How WA resident buys a car CA and drive back home

Ask the Hackrs
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1

I am travelling in California and want to buy a car and drive back to Washington state. Different dealers gave two different answers:
** One said I don’t need registration in CA but pay CA tax and get a one way permit to drive.
** the other said I need registration in CA using a friend’s address. This causes a $500-700 CA registration fee.

For both answers, I will pay the CA-WA tax diff and register it in WA after I get home.
Anyone has a similar experience?

2

All of that is nuts. You should be able to just have them register it in WA and you pay WA tax. Anything else - find another dealer.

I suspect they just don’t want to deal with out of state registration for PMA reasons as well as laziness. And in this market they can sort of get away with that attitude.

Why are you planning to buy out of state in the first place?

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3

I think you will have to CA tax. Not sure about CA tags.

4

If you are purchasing out of state, the only way you do not pay sales tax is if you ship it. If you want to pick it up, you would get a one-way permit but still pay CA sales tax. You do not pay registration, you would pay it in the state you are registering the vehicle in.

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5

This ^^ :100:

6

This is what I believe. But the dealer wants to charge me ~$500. They said I must have a CA address, so I provide with my CA friend’s address.
they may be working around their out-state sale policy? Or they just want to play a trick and collect money from me?

7

Refer them to this →

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/license-plates-decals-and-placards/temporary-operating-permits/

In lieu of California registration, you can get a one trip permit (for a fee) to move a vehicle: California Vehicle Code (CVC) §4003

  • When unladen, for one continuous trip from a place within California to a place in or outside California or from outside California to a place in California (by the most direct route).

https://twitter.com/CA_DMV/status/1329187156217241601?s=20&t=f8spL5_LXnm93VQ5nIJLGw

It does say “unladen”, so not sure if that will work for you, but you might be able to tweet @CA_DMV and see if you can get confirmation.

Cost may be around $50 - https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-registration-procedures-manual-2/permits-and-decals/temporary-operating-permit-top-reg-19f/

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8

That sounds borderline fraudulent (ianal tho)

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