Dealers can ask for the option to transfer it directly to their name.
However, leasing companies do not need to honor the payoff quote to you, and may change different rates to dealers.
Yes, VW wanted over $4k for the privilege of transferring directly to a dealer instead of to me. ($15.3k buyout vs. $19.5k 3rd party buyout). I bought the car from VW with the intent on selling it to Vroom, but I was hoping to avoid the additional waiting time for a fresh title from the DMV in only my name. Vroom refused to take the car with the signed VW Credit title, even though it’s clearly been signed over to me. Sigh.
How long did it take you to get the CDTFA-111 approved?
The approval took one day. I picked it up that same day.
Note, CDTFA didn’t accept the appraisal I had from CarMax as proof of sale. They needed a document indicating the car was actually sold. I ended up selling it to a private party and using that as the bill of sale as proof.
So the dealer wants the title in my name before they will sign a bill of sale, which is required to get a 211, but the CDTFA needs a signed bill of sale before they will issue me a 211?
Did you do any research into what it would take to get the sales tax refunded? It appears that’s the only way to actually execute this trick, unless you have a really cooperative private buyer (like you did).
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I did some light research. I had one conversation with the CDTFA about it. They said it is possible, there is explict call out for “Purchases for Resale” from their website:
You can apply for the rebate online. The one person I talked to made it sound difficult and not common.
She gave a tip that you need to make sure the car isn’t used for personal use, and mentioned lots of people get denied for that. That means making sure any miles since purchase are for resale purposes (since you’ll have a odometer reading when you buy from a lessor and sell to third party). I think it probably makes sense to have a log.
OK, thanks. Your checklist was pretty helpful.
I’ll share my experience as well, hopefully it is helpful. I was ~19mos and ~9500 miles into my 24/7.5k e-Golf lease at the beginning of August and discovered that Vroom was willing to give me $21.3k for the car. My buyout at the time was $15.3k, so I immediately started the process. I had Vroom pull my 3rd party dealer buyout, but I wasn’t expecting VW to be quite as greedy as they were - they wanted $19.5k from Vroom.
So I mailed a check off to VW Credit for $15.3k, and requested that they expedite the title (which they did not - first snag). It took VWC about a week to process my check and paperwork and put the original title in the mail, which I received ~15 days after mailing my check (I paid for expedited processing, they lost the separate check for that and snail-mailed it anyway). Since the title took so long to arrive, Vroom revised their quote pretty dramatically - from $21.3k down to just $17.9k. Sigh. Still a good chunk back, but not quite what I was hoping for.
This is where the real trouble starts. I took the title to Autonation, who offered to match Vroom’s quote. The dealer spoke to Autonation corporate, and then informed me that they were unwilling to buy the car with VWC’s name still on the title, even though it had been signed by VWC and I had a lien release letter as well. Vroom told me the same thing a day later - unless the title was in my name exclusively, they wouldn’t touch the deal. In CA, you can use REG-262 to do multiple title transfers without getting a fresh title each time, but neither dealer was willing to do it.
So I started down the path of getting the title transferred, and immediately discovered (as lease_buyout mentioned) that in order to get a CDTFA-111 exemption approved, you need a signed bill of sale showing that you have the car pre-sold to its eventual new home. Well, I wasn’t going to get that from Vroom or Autonation without a fresh title, which meant that I wasn’t going to be able to get the exemption. I would need to find a private party to sell the car to, and I just wasn’t interested in the hassle of that.
At this point, I just gave up and decided to keep the car. I still paid about 20% less than private party value and I love the car (I had planned to lease another one once it was gone), and I chalked it up to “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want”.
IMO, the only way to sell a lease buyout to a dealer (Vroom, etc) in CA would be to follow these steps in this order:
- Get a buyout quote from your leaseholder and mail them a check. You must stop driving the car at this point. Any use of the car after this will trigger a use tax bill in CA. Pay them for whatever expedited title processing (and hope they don’t lose your check for that, like VWC did mine).
- Wait for the original title to arrive. The day it arrives, take it to the DMV, transfer the title into your name, and pay the sales tax. Pay for expedited title processing to speed this process up. At this point, your 10 day clock starts. ("The sale of a vehicle to a lessee by a lessor may be considered a nontaxable sale for resale. If the lessee transfers title and registration to a third party within 10 days from the date the lessee acquires title from the lessor at the expiration or termination of a lease, the sale will be presumed to be a sale for resale. Transfer of title and registration occurs when the lessee endorses the certificate of ownership.)
- Within 10 days, you need to receive the new title from the DMV and sign a bill of sale with Vroom, Carvana, etc. showing that you sold the car. This may be impossible, given the time it takes to get a title from the DMV, but the way the law is written, this is what is required.
- Use this bill of sale and the paperwork from the original title transfer to show that you sold the car within 10 days and request a refund of the sales tax paid. This should be technically possible using CDTFA-101, but I would contact the CDTFA first to find out exactly what documentation they will ask you to provide (call your local office - mine was incredibly helpful).
I would like to believe that there’s some leeway allowed in the 10-day rule, since my CDTFA office said their leadtime for processing an exemption was 8 days, but that’s another question that you should ask them before you embark on this journey.
This is not a fun process, and because of the way the 10-day exemption is timed (from receipt of original title to sale of vehicle), it may not actually be possible when companies like Vroom/Autonation are involved.
Hope this helps. If you manage to do it, please tell us about it. 
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Wow, your story is almost exactly the same as mine:
- My car was also a VW e-Golf 24/7.5K lease with similar miles
- My car personal payoff was similar ~$15K and dealer payoff was ~$19K
- My car quote was similar but from CarMax and ~$18K (your second quote)
- VW credit also messed up expediting my title, said they “forgot” the separate check for shipping too
Where we diverge is I went the private buyer/CDTFA-111 route.
Ack, feels very hard to time correctly, I think rush processing is 7-10 business days from DMV too. CDTFA mentioned when I called in it can be beyond 10 days if you are buying for the intent to resale, afraid to hear what caveats might be lurking behind this route though (lol).
Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out as you expected, but sounds like you still had a good outcome by keeping the car. Also would like to hear if others manage to do this too 
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I did this about 6 months ago with an e golf. Buyout 15.2k, got an offer from Carstub, and completed deal with Carstub. Overnighted a cashiers check to VW with separate check for them to expedite title back to me. Took about 5 business days in all. When I got the title I called the guy from Carstub, he came over right away and I signed the title over. I got 2 cashiers checks for 10k a piece and it was a done deal.
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Nice congrats and thanks for sharing. Do you remember how you signed the title over? When I received my title from VW, it still had their name on it. They used signed the back to me. CarFax needed the title transfered in my name.
I asked the guy from CarStub about having to get the title transferred in my name, he told me it wasn’t necessary. He said to just sign the title, everything else was taken care of. Once I signed the title and gave him the keys, he paid me on the spot.
Very cool. When you received the title, (i) was it in your name already or (ii) in VW’s name and signed to you on the back or (iii) in VW’s name and not signed to anyone?
Just curious how how the title was signed off. I talked to someone who said you can use another space on the back of the title if there are multiple transfers.
I believe it was (iii) I remember it still had VW on the title, but when Carstub showed up, he pointed to where I had to sign and the deal was done.
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I’m very glad I found this thread. I bought out my wife’s GTI as we had a lot of equity in it and only afterwards did I find out that Vroom, Shift and Carvana all wanted the title to be in my wifes name which would mean cutting a big check to the state of CA for the pleasure of just passing it on to a 3rd party seller. I also tried Carmax to no avail. Once I found this thread I contacted CarStub and they offered me $500 less than Carmax, BUT, they would take the title as is which meant no waits and no paying taxes to CA. The appraiser came out within an hour from me calling them and after reviewing the car cut me checks for the total amount.
Also just to clarify, VW name was still on the title but it was of course signed so we could transfer it directly to CarStub.
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Sorry to bump an old thread. But since I’m also in the middle of a lease buyout resale with an eGolf in California, I figured I’d ask my question here
I started this process earlier this month with a very cooperative private party buyer for my egolf. The positive equity is about $3000
I received title from VW credit on 3/22, however they date on the title says 3/18.
My buyer is picking up the car tomorrow 3/30) so i hope the 10 day grace period starts from when I received title on 3/22
The challenge I have is i just now notices that the title from VW credit lists my purchase price. My buyer will obviously see this when I hand over title to them. I hope it doesn’t cause the sale to fall through. Can I scratch out the dollar amount on the title? I’m not sure that will help as it will look like I am trying to hide something.
I’m somewhat in a panic because I want the sale to go through, and I don’t want to pay the use tax. Any pointers on how I move forward?
Just say that was your payoff, but you paid quite a bit down to get it there. Like if you did a one-pay and the payoff is just the residual, etc. or if you financed it and didn’t have many payments left.
This is indeed a very informative topic.
There may be a leeway based on what few other people documented here: California sales tax on lease end buyout - be educated! | Inside EVS Forum
GHTech is correct about minimal driving of the vehicle once you have the title in your possession. If you can’t sell the vehicle within 10 days, you will need to record any miles required to sell the vehicle (e.g. prospective buyer test drives), and then complete a form from the California tax authorities.
I’m in the process right now with my ID4. The issue I’m having is how to effect the lease buyout without paying the use tax they’ve baked into my payoff quote. Are you all referring to the use tax on the residual and just paid the payoff use tax? Were you able to successfully get VW to remove the taxes they were including in the lease payoff? Or is there a process to get those use taxes refunded?
Basically, I’m one month into my lease and my payoff is $39,8xx.xx. Vroom is offering me $39K. My payoff is including $1600 in taxes on the $18K of payments I won’t be making but isn’t including any taxes on the $22K residual. Unless I’m reading this wrong it seems like I’d still owe DMV taxes on the residual if I was to keep/title the vehicle.
What state are you in?
Sorry, I’m in CA. I thought this discussion was specific to CA so I didn’t specify
Does anyone know what kind of title VW will send me if I pay it off? Is it just their title released to me or is it a title in my name that I can sign to someone else?