Registering an Out of State Car

Hi All,
I bought my pro in Arizona and have run into a couple road blocks trying to register it.

most recently there has been an issue with the sales tax. California is saying I owe the money. However, I paid sales tax in Arizona and was told it would be forwarded onto the California DMV and I would only be responsible for the difference.

Does anyone have any feedback or insight on this?

 

Contact the dealership. They should have done your paperwork to your requirements. They should be able to provide the paperwork. Five bucks, they didn't.

I've run into this issue before of dealerships saying, "Oh yeah we got it." and then not submitting the proper paperwork. What I've learned is not to leave the dealership until I have plates or signed paperwork that my plates are on the way.

 

Yikes. From what I understand, you pay no taxes for registration for wherever you’re buying if you don’t reside there. You pay those taxes once you register the vehicle in your state. Sounds like the dealership you got screwed you over. I could be wrong though.

 

Sounds good thanks guys!
Will be reaching out to the dealer on Monday. Their title clerk had already left when I called.

 

I'm in CA but got my 4R from OK. I didn't pay any sales tax in OK and paid it all to CA DMV. On one of the forms, I remember seeing the place where you input the amount of sales tax paid to another state.

I found it on the CA DMV Application for Title or Registration form, See Section 7 - For Out-of-State or Out-of-Country Vehicles. It says "this amount will be credited toward any Use Tax in CA."

Here is the form.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/uploads/2020/06/reg343.pdf


EDIT- As long as you have a sales contract that shows the amount of taxes paid to AZ, I think you are fine. Overall, registering an out-of-state vehicle in CA was a huge pain in the ass. I had to do a VIN verification as well as a smog inspection, all during the height of Covid with most DMV offices closed.

 

I had that happen. I called the dealer and they said oops our mistake and cut me a check. fedexed it to me same day.

 

I did that same exact thing. Although I would argue it was nice because they never required I go to an actual DMV. It just has taken a long time. in fact still waiting for dmv to process the last of the paperwork and I bought mine in March.

 

Wanted to post an update...
Went back today and spoke to someone different and went to a different DMV office.

I was able to start the process and was only responsible for about $600 in taxes. After explaining the situation I was able to get my late fees waived.

Only bummer is since so much time has past (2 months since I bought it) Arizona started the process of creating a title so I need to wait for that and have it sent to California.

 

Bought my 4 runner in New Hampshire. Paid the dealer to do the transfer of plates at the Mass DMV and paid sales tax directly to the dealer who gives it the Mass RMV on my behalf. When I picked up truck, I had new plates, registration in hand.
So yes, dealers in other states can collect sales tax, for other states, they just need to send it....which in OP's case, I guess it got messed up?

 

This happened for me too. The dealer forgot to send me a check for the taxes. So I had to call them and they blamed covid.

 

ahh,the tax man cometh....very common glitch...when purchasing from one state, and getting a title in another. Some states, the tax bill isn't too bad...others, it can be brutal. TN's sales tax, is high..9.25 % ..but we also don't have a State Income tax, either.

 

Not exactly.
I paid taxes to the dealership in Arizona, and Arizona forwards them onto California on my behalf.

 

Just an FYI,when you purchased Toyota out of state, the dealers use a third party, national registration company(could be a toyota subsidiary for all I know) but your dealership never actually handles any correspondence with your dmv if you are from a different state than where you purchased your vehicle. This is what I was told by the finance guy at the dealership where I purchased my truck. I purchased in North Carolina. they forward all of the taxes collected and any pertinent info. on to this company.They then handle all of the correspondence with the out of state(your home state) DMV. Otherwise the dealer would have a full staff just doing out of state registration. Cheaper for them this way. Oddly enough, I got a check back from my dealer today for @$60 because they slightly over calculated the taxes required by my home state.

 

Same here E man......I got a check from the dealer for $35.00 after a few weeks of ownership.

 

I think because of timing I had to send the check to the DMV myself. It was March this happened as everything everywhere had completely shut down. Thus there was nobody at the dealership, or third party or people at the DMV for a couple weeks to facilitate this. So they just cut me a check to make it easy

 

This is hopefully not going to be as bad as what you lot have experienced -- but I am preparing to buy in MA and register in NY. I was event thinking to pay for the vehicle while it is on its way to the dealer, such that I can take the bill of sale to the NYS DMV so as to literally be able to bring the plates with me when I go pick it up (whenever that is, but allegedly it was "born" yesterday).

 

Last update.
Finally was able to get the 4Runner all registered! What a nightmare buying out of state turned into.

 

Congrats! I'm freaking out a little because I still haven't been able to get mine registered and I bought it in August! Bought it in NC. the dealer sent all of the stuff up to NJ for registration, but due to Covid, certain DMV offices are only doing certain things. So it sat there for a month and they sent it back to the dealer. Then, instead of contacting me or trying something else, the dealer sat on it for a month. Finally it got sent up at the end of November to a proper DMV office. Typically, the stuff just shows up here at my house or back at the dealer but in this case I've heard nothing and I have no idea what is going on. I've made 3 appointments with DMV. The first I got turned away. The second was actually for today but it got cancelled because we had a snow storm. Now my next appointment isn't until mid January, which may put me outside of my legal abilities to have the car on the road. Good luck actually talking to someone at DMV about it....

 

I feel your pain. This took me 4 trips to get resolved. Added bonus for me was I got retested for vision and got my glasses restriction removed since I got lasik, so killed two birds with one stone haha.

 

Thank heavens I bought it from a cooperative dealer in MA, and just went to the NYS DMV an hour away and got it done. The dealer just has to be prepared and it helps if in an adjoining state and not the first time someone from your state has bought one there.

 

Check that the vehicle isn't a 49 state vehicle before smogging it. Its will say if its a 49 state vehicle on the inside of the bonnet.

 

You still have to smog it in CA even if it has the emissions sticker.

 

Reviving an old thread… I am getting ready to buy out of state in the Midwest and registering in California. Is there a company that will handle all this for me?

 

No, but it’s not as difficult as people make it sound.

When you are purchasing out of state, make sure they charge you California taxes and send the appropriate California taxes for your county to the DMV, if you don’t pay California taxes at the time of purchase you’re going to have to pay them when you register the car.

Also, you may have to do a smog check on the vehicle when you bring it into California, even though it’s a new car. It’s dumb.

 

The dealership said that I would have to take care of taxes and registration when I get the car back to California. Maybe if I ask them and insist that they take care of it they will. Just want it to be as smooth as possible.

 

Through a dealer or private party? Each will be looked at differently by Ca. DMV, and the later requires a notarized bill of sale, as well as pictures, at minimum.

 

This is a new vehicle through a Toyota dealership.

 

Ca. DMV offers all the information needed for a dealer to charge the correct amount of tax etc.

If they're not aware....provide them this link.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehic...ion-fees/vehicle-registration-fee-calculator/

 

As above have said, it was hard at all. I scheduled my SMOG when I drove back to Cali. Saved a ton of money buying out of state and got to see lots of ID and OR on the way back . They're super lenient about temp tags right now because of COVID.

 

This is good to hear. Will they walk you through everything at the dmv with just a bill of sale or sales contract from the dealership?