I’ve had the joy of dealing with FCA dealers the past couple of weeks negotiating a deal on a Gladiator.
We’ve mostly agreed on a price but our latest problem is the registration. I am a Pennsylvania resident with a PA drivers license. I am currently in California riding out COVID. The dealer insists that I have to register it in CA first, then I can transfer it. They didn’t seem to care that the car would be on a truck to PA by mid May.
They won’t do the PA registration. They claim they’re not setup for it. Whatever, I’ll do it my own. I had to tell the sales guy that I just needed an MSO from them and I’ll get power of attorney for US Bank. He said that he would ask the DMV clerk and get back to me. I offered them to give me a ‘One Trip Permit’ (CVC 4003) but they haven’t gotten back to me on that.
Not really a specific question, I’m just looking for any advice.
California is a pain in the ass with out of state registrations. You may be able to get around some of it by having the vehicle shipped. If you were picking it up in person, you’d be s.o.l.
You can get a one-day temp registration to take the car out of California, and you can also get a 30-day temp registration that is valid outside of the state (dealer can give you both).
What you cannot avoid if you take delivery in CA is CA sales tax on the first payment.
This is how it was explained to me by two different dealers in San Diego.
I don’t know about the sales tax on the first payment if it’s rolled into the lease vs. paid upfront. I didn’t ask that question.
I’m going to try to get that temp tag. It looks like anyone can get those One Trip Permits at any DMV for $19. Is there any benefit for me to get one on my own before taking delivery? Maybe it will push the dealer over.
I’m fine with paying the sales tax on first month since that’s only about $25. I’m just trying to avoid $500 registration vs $64 registration.
I’m also trying to figure out how much is CA laws and how much is FCA dealer being an FCA dealer.
I ended up not leasing anything in California, but I got very close (at least close enough to get to that level of minutiae), but I posted everything I remember.
California not only won’t refund you, they’ll probably lose your paperwork saying you took it out of state and take you to collections for not paying year 2’s registration.
As a former Californian, I can say that sounds about right.
Going to call the DMV ‘help’ line to try to figure this out. The website does say they do refund it. However, it would not surprise me that the refund the registration and not the various fees (that end up being five times as much as the actual registration).
Well I don’t blame the dealer in this case. I wouldn’t risk whatever sanction the regulatory authorities can impose on a dealer based on basically a customer’s pinky promise (“I swear I won’t drive the car… ok, maybe just to my driveway, but that’s it. I swear I won’t drive it in California roads after that”).
Drive it off the lot or have it delivered to a CA address? Totally makes sense for the dealer to cover their behinds. Otherwise what’s his defense if he gets sanctioned? “The customer promised he was going to move out of state in a month”?
That’s a fair point but I do have a Pennsylvania drivers license. I’ve also been looking into a ‘One-Day Trip Permit’ on the DMV website. Here is what it says:
A REG 402T displayed on the windshield or other prominent place on the vehicle may be used in lieu of California registration to move any vehicle required to be registered, except a crane:
Unladen, for one continuous trip from a place within California to another place either within or outside California, or from a place outside California to a place within California.
It appears this is designed for people from OR, NV, AZ to buy a car in California and drive it home. If the dealer issues me this it appears they could cover themselves. Since it’s now my responsibility to drive it back immediately.
I looked at the ‘Simple Refund’ part of the DMV website. This part gave me hope:
Request a refund of vehicle/vessel license fees for a vehicle/vessel that left California before the registration expired and was registered in another state.
