With lease assumption, how does the local DMV get involved? Do I need to pay any sort of sales tax? Do the tags belong to the title company and remain there for the duration of the lease? Does that change if I cross state lines? I realize every state is different. I’m in MD but really just wondering in general.
Generally speaking tags “belong” to the driver, not the finance/lease company. You are ultimately responsible for registering the car, so the tags/registration are yours. I use scare quotes around belong since technically the state owns those tags not you. But you know what I mean.
BMWFS sends your paperwork after assumption is completed. They send via mail to take to your local tag agency. It basically stated that a lease assumption has been done, ownership has not changed and no sale has occurred. The new leasee needs to obtain registration in the name of XXXXXXX. Since there was no paper title created (only electronic lien), only a transfer of registration needs to occur.
They included an “application for certificate of title with/without registration” that showed that it’s a “transfer”. It also included a power of attorney for me from BMWFS to complete the task as well as proof of insurance. It was a stack of paper, went to tag agency, they knew what to do with it, and the whole thing cost me $14 since i still had tags from my previous car.
I don’t know how other leasing companies handle it but that’s how BMW does it.
i just saw you live in MD, if I’m not mistaken you pay the tax on the whole car, not just the monthly payment. If your car is assumed from a state where the tax is only assessed on the monthly payment then you will probably have to pay some lump sum in taxes. Not sure how that would work, you have to contact the leasing company.
Someone on this forum from NY did it and they got a separate bill from the state in the mail for some lump sum to cover the taxes after he already got the car. Came out of nowhere because nobody told him.
Fellow Marylander here, I assumed a lease from NJ via Swapalease, expecting I’d have to pay some difference in sales tax at the MVA. The guy behind the desk indicated that since NJ’s rate is higher than MDs’s 6%, no tax was due. I just paid for registration, and tagfees. As I understand it, NJ taxes the depreciation (down + lease payments less finance charges), so technically Maryland’s tax on full sales price should come to a higher tax bill, but I didn’t argue, because I’ve heard so many conflicting answers (including from the MVA itself)!