Posted on 12/08/2012 3:50:23 AM PST by LiveFreeOrDie2001
So I saw this deal on a nice car on an Automotive enthusist's website. The car was in California, I am in Minnesota.
I agree to buy the car, fly down 1-way, check out the car and do the following:
- Write up a purchase agreement for the amount (I have a copy).
- Give him a Bank Cashier's Check for the full amount (I have a copy).
- We go to the DMV in Ca., do all the paperwork and I drive home to Mn. (I have a copy).
Now the problem....
Minnesota says the car is much more than what I payed for it... like $5,000 more. (Well, NO KIDDING, it was a deal, that's why I went to that extent to get it!)
Minnesota will not give me the clear title for the car until I pay several hundred more.
Can they really do this?
Isn't there some Commerce Clause?
I payed in full for the transaction and the transaction is complete!!
This was a YEAR ago and I do not want to give them more money if not necessary!
I’ve done exactly what you’ve done several times, scoured ads nationwide for a specific vehicle I wanted, found it off in some other state in the condition I wanted at a price I was willing to pay, then got a cheap one way ticket out to buy it and drive it back home.
The difference is, you paid the tax in the seller’s state when you as the buyer resided in a different state, whose tax jurisdiction is actually the applicable one over you as buyer.
You’re stuck, pay up. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. You drive it back with temporary tags and register it in your home state next time.
It was always like this. If you bought a car elsewhere and bring it in state to register it, you pay the valuation that the state assigns to it. Usually they follow the actual sale price, but if it looks like you are hiding the full cost, they go by valuation from a published source. You are supposed to declare all out of state purchases for taxes, but most people don’t. Since you have to register the car, you can’t avoid it. You failed to do your homework, so shame on you.
In Wis. parents selling to a child there is no sales tax on that sale.
Must have been a heck of a car and a great deal to fly from MN to CA.
What kind of car was it and can you post pics of it?
I agree!
Post #40 is the pic.
Guilty...?? :-)
I’m in Idaho I just did a deal on a PT Cruiser for a friend in NY. The car was a 2006 with 8k miles and under priced. Plus it was a desert car which is desirable.
We shipped the car for $800 along with a signed title and bill of sale, and only NY taxes were collected. Had the car been driven, it would have had to be titled in ID and taxes paid too.
As it turns out, you can’t fly to ID from NY and drive it back for $800.
Personally for myself, I would avoid buying a car in CA especailly with their extra emission control equipment versus the other states. I have ties between Colorado (home state) and Indiana where I am from.
I have a vehicle permanently in Indiana and I have been contemplating getting Indiana registration for the vehicle but however, Indiana has strict enforcement on window tinting where as Colorado is pretty lenient. I talked with the Indiana BMV and State Police and they mentioned if I leave a vehicle permanently in Indiana even if I am not a resident, I am suppose to get IN registration. However, technically if you hold a Colorado license, all vehicles you own are suppose to have Colorado registration. But to get Indiana registration, I have to give up the Colorado title which then cancels my Colorado registration. Indiana doesn’t give you the option to keep your out of state title unlike Colorado.
When I moved from Indiana to Colorado back in 1995, when I switched my tags to Colorado, I kept the Indiana titles since I didn’t know if I was going to stay or go back to Indiana. This was on two vehicles. Over a year later, one vehicle was traded in and the other one which was my pickup truck, I kept for several more years. About a year before I got rid of the truck, I gone ahead and traded the IN title for a CO title since at that point, I was set to stay in Colorado.
On my car kept in Indiana, I keep it stored at a storage place and I go back often but the thing, the town where it is kept in and where I often drive around has a reputation for being very strict on motor vehicle law
Not guilty!
That’s the one I would pick too. I’m guessing it has a blower then? That would be a lot of rwhp for a heads/cam only car.
Maggie Supercharger
Headers + performance exhaust
All new suspension
Tuned
LS2 American Muscle, baby. :-)
You made sense up to there.
How did Minnesota get title to the car you bought in California?
From the letter:
“The reported (and documented) purchase price is lower than the fair market value of xx,xxx as reported in used car price guides.
Well, duh. We went through a Great Recession. Prices went down. I found a deal. The stupid car guides do not reflect the Recession.
Ugh.
I think you have to plan ahead, my brother bought a pickup in Oregon and I had to be at our local DMV when the papers were done. The pickup was originally registered here, paying only our registration and tax. Papers were faxed to our DMV, I wrote the check. Paperwork was faxed back for my brother and the plate was mailed to him. He was working there at the time, but had the paper plate faxed to him if he had wanted to drive it back right away.
At this point I think you will have to pay again to get the car registered. Sounds like they are treating it as another registration.
Used car prices have been up substantially the last few years.
It sounds like scumbag big government’s got you by the short and curlies.
Anyway, that’s a nice car. Enjoy it!
By the way, I never heard of these issues in Pennsylvania, although I can’t say they don’t happen.
Just never heard of any.
I’ve bought new cars out of state, I live near the Virginia border and don’t care for the Toyota dealership conglomerate here. I can escape it by going to Danville or Martinsville. They handle the paperwork, charge NC sales tax and submit it to Raleigh, the NC state capitol, for you.
I’m officially jealous. Makes me miss my modded out tbss.
Vehicles purchased in another state. Minnesota allows credit for state sales tax required to be paid to another state. However, if the other state’s tax rate is lower, you owe the difference in rates to Minnesota.
From this MN document -
https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/forms-documents/Documents/SalesTax.pdf
I remember a few years ago the Commanding General at Lejeune put the kabash on at least one big dealership in Jacksonville because they were ripping off Marines. It was too easy - - piles of 18-25 year-old Marines would return from deployment with a wad of combat pay and they didn’t really care to waste time shopping or making the best deal. They just wanted that flashy pickup truck TODAY! Naturally, the dealerships took advantage. Once the general got involved, that gravy train came to an end real fast.
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