VW lease with CA registration but car is in Colorado

Ask the Hackrs
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1

Hi Everyone,
I’m looking to sell my leased VW Passat to Vroom. It’s a 2018 Passat registered in CA but the vehicle is now in Colorado until the end of the lease. The lease ends August 9, 2021. My current buyout is $13,462.43 and Vroom offered about $19,000. I’ve heard through this forum that VW will tack on thousands to the buyout for a dealer so I’m guessing it’s better if I buy it and then sell it to Vroom.

My questions are:

  1. If it’s registered in CA and I buy it from VW Finance, then sell it to Vroom, do I have to pay sales tax?
  2. Since the car is in Colorado, can I send the title to my daughter in Colorado so she can sell to Vroom?
  3. Is it worth the hassle or should I just sell it to Vroom and let them pay off VW Finance?

Thanks for your help.

2

If you buy it out, you will have to pay sales tax on the balance.

You could buy it out and then gift it to your daughter, but you’d need to look at Colorado tax law to see if tax would be due on that transfer or not.

3

As discussed in this thread, you have ten days after buying out a lease in California to sell the car and avoid paying sales tax. California 10 day tax exempt For lease buyout

Whether you can actually get it done within 10 days is a different matter.

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4

Do not do this until you find out the dealer payoff on the car. What if it ends up being $19,000 and you net $0? You never know.

5

Do all the companies (Vroom, Carvana, Algo, etc.) require the end of the lease to be 60 days or more before they buy the vehicle?

6

Carvana is the only I know for sure does that

7

In CO, check CarMax as well. They actually came in higher on a lease buyout offer than other competitors. And no issue with the 60 days until lease end issue like Carvana.

8

So far Vroom came in at $19,000, Aldo $18,300, Carvana $18,087 and CarMax at $17,600.

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9

I don’t believe you can sell to Carvana in this case, unless you get it done in the next 5 days.

10

Why? Lease ends in August.

I sold my Tiggy to Carvana and yes the buyout was higher than my payoff but there was still profit in there. Just start the process with Carvana and Carvana will let you know before you commit.

11

Because August 9th is nearing 60 days away and Carvana won’t buy out a lease in its final 60 days.

12

I would either do CarMax or AL Go. Vroom will take too long. AL GO is pretty quick and can get it done in less than 10 days so you won’t have to pay sales tax.

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13

Do you know if Algo will buy the car with VW Finance’s name still on the title (with my name as well), even though it has been signed by VW with a lien release letter as well?

I’ve read on other posts that Vroom, Carvana won’t do the deal unless the title is in my name exclusively, which would mean a trip to the CA DMV with more delays.

14

Didn’t work that way with me. The documentation is clear between VW and Carvana. Carvana comes to your house with a check and it’s done.

Not much risk in initiating the process. If you don’t want to proceed, just cancel and nothing is lost

15

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