What might work?
A big fight to get your sales tax back.
Versus my thoughts of ‘oh man you are SOL if they did it that way’
Yes, that is what I am planning to do. Even if they forcefully collect it from me after I get the title and make the sale within 10 day, immediately I will reach out to them asking them to file for a refund on my behalf using
https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/cdtfa101.pdf which seems like the form which dealerships file to get sale tax refund instead of https://cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/cdtfa101dmv.pdf which is the form for private party paying sales tax to dealership.
I do want to document all the conversation with them where they are forcing me to pay sales tax through them even when I a show them the rule so that I can make a consumer affair/BBB case if they slack off in filling for refund which I am sure they will.
I think they just want to force me in returning it so that they can go and sell it and get heavy profit as it is only driven 4k miles on 24k miles lease 
at this point, id just give my business to another dealer.
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In NorCal the Nissan dealerships are making lease buyout difficult. I called many other dealership most said they are not doing buyout of other dealerships and some who are doing are slamming various fee (because nissan contract as a term additional dealership fee if applicable) like 750 inspection fee etc.
I think dealers in California are now trying to keep the inventory they can control. However, the new requirement shows they found another way to discourage selling the car to the other outlets of your choice. This is the second post in as many days as I have read about this tax tactic. Of course, it is speculation, but perhaps they are hoping for a slim chance to get the car themselves, as many people will give in upon realizing they will lose the taxes they once were recouping.
I checked my printed contract and saw the same; the Ford dealer I leased from is the Lessor. This is the first time I noticed it, and I have read the agreement, so many times over the last three years I could not possibly count. But CAB West (FMC) is the Lessor listed on every registration and insurance document.
I am grateful to read all of this before my buyout to prepare for the things that just months ago were not an issue.
I doubt the taxes is a planned tactic, only because it’s such an obscure thing that hardly anyone is aware exists. I think it’s far more likely that the dealership had just always been told “we collect taxes because taxes are due” and this niche cases is so far out of the norm, they don’t know what to do.
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this. When in doubt, you fall back on what you know and what you’ve always done. Which in this case it’s collect the taxes. They don’t care that you will sell the car in 10-days. What if it doesn’t go through?
Burden does seem to be on dealers to file for the refund and to pass it on to the lessee that bought it out.
I agree with what you say, but you still have to pay the tax even if the third-party sale does not go through (if that is what you are referring to?). You are just paying it to the California DMV directly.
I am confused because, in the “California 10 day tax-exempt for lease buyout” thread, I presumed those who recouped the tax paid it directly to the DMV and not the dealers. Perhaps I was wrong in my presumption.
That is where I am personally becoming confused in these current posts. So this is why I added the speculation portion.
What’s the point of this appointment?
The dealer will never sell you a car without collecting sales tax.
You can keep repeating this same head-hitting-wall action at every dealer under the sun.
I don’t think that is the case. If you see the publication in the main post the rule specifically specify the burden to pay taxes when a lessee buys it on the lessee. The lessor can choose to file report of sale then only they need to be responsible for taxes.
In all other threads where you read about people going to DMV and doing the transaction is because they brought the car from lessor which is typically a financial institution and they don’t care about this I guess they just want to get their money and release the lien and will be more happy to give the headache of reporting tax to lessee.
Even with tax + registration I will come out with little bit if I resell (given the market does not swing weirdly in next 4-6 weeks, that is my risk, which I am willing to take). So it is important for me to do the buyout but with an informed decision and covering all aspects to get a refund later through dealership. Clearly they want to make it more difficult than it has to be either due to lack of information or just ignorance.
Benedetto on this community reached out to me through private chat and offered the following:
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They can have a Nissan dealer/financial buy the car from me through who will be in mid-west. They can do it even though Nissan does not allow third party buyout because they are Nissan dealer. The dealership will give me a check for the equity in the car.
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They will meet or beat the price offered by Carvana etc but he said he can only know the final price and whether one his associate dealers can buy it or not on Monday as in Michigan car dealerships cannot legally operate on Sunday.
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Once they make offer they will provide me a purchase agreement, the car will be shipped to midwest.from my driveway at no cost to me and once they receive and verify the car they will cut an equity check to me and pay off the buyout to Nissan.
All this is a very new information to me and maybe it is typical thing in leaser hackr but is this all true and legal? Shipping the car without a payment in pocket just on a purchase agreement seem very weird to me. Is this a common practice?
Quite a few dealers operate in this fashion. I have done it before without incident.
Can happen at large-chain dealerships too. You get a bill of sale and corporate or head office will mail you a check (not payment on the spot).
Most dealerships wait for the title to clear before mailing out the equity check
So it seem like a common way of operating. Good to know. How legally binding is the purchase agreement of such interstate buying. What happens if something happen to the car while being transported? Will I be on hook to return the car or its cost to Nissan?
I can confirm from personal experience that this process worked out fine for me. @Benedetto is a straight shooter. I’ve also sold other vehicles in a similar method without any incident.
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