have already put it on my policy but haven't registered it. I asked can I just not register it until I bring it into California. She said AAA will send a notice to DMV that I insured the car and the state will require me to register the car, even though it is not in California

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Yes, this is true. As soon as you insure the car in CA the DMV gets notified. I didn't switch until the day before I went to the DMV. When I went to register my car they already had the records in the computer and never asked for my "proof of insurance" because it was already there.

 

Whoa, I did not know this. So to be clear - if I bought the car July 1 2018 in another state....and on June 30 2019 I move to CA and try to register it...I’ll pay massive tax. If I move to CA July 2nd 2019, since it’s been more than a year since I purchased the car, I pay no/little tax. Accurate?

Does it matter if the registration from the old state expires before getting registered in CA? Guessing no, it’s just registering property in a new state, they don’t care about previous registration dates, I would think?

 

Yes that's accurate. There are some mileage restrictions also I think. A car with less than 10,000 miles on it is still considered "new" in CA. Something like that.

In my case I was a couple of weeks expired from NV and they just back dated my CA registration date to then. I had already owned my car several years so there was no sales tax situation. And, I just crossed 10K miles so if it were less, I might have had to still pay sales tax even though I already paid sales tax in Nevada.

 

No quite right.

If the car was bought over a year ago, no use tax is applied.

If less than a year ago only the delta to what would’ve been an in-state and in-locale tax would be applied. So if you paid $1000 in another state and it would have been $1200 in your city then $200 is owed.

It seems to be an attempt to limit gamin the system by buying elsewhere.

But when you bring it into the state also is factored in.

SV


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Hugely helpful thanks

 

This thread reminds me of the first used car I bought out of state. I didn’t pay tax to the other state so it was only fair to pay California tax. I had the option of waiting in a hugely long line to get DMV to verify the VIN, or get the CHP to do it. I opted for the latter. They gladly took my keys and drove the car into their secure garage to inspect all of the VIN numbers to be sure they all matched. While it was comforting to know that the car I bought had valid title and was not all patched together from junkyard pieces, it occurred to me that I had no idea who the last owner was, and whether he stashed any contraband somewhere in the car and forgot about it! I had visions of the officer coming back with a pair of handcuffs. Fortunately, all was fine. But it was an anxious 15 minutes!


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I know this is a little late but ...

1. The post about you having to pay only the difference in sales tax between the two states is correct. You get a "credit" for the sales tax you paid someplace else.
2. You can legally keep your car outside of California until its 1 year ownership has passed. Many people have multiple residences where the keep multiple cars with a single insurance policy.

I have done this several times.

 

AAA said they will not insure a car on my policy unless it was registered in California

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But AAA is not the only insurance company doing business in Ca, and you can go to other companies. Or, you can get a separate insurance for your car out of state from a non-AAA company. The point is you can keep your car out of Ca for the purpose of registration and sales tax.