After going through a 2 week ordeal to sell my leased MB to Vroom and Carvana, I took a leap of faith and going with mycarauction now. So far this been a straightforward process compared to Vroom/Carvana. I’ll post detailed experience once I complete the sale.
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Just wanted to post a thank you to all who recommended mycarauction. It was as easy as everyone said. Had a title that was released from the leasing company (Ally) and there was no issues with MCA taking it without transferring it into my name. They came to my house to review the car, since I had never worked with them we went to the bank together and they issued a cashiers check (at my request - they would have otherwise issued me a company check at my house), and then they scheduled a flatbed to pick up the car 48 hours later. Couldn’t have been easier.
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Has anyone had any luck getting MBFS to release title quickly?
Hey so I intend to buy my leased C300 at the end of its lease next month and resell it to a third party.
My understanding is that if I buy my leased vehicle and sell it to a third party within 10 days, then sales/use tax is only due form the third party buyer. 11.085 Leased Vehicles - California DMV
I’ve spoken to MBFS multiple times now and they’ve said it will take them 3-4 weeks to get the title to me. This means I wont be able to sell it within 10 days and will end up paying sales tax myself (in addition to the buyer paying it)
Some questions:
1: Has anyone had success convincing MBFS to send the title over sooner?
2: Is it possible to sell the car without the title in hand? What does this process look like?
Is the third party a dealer? Unless something changed recently, MBFS should still be allowing 3rd party dealer buyouts, avoiding this whole thing. Just sold my lease end of July.
Is the third party a dealer? Then they are exempt from sales tax.
If you read the thread, it’s 10 days from when you receive the title. Double check this in your due diligence.
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Can you point me to where it says that. Also, how do you prove to the DMV (or CDTFA) that you received the title on a particular day?
No the third party us not a dealer unfortunately. How many months did you have left in your lease when you did the dealer buyout?
Check out post 67 in this thread. One idea was to have informed delivery from usps or a postmark May be close enough.
5 months left.
Im studying the same situation and had talked to CDFTA and DMV through the phone. (Thanks to mllcb42 's info) Here is what I was answered for your question 1 and 3.
- After you file on line or mail form 106, (you’ll also need to mail the proves showing you are really selling it. Even your online ads and online offers received, make sure there is detailed info like the odometer), it would take them several days to approve. But they normally mail on Wednesdays so it depends on the the date they receive your materials. And it would normally get back to you in “10 days or two weeks”.
- DMV told me if I go inside the office and they’ll normally give it to you in 14 days but it could be 30 days.
According to the staff from CDTFA, it sounds not hard for them to approve the clearance. And the final sale date could be longer than 10 days. But he mentioned if they come back to you, you’ll be able to prove that you didn’t use the car and had it sold. That’s the bottom line.
I’ll still need to confirm with them before buying out my lease to confirm the process.
So Vroom told me they can buy the car with the Lessor’s title and the buy out letter. So I called DMV to ask whether it is possible and legal. DMV told me yes it is definitely OK through DMV. I say, so in this case I dont even need to worry about the CDTFA clearance? She said whether I need to pay the sales tax is up to BOE (California State Board of Equalization’s). She said the Lessor might report the sale and BOE might thought I didn’t pay tax. (She said she’s never heard of CDTFA and I found that BOE’s duty was transferred to CDTFA in an Act in 2017)
I’m planning to apply for the clearance anyway just in case Vroom suddenly said that I’ll need to transfer the title to my name first. (Someone has the experience that Vroom flipped the information)
So how was your later experiance?
Correct me if Im wrong. I talked to CDTFA as well and it sounds like their approval is not hard. Because I think I’ll need to apply for the clearance BEFORE I received the title from the lessor and when applying I should already have something to prove that Im selling the car (offers/ads/bill of sale) He told me just make sure dont drive it and sell it. So even they come back to ask, you can approve it, and you’ll be fine.
You can read through this thread. Somebody recently said that you need to go through CDTFA only if you plan to transfer the title to your name and sell it. Even the CDTFA application form says similar language. If you are selling using the original title (the one that’s signed by the bank for you), it’s not necessary to go through cdtfa.
I called DMV to ask whether it is possible and legal to sell the car to Vroom with the original lessor’s title. DMV told me yes it is definitely OK through DMV but whether I need to pay the sales tax is up to BOE (California State Board of Equalization’s). She said the Lessor might report the sale and BOE might thought I didn’t pay tax. (She said she’s never heard of CDTFA and I found that BOE’s duty was transferred to CDTFA in an Act in 2017)
There is another thing I just found today. The lessor told me the need 2-3 weeks to give the title to me. I was like “how can I sell the car in ten days when you need 3 week to give the title to me?” Last time I call the lessor, someone told me it could be 5-7 days. But today the lady just giving me their OFFICIAL ANSWER 2-3 weeks.
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Thanks for the info.
Regarding the title, I had a call with a CDTFA officer before doing the lease buyout. As per her, the 10 day period starts from when you ‘acquire’ the title from lessor. She interpreted it as from the day you receive it. You can enable informed delivery from USPS so you have the proof on when you received it.
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Thanks for sharing that. “The day receive it” making a lot more sense to me.
Did she give that to you in writing?
Nopes. It was a phone call.
She was interpreting this:
“Generally, when a lessee elects the option to purchase the leased property at the expiration of the lease, tax applies to the sale of the property when the option is exercised. Nevertheless, if the lessee transfers title and registration for a vehicle to a third party within 10 days from the date the lessee acquired title from the lessor at the expiration or termination of a lease it is presumed that the transfer of the vehicle to the lessee was a sale to the lessee for purposes of resale.”
Ref: Exemptions & Exclusions: Vehicles, Vessels, Aircraft – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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My GM Volt lease expire in October payout 18500 plus tax in SoCal Caruana offer today 21553 Please help see w hat are option I have I bought car with 1 pay, Also separate question can my daughter buy a car without paying sales tax twice Thanks