Buying out of State

Ask the Hackrs
1

Anyone ever try to lease a car from a different state?

I’ve looked at several cars and the local dealerships aren’t willing cut a deal with me. Several are sticking to their guns that they have to lease at full MSRP. I’ve looked at a variety of cars, everything from the Cruze to BMW’s. Especially luxury brand dealerships where there’s only three dealerships in the state seem to resist doing deals and on top of that want to pack in a bunch of useless extras like paint protection. I live in Washington State, I was thinking I would reach out to some of the California dealerships that people have mentioned on this board and trying to do a deal with one of them. I can buy a one-way ticket for sub ~$200 and Even with a night or two in a hotel to drive back I think I could come out well ahead and maybe have a bit of a weekend adventure. Thoughts? I think my main risks are the incentives may be different; I may have to do the licensing myself; the deal may fall apart at the last minute and I’m stuck buying a last minute return flight ticket and nothing in hand.

2

Incentives are based on where the vehicle is registered - it’s not tied to dealership location.

They will give you an in transit sticker and you would have to register the vehicle yourself.

Out of state deals aren’t too uncommon. You have to watch to make sure they apply the correct programs.

What is the deal you’re having problems getting?

3

FWIW, I’m from the Seattle area and tried to lease a car down in NorCal because the deals were so much better. Every dealer was unwilling to work with an out-of-state customer, regardless of whether leasing or buying a new car.

4

You are correct. I didn’t think of it that way.

5

That’s fraud to the max…

1 Like
6

It is fraud; plus most leasing companies would require a physical address and not a PO box for writing the lease.

Now if I had an actual residence there I could do that. But, then I would also be liable to pay Oregon state income tax, most likely.

7

Msugar - I’ve heard about people doing this, but I’m with Benedetto, it’s not something within my comfort zone to do. I’m just interested in getting a good, fair deal.

Benedetto - Like I said in my original post, I’ve looked at a lot, but what spurred this particular question is I went to go see a BMW i3, and they insisted on MSRP because inventory was “so low”, I called around to the other area dealerships with the same result, but someone just posted a deal 13+% under MSRP in California before incentives. I tried for the Cruze deal and I was quoted $290+tax/month for a bare bones model by multiple dealerships as well. I started working with a few of them to try to get that number down, and they wouldn’t even honor the published incentives so it was a waste of my time.

8

Im in Chicago and leased in WI, They were willing to negotiate.

9

this confused me :slight_smile: …

10

Think of it this way, we have great car leases but you guys have 0% state income tax.

Even at $50k/year taxable income with 8% CA State Tax, that is $4,000/year or $333.30/mo (CA State Income tax tops out at 13.3% at $2m)

11

Hangman, I live in Seattle, and have lived in SF and LA… I feel your pain - tough to find any aggressive dealerships here. From my past experiences SoCal was a buyer’s paradise for most any consumer good… Bay Area better than Seattle but not as good as SoCal. Seattle is still pretty isolated and insular, I’d say it may be due to the economy, but the Bay Area may be even hotter, but most consumer items have better discounts there than in the PNW.

Just take heart in the no state income tax, and how we can load up on lots of stuff in Portland for no sales tax…

12

What’s fraudulent? This is a normal deal, just more work to register it yourself if the dealer isn’t set up for the neighboring states.

13

We did a deal this Sunday
Equinox Premier loaded with Packages
MSRP $39200
Rebates $8200 (bonus tagged vehicle)
Dealer state MD
Vehicle to be registered in NJ
24/10000
$200 a month and $200 due at signing.

14

Thanks The fraudulent piece would be being a true resident of WA state, but registering the car to a PO Box in Oregon to avoid paying WA sales taxes.

I buy out of state all the time - in fact we leased my wife’s X1 from Portland, OR and registered it no problem in WA - but we are paying WA taxes in our payment.

15

The fact that you’re knowingly driving a vehicle in X state 99% of the time and registering it in another to avoid paying tax.

All they have to do is spot audit you and you’re knee deep in it. Is it worth the headache, pissed off state tax dept and problems that come from it - to save like $2000?

16

Can you break down all your rebates? I guess there is also Asian in the there?

17

I wasn’t intending for this thread to go this direction, but I had a “friend of a friend”, and he grew up in Oregon and moved up to Seattle. He kept his Oregon driver’s license addressed at his parent’s house, and he used it all the time to get things tax free. Somehow he got flagged and the State of Oregon came down on him and he was ordered to pay income tax as a resident of Oregon even though he lived in Washington. Last I heard he was fighting it, but even if he won it sounded like a huge hassle.

18

I have a buddy who used to live in CA (he made lots of money). He ended up moving to NV after semi-retiring. He still comes around to CA (he has 2 properties) for business and pleasure. The State of CA makes him keep a notebook of the days he is in CA and collect income tax for those days.

19

$3000 Conquest
$500 Farm Bureau
$1700 Bonus Cash
$1500 Incremental CCR
$1500 Bonus Tag

20

I feel like the market in SF is really a seller’s market, particularly on specific cars right now. We are traveling back to our summer house for 3 weeks and would need to rent a car. I’m thinking instead of trying to lease our next car there, drive for 3 weeks instead of renting a car, then shipping it out to myself in CA. I guess that would just require 2 registrations?