Correct. That’s what happened.
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Well for those who care, here was my experience.
11/04 Bought out Infiniti lease at dealer, paid $3k in CA sales tax as part of purchase at dealer
12/03 Received title in mail
12/04 Sold car to Autonation
12/04 Submitted CDTFA 101 request for refund with paperwork
01/23 Got letter saying the dealer is actually the entity that pays the tax, so I cannot request a refund. Letter says I have to get dealer to request a refund AND that a refund would ONLY be paid to them ON THE CONDITION IT BE PAID TO ME. Letter further says basically the tax is overpaid but I cannot claim myself it so I can **** off unless the dealer claims it for me (which is never going to happen).
Absolutely criminal. CA basically admits the tax is overpaid but oh well, guess we will just keep it since the “wrong” person is requesting it, even though they write in the letter that the dealer would HAVE TO PAY IT TO ME as a condition of getting the money. Buuuut since getting the dealer to file for it is more than likely impossible, they figure, guess we will just keep this money. So sorry. Crooks.
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Wow, never heard that one before. SMH
Hope you get paid. At least you didn’t buy from BMW, I heard getting $ of them is like getting blood from a stone.
As a public PSA -
I just did an early trade in on a lease, and at the same time picked up a new lease. In parsing this out, the dealer basically did power of attorney (POA) to buy out the lease with Ally so that it’s still me buying it, but them executing the deal and sending in the payoff. It’s been about 1.5 weeks since I did the paperwork and all is complete.
- The dealer got my old car at my personal buy-out rate from Ally.
- I had to do zero paperwork after signing the POA.
- Title gets mailed to them directly.
- Zero sales tax paid by me.
Not sure if this workaround the different buyout rates will be changed in the future with Lessors, but it’s working right now, that is if your buying dealer has done this.
Southern California FCA dealer for context.
Note that this eliminated some cash back on the new vehicle, but the lack of hassle was worth it.
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Welcome to hotel Taxifornia - your money can check in but it can’t check out …
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I’m doing this now.
Bought out a lease from US Bank. They added tax to the buy out.
They sent me the title.
The irony is, they also included a cashiers check written out to DMV
So technically I guess I am the payor which is good?
Can you elaborate on this more? What and why was this cash back eliminated?
To answer your question, some pieces didn’t work between the switch from Ally to Chrysler Capital. I ate perhaps $1000 of cash back, but got a better rate for the terms I wanted and the math just made sense. I didn’t mean to conflate the lease buy-out with a new lease through a different lessor, but prospective leasees should keep that in mind as you toggle between the lessor companies.
@buybuysellsell - Different banks will do different things. Technically, the onus is not on the bank to pay DMV. You yourself should be paying DMV for tax, if needed. My case was more swift as the dealership also had a bill of sale for me to sign at the same time so all was done in one fell swoop.
Yep you just need to dodge the various curveballs banks throw these days. Third party bs, weird titling procedures, you name it… Lol
Seems like there is no universal/safe way to do this without paying the tax, YMMV?
Mine is with Audi Financial dont envision things being easy with them.
Did anyone buyout and resell a leased car to an online dealer from VW Credit recently? Is it smooth or is there any inconvenience? Should I request buyout through my VW Credit account and wait until all paperwork is sent to me then sell it to a dealer? Most of them requested clean title which means I have to go to DMV to get it and paid tax upfront, right? Sorry, totally noob here.
Did you at least have
- 3 Prices from Carmax / Carvana / Vroom
- The credit history to be able to get a quick loan from Penfed to flip the car if need be?
I got few offers from AllCars, Driveway and I am happy with them. I have money to buyout the car. Just don’t want to go to DMV and pay tax (then claim it back later if possible).
Take that number into your local VW dealer and haggle with them. If the offer is near $2000 of your current offer, take it as you don’t have to do the hassle.
The only way to avoid this is to sell to a VW/Audi dealer or to sell to an entity that will take a lienholder title. VW Credit already filled out my name/address in the buyer section, so iif they do that for you, then you’re sort of stuck with VW/Audi dealer unless you want to buy/DMV/sales-tax it.
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I just got the letter with the same response. They want me to ask the dealership to request the refund. Seems like getting the tax back is only straightforward if you paid it directly to the DMV as opposed to the dealer.
Are you going to contact your dealer and see if they will submit that paperwork? I’m thinking about doing that. Not holding my breath of course…
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I did this in November. Regardless of what direction you go, if you do buy it out from VW Credit, I recommend sending a cashier’s check and paying the $15 to get a return FedEx of the title. Even then, you’re still looking at about 2-2.5 weeks.
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Just got the offer from the same dealer I leased the car from. Yeah it is exactly $2000 less than Driveway.com offers. I’ll talk to them if I can work out a new lease with good number to make a good combo. Thanks.
Never do a ‘combo’ they will rip you off somewhere in the double transaction that you will never notice it.
Also what if the car they are offering is switched and wrong. Take the check, then buy a new car. never mix the 2.
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