Buying a Car From Another State

[Polarbert]

So after doing six months of hard overtime at my new job I'm thinking of purchasing a car to establish some credit history for myself and because I wanted to have something nice for when I turn 30.


Its probably mostly common sense and something I could google, but I wondered if there was anything to be concerned with when purchasing a car out of state?

I'd originally looked at getting a car close to where I live, but due to the fact that there are only about 40 of the car I'm looking at for sale in all of America, I'm a bit st out of luck for that. The upside of this is that I will potentially get a memorable road trip back in my newly acquired steed.

I'm looking at Z4M Roadsters, and from what I've read they seem to be pretty reliable, many of them have quite low miles considering the age of the car so there shouldn't be too much wrong with them. From what I can see the process should be along the lines of:

1.Plane ticket to said area of Americur
2.Hand over monies
3.Drive the nuts off it back to California
4.Hand over monies to DMV for registration, sales tax etc
5.Drive the nuts off it in California

Now, who can be the first to pick holes in my bombproof plan?

[Polarbert]

unrepentant said:

Check that the state you are buying the car in has a reciprocal arrangement with the state you live in or you may have to pay sales tax twice......

Interstate sales tax can be a bit of a minefield and the rules vary state by state. In Indiana we used to have to charge Indiana sales tax wherever the car was going to be titled unless the buyer did not set foot in the state (if we shipped the car). If we shipped we charged no tax and the buyer could sort it out at the other end. That's all now changed and we have to charge and collect the sales tax applicable to the state and county where the buyer lives.

If you're buying from a dealer they should take care of it all. If you're financing they will have to deal with it all at the point of sale anyway as it will be tied up in the finance agreement.

Edited by unrepentant on Tuesday 7th July 19:08

Thanks everyone. Some good tips.

I hadn't known about the sales tax in another state thing. I'm hoping to get a personal car loan through my bank and buy privately. Thats the ambition anyway. Whether it will work out is another story.