I am in washington, Bellingham (like some others apparently) and I was wondering if anyone here has bought a car from out of state. I have been looking here fo awhile, but the search is taking a long time.

Would I have to pay state sales tax on a car purchased somewhere else?

Is there alot of hoops that you have to jump throgh in order to transfer the title from state to state?

Just looking for some insight, since pretty much everyone on here seems to know what they are talking about.

Thanks.

When you register the car here, you will pay sales tax on the price you paid for the vehicle, plus any extra BS taxes (King County :rolleyes). You don't pay sales tax to the state you're buying the car from.

Just get the seller to sign the title, hopefully you can get them to write down a lower amount than the actual selling price (less taxes for you) and about 6 weeks after you register the car you should get a new title in the mail.

I just bought a California car, and it was a pretty painless process. You pay the same taxes as you would if it was a Washington car, which I believe is 8.9%: http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/OtherTaxes/tax_motorvehicle.aspx

Only thing that might be helpful is to take the previous owner with you to transfer the title to make sure the appropriate signatures are all in order on the previous title.

K.

I was afraid of that. But thanks for the info. Its funny that you mention writing the sales price down lower, because I did that on my last car, and because the DOT thought that the car was worth more, they actually tried to make me pay the sales tax on their estimated value of the car, which was obviously inflated. I had to go get a whole bunch of paper work signed in order to not pay extra. Bastards.

But thanks for the info. I am still wary about buyin a car that I haven't driven, but the more I look the more that I start to consider it.

K.

I was afraid of that. But thanks for the info. Its funny that you mention writing the sales price down lower, because I did that on my last car, and because the DOT thought that the car was worth more, they actually tried to make me pay the sales tax on their estimated value of the car, which was obviously inflated. I had to go get a whole bunch of paper work signed in order to not pay extra. Bastards.

But thanks for the info. I am still wary about buyin a car that I haven't driven, but the more I look the more that I start to consider it.

Afraid of what? You have to pay sales tax or use tax whether it is an in state or out of state car. They should go off of the value on the WA title or the bill of sale if it is an out of state title to figure out how much you owe in taxes. Don't forget that you'll also have to pay for registration, and probably an emissions test.

K.

I was afraid of that. But thanks for the info. Its funny that you mention writing the sales price down lower, because I did that on my last car, and because the DOT thought that the car was worth more, they actually tried to make me pay the sales tax on their estimated value of the car, which was obviously inflated. I had to go get a whole bunch of paper work signed in order to not pay extra. Bastards.

But thanks for the info. I am still wary about buyin a car that I haven't driven, but the more I look the more that I start to consider it.

Well, everyone would write down that they paid two bucks if it could get them out of sales tax, so they have to have some sort of range of acceptable values for which they can derive the proper taxation.

It would be best if you could have them write "gift" for a sales price and then it's a baseline fee of like $75.....give or take a little bit.

It would be best if you could have them write "gift" for a sales price and then it's a baseline fee of like $75.....give or take a little bit.

The GIFTING party, can only ever do this 1 time according to the DOL.
Also, the other way you can get it to pay a little more reasonable taxes.

If there are any mods for the car. Car is worth 10k, mods are 2.5k, tell him you are paying 7.5k for the car, and 2.5k for the mods. Then if you really want to cover your butt, write two seperate checks and take in a copy of the check.
Who says you never get your money back when you mod your car ?? :)
You get someone elses money back I guess lol

K.

I was afraid of that. But thanks for the info. Its funny that you mention writing the sales price down lower, because I did that on my last car, and because the DOT thought that the car was worth more, they actually tried to make me pay the sales tax on their estimated value of the car, which was obviously inflated. I had to go get a whole bunch of paper work signed in order to not pay extra. Bastards.

But thanks for the info. I am still wary about buyin a car that I haven't driven, but the more I look the more that I start to consider it.


I recently purchased a car private party. If you pay less than Fair Market Value for the car, you will be taxed on actual Fair Market Value, regardless of how much you paid for the car. So, a lower sale price won't help much, unless its slightly lower than Fair Market Value. As mentioned above, seeing if the seller will write up the bill of sale for the car as "gifted" to you, your taxes should be much lower.

I recently purchased a car private party. If you pay less than Fair Market Value for the car, you will be taxed on actual Fair Market Value, regardless of how much you paid for the car. So, a lower sale price won't help much, unless its slightly lower than Fair Market Value. As mentioned above, seeing if the seller will write up the bill of sale for the car as "gifted" to you, your taxes should be much lower.

This is not necessarily true. I bought a 2000 Civic for $5300 and definitely did not pay $470 in use tax. I had a bill of sale written up from the seller for $1000 and payed tax based on that and everything went smoothly.

i brought a car from hawaii... all they asked was if sales tax was paid in hawaii... the answer was yes and they sent me the title and WA state plates and tabs after fees were done and emission testing done as well... its like if you own a car in a different state then come to WA why would you pay sales tax again in WA??? i dont get WA laws sometimes... i guess to reside in WA you need to pay as well... wtf

i brought a car from hawaii... all they asked was if sales tax was paid in hawaii... the answer was yes and they sent me the title and WA state plates and tabs after fees were done and emission testing done as well... its like if you own a car in a different state then come to WA why would you pay sales tax again in WA??? i dont get WA laws sometimes... i guess to reside in WA you need to pay as well... wtf

Well, if you've owned the car for more than 90 days in another state, you don't have to pay the sales/use tax.

Either you owned it for at least 90 days or you convinced them that you did, so congrats--this state is excellent at pissing money away on nothing useful as far as I can see.

Okay, here's the scoop.

When you buy a vehicle, and it comes from outside the state, you are required to pay use tax on it. Use tax will vary depending on where you live, but it'll be in excess of 8%

here's a good link that talks about it:
http://dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/usetax.html

When you bring in a vehicle from out of state, you need 3 things:
1) Emissions test, unless you live in an area where they don't do emissions (the boonies) or unless your vehicle is new enough that it's not yet required.

2) Title

3) Bill of Sale

Those 3 things will get you your new WA title (once you pay all your taxes & fees).

Now, if you are buying a vehicle and you're getting a loan on it, your financial institution will typically deal with the licensing and title. (Since they are the lienholders, they never really let you have the title if they are the ones funding the purchase of the vehicle).

The bill of sale is what the DOL will go off of for purchase price. Now, because of years and years of abuse (people saying they bought an E46 M3 for $5000); the WA State DOL now has rules that say your use tax will be on a "fair market value" if your purchase price falls below their system's acceptable range. This is to prevent you from tying to screw Washington out of their use tax revenue because all the dishonest people that have done it in the past.

Now, if you DID buy your car for a price that you think is going to be lower than the DOL's fair value, you have to bring in "proof" of why. First thing you can do is bring in a Internet Blue Book value. THIS HAS TO BE DEALER BLUEBOOK THOUGH!!! They won't take private party blue book. So, run a KBB dealer, and also run the one by edmunds. (note: the DOL won't know what options are on your car, so if you're going for a lower value, don't check every box in the world for options)

In my scenario, I truly bought my E36 Cabrio for a STEAL, and had to "substantiate" why my value was less than the DOL thinks it should have been.

Another that you can substantiate a lower vehicle value is by bringing in a shop's repair estimate that shows enough repairs that are needed to bring it down below that fair value.

I haven't played around with the whole gifting thing, so I don't really have anything to say about that.

Now, if you are buying a car from a distance (like I keep doing for some crazy reason), it's actually MORE DIFFICULT if the seller has the vehicle paid off with title in hand. Because even with overnight shipping, there's going to be a moment in time where the seller has both the vehicle AND the money. Typically, what I do, is have the seller send me the Title overnight. Upon receipt, I overnight or wire them the money. Now, I've got a measly sheet of paper and they've got the money and the car. But there's not really any way around it unless you're willing to pay one of the "escrot" services to be the "middleman". If the seller has a loan on the vehicle, it's actually easier because their finanical institution becomes the middleman.

Now, if you want to know information about having a vehicle shipped across the country, I know everything about how that works too (and all the in's and out's).

I've also had pre-purchase inspections done with vehicles I've bought from across the country.

Now, the easiest way to do the distance transaction is to:

1) have a pre-purchase inspection done first
2) Fly out to look/drive vehicle yourself
3) Pay them cashiers check or cash on the spot
4) Get title on the spot
5) Drive it home

However, it's just never been practical for me to drive it home on the 3 vehicles I've bought from Jersey, New York, and San Diego. Go figure.

If you need me to elaborate on any of this stuff, let me know.

Let's just say that I have many years of college and a couple sets of nifty initials after my name that seem to indicate that I understand all of these financial and tax concepts. :devillook

Well, if you've owned the car for more than 90 days in another state, you don't have to pay the sales/use tax.

Either you owned it for at least 90 days or you convinced them that you did, so congrats--this state is excellent at pissing money away on nothing useful as far as I can see.

I don't know off the top of my head about the '90 days' time frame, but what I will add is that the "other" state would have probably have to be a state where sales/use tax was previously paid. Therefore, if you previously owned the vehicle in Oregon and never paid the tax there, I'm pretty sure that there's a length of time you'd have to own the vehicle in Oregon before coming over so that you'd be exempt from use tax.

Okay, here's the scoop.

When you buy a vehicle, and it comes from outside the state, you are required to pay use tax on it. Use tax will vary depending on where you live, but it'll be in excess of 8%

here's a good link that talks about it:
http://dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/usetax.html

When you bring in a vehicle from out of state, you need 3 things:
1) Emissions test, unless you live in an area where they don't do emissions (the boonies) or unless your vehicle is new enough that it's not yet required.

2) Title

3) Bill of Sale

Those 3 things will get you your new WA title (once you pay all your taxes & fees).

Now, if you are buying a vehicle and you're getting a loan on it, your financial institution will typically deal with the licensing and title. (Since they are the lienholders, they never really let you have the title if they are the ones funding the purchase of the vehicle).

The bill of sale is what the DOL will go off of for purchase price. Now, because of years and years of abuse (people saying they bought an E46 M3 for $5000); the WA State DOL now has rules that say your use tax will be on a "fair market value" if your purchase price falls below their system's acceptable range. This is to prevent you from tying to screw Washington out of their use tax revenue because all the dishonest people that have done it in the past.

Now, if you DID buy your car for a price that you think is going to be lower than the DOL's fair value, you have to bring in "proof" of why. First thing you can do is bring in a Internet Blue Book value. THIS HAS TO BE DEALER BLUEBOOK THOUGH!!! They won't take private party blue book. So, run a KBB dealer, and also run the one by edmunds. (note: the DOL won't know what options are on your car, so if you're going for a lower value, don't check every box in the world for options)

In my scenario, I truly bought my E36 Cabrio for a STEAL, and had to "substantiate" why my value was less than the DOL thinks it should have been.

Another that you can substantiate a lower vehicle value is by bringing in a shop's repair estimate that shows enough repairs that are needed to bring it down below that fair value.

I haven't played around with the whole gifting thing, so I don't really have anything to say about that.

Now, if you are buying a car from a distance (like I keep doing for some crazy reason), it's actually MORE DIFFICULT if the seller has the vehicle paid off with title in hand. Because even with overnight shipping, there's going to be a moment in time where the seller has both the vehicle AND the money. Typically, what I do, is have the seller send me the Title overnight. Upon receipt, I overnight or wire them the money. Now, I've got a measly sheet of paper and they've got the money and the car. But there's not really any way around it unless you're willing to pay one of the "escrot" services to be the "middleman". If the seller has a loan on the vehicle, it's actually easier because their finanical institution becomes the middleman.

Now, if you want to know information about having a vehicle shipped across the country, I know everything about how that works too (and all the in's and out's).

I've also had pre-purchase inspections done with vehicles I've bought from across the country.

Now, the easiest way to do the distance transaction is to:

1) have a pre-purchase inspection done first
2) Fly out to look/drive vehicle yourself
3) Pay them cashiers check or cash on the spot
4) Get title on the spot
5) Drive it home

However, it's just never been practical for me to drive it home on the 3 vehicles I've bought from Jersey, New York, and San Diego. Go figure.

If you need me to elaborate on any of this stuff, let me know.

Let's just say that I have many years of college and a couple sets of nifty initials after my name that seem to indicate that I understand all of these financial and tax concepts. :devillook

absolutely fantastic advice.
I live in washington and flew to minnesota to drive my car back. I did the exact same order.
1) have a pre-purchase inspection done first
2) Fly out to look/drive vehicle yourself
3) Pay them cashiers check or cash on the spot
4) Get title on the spot
5) Drive it home

Trayson,

After searching for advice on buying out of state, this thread, and this post in particular, is the most comprehensive advice I could find. It should be Parked or something. I think this is important advice, as a nation-wide search greatly enhances buying options. Especially if you are looking for less common options with certain color combos (i.e. if you live where it snows and want a stick shift with sport package).

Because a nation-wide search dramatically increases options, I am definitely interested in the details of shipping a vehicle, such as:
1)Typical cost - I assume this depends on distance. Do they charge per mile?
2)What if the car is damaged in shipping? Are there extra cost shipping insurances options they try to push on you?
3)If the car is being shipped, how does the title transfer work? I think I read in another thread that the seller overnights the title, then you send the money. This results in the seller having the money and the car, which was perceived as a small risk. As far as I understand it, if you have the title, couldn't you just report the car as stolen if it doesn't show up? The title is what counts, right?
4)In practice, how many sellers will actually go to this trouble, rather than insisting on selling it to someone local?

Also, is it insane to buy a car without actually driving it? For example, if you have already driven a certain model, wouldn't you be safe buying the same model from a distance, assuming you have seen sufficient pics to judge its cosmetic condition and you have had a PPI performed?

Thanks

Trayson,

After searching for advice on buying out of state, this thread, and this post in particular, is the most comprehensive advice I could find. It should be Parked or something. I think this is important advice, as a nation-wide search greatly enhances buying options. Especially if you are looking for less common options with certain color combos (i.e. if you live where it snows and want a stick shift with sport package).


Thanks for the compliments. I've done this a couple times, and I'm a CPA (i.e. a numbers guy), so I'll share what I can.


Because a nation-wide search dramatically increases options, I am definitely interested in the details of shipping a vehicle, such as:
1)Typical cost - I assume this depends on distance. Do they charge per mile?


Okay on the basics of shipping a car. I am going to cut and paste most of this from a write up that I did on shipping a vehicle.

Like many people, I submitted online requests for transportation bids through a handful of sites on the internet. After my mailbox filled up with a zillion bids, I started to narrow it down. My primary criteria is:

1) Lowest Broker Cost
2) Lowest total Cost

Many people don't know that the amount that they're asking for as a DEPOSIT is actually the amount the broker takes for their services, and the rest of the money is what is offered up to the actual trucker. The broker will list the details on a national trucking board, and supply & demand takes over. So, it's in my best interest to find a broker that is willing to work for a LOW deposit, because that means that my vehicle has more money being offered to the trucker, making it more enticing and in turn making it more likely that my vehicle will move faster.

Lowest total cost is good also, because I'd rather start with offering the trucker on the lower but fair side, rather than throwing excess money at a move that I didn't have to. I *always* have the option of increasing my bid amount if the lower price isn't moving the vehicle.

It can take a while to get someone to be willing to get to the pickup spot to get your car, but that isn't always the fault of the broker. It's supply & demand and my vehicle was priced comparably to other ones with similar routes. Prices for shipping a vehicle are also going to fluxuate depending on the time of year and which way the masses of vehicles are flowing. I guess there's people "snowbirds" that will regularly ship their vehicles South and then back North at consistent times of the year.

Once a trucker to accepts the bid, you will be able to arrange the date of the actual pickup. Pickup will be at the nearest convenient place to you that a semi truck can get to. (Another thing that differentiates brokers is that some, only take payment of the deposit AFTER it's booked and picked up by a truck. That's good for me, because if it got so bad that I had to fly down and get the vehicle myself; I wouldn't have already paid the broker money. It gives them incentive to 'earn their pay'.)

Sometimes a Broker's price isn't the absolute lowest for the deposit/broker fee. However, I've been successful with calling & asking what the deposit amount is, and sometimes you can hit them up to match the lowest broker fee that I had found. Often they were willing to price match, and that's great.

If you choose to go with the broker I've had good luck with (Red Carpet Auto Transport), PLEASE do not tell them that you read a review from me encouraging you to ask them to lower their broker fee. It's already one of the lowest in the market, and I don't need anyone damaging MY relationship with them by saying that it was ME telling you to haggle with them on their broker fee.


In addition, some brokers will recommend that you come to www.transportreviews.com (http://www.transportreviews.com) to see their ratings... Well, after reading the reviews, if your broker has good reviews, you might be inclined to go with them. Be mindful that there's one last important factor to consider: COMMUNICATION. I almost chose a different broker once, but their office was in the midwest and had a two hour time difference. However, the other broker I was thinking about using was over here in the Pacific Time zone (and I later found out their office was 10 minutes from my work!); so I WAS able to get a hold of them.

The thing that clinched the deal was the broker in my timezone had a tagline on her e-mails listing the zillion ways that I could contact her, including via instant messenger. ACCESSABILITY OF COMMUNICATION IS HUGE TO ME. Being able to Intant Message w/ her was great to get quick updates or to make adjustments, etc. I tend to be more high maintenance, and having a company that facilitated that kind of service and communication was great. My broker never made me feel like I was a "pest" or required too much interaction; and that was nice--because I did contact her probably more than her average customer.

In this above example, the vehicle was delivered as promised (in fact, he called on Tuesday night and we made arrangements to get it the next morning before I left for work. He showed up even a bit early.) The driver was courteous and accomodating. In fact, my car's battery had died on the trip up, and the truck driver had a portable jump starting kit and got it started for me.

It was a bit frustrating that I bought a vehicle from a Location that took a bit longer to get picked up, but that was a function of supply and demand and not a reflection on Red Carpet.

So, in summary, the important things are:

- Price to Broker
- Price to Truck
- Accessabiliity and responsiveness of communication (including hours they are open)
- Payment to Broker made AFTER vehicle is booked on a truck
- Rating and reviews of all of the above on transportreviews.com

The company I've used the last two times is Red Carpet Auto Tranport.
http://www.transportreviews.com/company/red-carpet-auto-transport-inc.asp

Sheila was my broker@ Red Carpet fulfilled all the above and I would use her and the company again.


2)What if the car is damaged in shipping? Are there extra cost shipping insurances options they try to push on you?


All of the trucks are required to carry insurance that covers all the vehicles they transport, and this will be included in the bid. Do NOT expect to pay extra for it. That is one of the things a good broker will verify for you. My broker would only allow my vehicle to be shipped with truckers that they have had positive experiences with and typically have screened.

When you vehicle is picked up, they will do a walk around to mark any existing damage to the vehicle (like when you rent a car). If there's any "new" damage to the vehicle, you'll then have to start a "claim" with them I'd assume. This has never happened to me though.

3)If the car is being shipped, how does the title transfer work? I think I read in another thread that the seller overnights the title, then you send the money. This results in the seller having the money and the car, which was perceived as a small risk. As far as I understand it, if you have the title, couldn't you just report the car as stolen if it doesn't show up? The title is what counts, right?

That depends. If you are buying the car from a dealer, then typically the dealer & your financial institution will work together (especially if there's a loan involved). Your bank will get a "work order" from the dealer and will serve as the middle man, usually getting the title directly and even handling the taxes/registration for you.

If you are not buying from a dealer, I would INSIST on them giving you the title FIRST with a bill of sale. Maybe even some ID from them would be smart to have as well (photocopy). After you recieve the bill of sale, copy of ID, and the title, you would then overnight them a cashier's check or wire the money to their bank; whichever works the best. I wouldn't do Western Union or anything like that, because it often STINKS of a scam.

If you are financing your car with a loan, and are buying from a private party, THAT'S when it can get really complicated unfortunately. Your bank is not going to be willing to fund a loan on a vehicle that you don't have yet in your posession. Often they won't fund the loan until you have a REGISTERED vehicle. If the car is new enough, that might not be a problem. In one case, I bought a car that was only a year or two old, and it didn't need emissions testing to get license plates for it. (Just a bill of sale & Title. But requirements in your state could be different with some requiring an inspection.)

In a different case, I was getting a vehicle from across the country and was gonna be putting it on a loan. My bank wouldn't give me money until the vehicle was licensed. So, what I had to do was front the money. In that case, i didn't have 18,000 laying around, so I pulled the money out of my home equity line of credit and then paid the owner cash, and then got the auto loan, and used the proceeds from the auto loan to pay off the line of credit once I had the vehicle licensed. Definitely this is why buying from a private party that owns the vehicle outright is the biggest PITA and can really present difficulties if you don't have an easy way to "front" the money until your car shows up.

Since I am an accountant, not a police officer or lawyer, I can't be sure what would happen if the seller didn't follow through. I would THINK (assumptions + my business law class in college) that transfer of ownership would happen when you have the title and they have the money... But it's hard to say, because they would still have the car in their possession. It would definitely transfer ownership when the vehicle was delivered to the shipper (assuming you were the one paying for and arranging the shipper). I know that if you are paying for the shipping of the vehicle, Risk of loss definitely happens when the seller transfers the vehicle to the shipper. But I would put in a strong argument the Bill of Sale represents offer and acceptance, creating a contract and that transfer of ownership would happen upon them recieving the money after you've got the bill of sale and the title.

In fact, now that I think about it, I would actually make sure that the seller puts into the bill of sale the following:

Risk of loss on the vehicle transfers to the buyer once the vehicle is picked up by the shipper.
Transfer of ownership happens once the money is delivered to the seller (which will happen after the bill of sale and title are given to the buyer).Again, this type of stuff is really only important when you DON'T have a financial institution acting as your middle man. And the financial institution will only really be your middle man when you're financing a loan for the vehicle and dealing with a dealer of some sort on the other end. I hope that all makes sense.

4)In practice, how many sellers will actually go to this trouble, rather than insisting on selling it to someone local?

It depends. I bought a car off Ebay, and another one off a posting on a Jeep Forum, and another from Craigslist down in San Diego (great place to find a lower priced E36 Cabrio). I also sold my Audi to someone on the East Coast. It was a bit more involved, but with e-mail, faxes, overnight shipping... It was doable. It really depends on how bad they wanna sell their car. I'd say it's a buyers market with the economy how it is, so sellers might be willing to work with you.

Also, is it insane to buy a car without actually driving it? For example, if you have already driven a certain model, wouldn't you be safe buying the same model from a distance, assuming you have seen sufficient pics to judge its cosmetic condition and you have had a PPI performed?

It's all about the level of risk you're willing to assume. For two of my cars, I got a PPI. In both cases, it gave me a better evaluation of the vehicle versus me being there in person. It also gives you more bargaining power as a PPI will always identify issues that need to be resolved, often ones that the seller isn't aware of.

I did buy one vehicle without a PPI, but it had decent pictures of it and it was only a couple years old and still under factory warranty; so that gave me piece of mind.

In the case of my E36 Cabrio, I actually benefitted in that I got a car that had MORE mods on it than the seller (who was a one-man dealer) knew were on the car! When it showed up at my house, I found out that it had Eibach Sportline spings, Bilstein shocks, a CAI, an underdrive pulley kit, a B&M Short Shift Kit, lightly tinted windows, a Momo Shift knob, and a 2-way remote paging car alarm that the seller had NO clue about! It was like Christmas!!!

Oh, another thought on the PPI. YOU should pick the place that it goes to for the PPI. This will prevent any chance of the seller having collusion with the mechanic that's doing the inspection. In the case of buying my Jeep, the natural place to take it to was a 4x4 shop that was heavily into modding and customizations (because it was a HIGHLY modified Jeep). In the case of the BMW, I started with tuning shops that also did regular repair & maintance too. I called around and when a shop couldn't do it on my short timeframe, I asked them who THEY recommended. That led me to an independent BMW specialty repair shop that did a VERY comprehensive PPI for a pretty reasonable price. The PPI's that I've had done were around an hour's worth of the shop labor rate, and were paid for out of my pocket. In one case, I had a PPI done on a modified Jeep that looked do-able in pictures and on the web, but after the PPI, the Jeep shop told me that I should stay away from it and shouldn't touch it with a 10' pole! Best $100 that I ever spent, because it kept me from making a HUGE mistake. In that case, the Jeep was in Texas, and I got on the 4x4 forums and asked forum members about their recommendations for a PPI shop. A great place to get a recomenation for where to take a BMW for a PPI would be right here in the regional forums of BFc.

As you can see, I can ramble on about this stuff forever. But I'm more than happy to share my experiences and insight. That's what these forums are all about... Knowledge through sharing. I've leeched a lot of knowledge from other forum members, and I'm happy to give some back if it helps people out.

Thanks again for the help. Very informative.

It sounds like the time it takes to have a car shipped can vary depending on a variety of conditions. Are we talking weeks? Months? Is it conceivable to buy a car at the start of the summer and not have it show up until it is time to put winter shoes on it?

I definitely agree with the pre-purchase inspection. I'm keeping an eye out for 540i6s, and I just had a mechanic bail me out of a potential bad purchase. It's depressing to think of how many PPIs I might go through before finding a good one.

These forums are definitely a good place to get recommendations. I have also used cartalk.com. About 1/3 of the way down the homepage, there is a section to search for mechanics by zipcode. They have customer reviews and surveys. I used it for the PPI on the 540 since the shops recommended by the forum were basically out of range. I have also used it for suggestions on garages when I move to a new city.

Thanks again for the help. Very informative.

It sounds like the time it takes to have a car shipped can vary depending on a variety of conditions. Are we talking weeks? Months? Is it conceivable to buy a car at the start of the summer and not have it show up until it is time to put winter shoes on it?


The biggest variable is how long it takes for your vehicle to get picked up. My biggest horror story is when it took over two weeks and my vehicle still hadn't got picked up. It was in the middle of an east coast snowstorm though. I finally had to give up and I "hired" my sister & her boyfriend to fly out to NJ and drive my vehicle back for me.

But in the other situations, the vehicle was picked up in a week or less.

As far as how long it takes to actually ship it once it's picked up, I had one where a two man trucking crew hauled a** from New Jersey to Portland, OR in 3 days!!!! Just recently, it took a one-man truck 7 days to go from Portland, OR to Houston, TX. It's not to their benefit to take ANY longer than necessary, so that's the least amount of risk there.

What would I be looking at in taxes for a 12,500 1996 M3? It will be the first car I truly bought on my own:D

What would I be looking at in taxes for a 12,500 1996 M3? It will be the first car I truly bought on my own:D

It varries depending on where you live (city by city).

Down here in Vancouver "excise tax" (what they call it on vehicles but it's the same concept of sales tax) is 8.5%

I would imagine that it's going to be at least that much were you live. (Stuff in the Seattle area is ALWAYS more expensive)

12,500 * 8.5% = $1,062.50 Kind of hurts, huh?

Now, I know there's a FREAKING HUGE licensing fee in I think it's King County (where seattle is).

You are in Snohomish County though. Based on what I could find on the WA Dept of Licensing and WA Dept of Rev, your use take rate will be 9.2% (or $1,150)

But remember, that's just one of the offsets for living in a state that doesn't have a state income tax.

It varries depending on where you live (city by city).

Down here in Vancouver "excise tax" (what they call it on vehicles but it's the same concept of sales tax) is 8.5%

I would imagine that it's going to be at least that much were you live. (Stuff in the Seattle area is ALWAYS more expensive)

12,500 * 8.5% = $1,062.50 Kind of hurts, huh?

Now, I know there's a FREAKING HUGE licensing fee in I think it's King County (where seattle is).

You are in Snohomish County though. Based on what I could find on the WA Dept of Licensing and WA Dept of Rev, your use take rate will be 9.2% (or $1,150)

But remember, that's just one of the offsets for living in a state that doesn't have a state income tax.

Thanks, you sure know your stuff. So if I had the seller write the price down lower than I actually buy it for so say like 11,000 instead of 12,500 I would be able to save a few bucks correct?

Thanks, you sure know your stuff. So if I had the seller write the price down lower than I actually buy it for so say like 11,000 instead of 12,500 I would be able to save a few bucks correct?

Okay, here's now that works... Because of years and years of people doing exactly what you're thinking about, they have rules at the DOL.

When you go to license your car, you need 3 things. Title, bill of sale, and a passing emissions.

Now, if you have a loan on your car, often your financial institution will do the registering of your car because you never get the title, they keep it.

If you paid cash for your car, it's a different story. You'll be the one that does the licensing.

Okay, back to the mickey mousing around with prices... WHen you bring in the bill of sale, the DOL will run their own little program that tells them what their computers think the fair market value is for your car. Now, I can tell you from personal experience that when I bought my E36 Cabrio with 103k miles on it that they came up with a price that was like $5k or $6k higher than I paid!!! WTF! However, I'd been through this game before. You CAN prove that your car is in fact worth LESS than they are saying it is and that it's legitimate for the lower value that's written on the bill of sale.


You can do this by showing a mechanic's estimate for repairs that are needed on the car
You can do this by bringing them a Kelly Blue Book or an Edmunds report that shows the value. Now there's a HUGE catch that will ding you: they will only accept DEALER RETAIL price. Yes, the overstated car lot price that you'd never pay!!!
One slight workaround for the above is that you can "forget" to check some of the options that are on your car (like tint, or premium wheels, or ABS or traction control or that you have premium sound, etc.) And Edumunds typically has lower values from what I've seen.
I'd imagine that you could bring in pictures that show that something or other is f***ed up on the car. Never tried that approach.So, first run your blue books and see where you stand.

If that doesn't yield you numbers that are lower than what you paid, then your next best bet would be to pick something that's wrong with your car (or could be wrong) and go to the highest price dealer around and have them write you up an estimate for how much that would cost to fix... (maybe pick something like changing out the Vanos, or tell them that your clutch is slipping. I'd say that Vanos + clutch could yield a decently high estimate... Maybe throw in tires and a brake job... Be creative.)

Or, you can skip all that hassle and just let the chips fall where they may. It might be worthwhile to inquire ahead of time what the DOL thinks your vehicle's worth. THEN you will know exactly where you stand.

The RISK with letting the chips fall where they may is that the DOL tells you that your vehicle is worth 14,000 and they want to charge you tax on MORE than you actually paid. I ***REFUSE*** to get screwed over like that, so I came prepared with mechanic's estimates, blue book reports, etc. Thank goodness that I had that stuff, because paying tax for me on $5k OVER what I really, honestly did pay would have cost me over $400 in taxes that are based on pure fiction.

But, the whole reason WA has that "value check" system is because of years and years of fraud and people that ridicuouly took advantage of cheating the system.

Make sense?

Oh, and the difference in taxes between 12,500 and 11,000 is $134. (but again, I would not let yourself get charged tax on MORE than you actually paid, because that's just BS.

If you're thinking about buying a vehicle in Oregon and trying to keep it down there somehow before bringing it up here, you're gonna want to think long and hard about this idea. Washington is well aware of people trying to duck sales tax and they take a good look at anyone who might be trying to do this.

While the web page for the Wa. DOT states that they use the fair market value when deciding taxes you pay, I know for a fact this is not always the case. It's just possible that if you have a dealer's sales slip showing lower than market value, and you find yourself in front of a clerk who doesn't know what kind of car you have, they might just not look it up, and take the sales slip price at face value. Though, it might be a good idea to be prepared to pay full market value tax just in case.

just get it in state.

just get it in state.

:rolleyes :rolleyes :rolleyes :rolleyes :rolleyes

I bought my E36 Cabriolet from San Diego. The price that I found on it was $3k or $4k lower than I was able to find in WA.

It makes a lot of sense to shop for a convertible in an area where they are going to be more plentiful and aren't going to command the premium price that they do here in the NW.

I found and bought another one in WA, and drove up and got it.

With the technology that's available to us with Craigslist, Ebay Motors, Autotrader; and the ability to wire money or overnight titles and cashiers checks, one doesn't need to limit themselves to "shopping local". Sometimes buyers are looking for VERY specific things in a car, and don't want to "settle" for whatever they can find locally.

Even finding a trucking company to ship your vehicle has gotten dramatically simplified with multiple automated bids that are emailed to you. Of the last 9 vehicles that I have purchased, all of them were found via searching on the internet, and 3 of them were purchased from over 1,000 miles away. And I've sold 2 vehicles to buyers that were a substantial distance away (1 in CA and one on the East Coast).

Some of us are willing to do what it takes to get the vehicle we want and the deal we want on it.