I live in California. If I buy a new car in Ohio, and pay Ohio sales tax, does anyone know if I will have to pay either a sales or use tax upon bringing into and registering it here in CA?
If you are a resident of California and purchase a car in Ohio, you wouldn’t pay sales tax in Ohio. You would pay sales tax in California when you register the car there.
And you better register it within 10 days or the fines and penalties pile up.
Make sure it has California smog control, you may not be able to register it if it’s a “49-Stater” model … check for the exemptions too.
I know that in Maine, you pay sales tax on an out-of-state car when you register it in the Pine Tree State. But, they will deduct the amount of sales tax that you paid to another state.
Oh yeah. This especially…
If you insist on registering a 49 state car in CA, be prepared to either install the right smog equipment or bribe smog techs every other year.
Not sure if there is much a bribed smog tech can do for you anyway. The whole smog check ritual is largely automated, and I don’t think there is much of an opening for the smog tech person to tweak the results.
(Sure, he could “fix” the visual inspection part of the procedure, but that’s just a bit part.)
(As California’s tax is higher and has no trade-in allowance, it’s always going to be the Ohio rate.)
The vehicle I’m looking at is new/unregistered. They are sold by a Ford dealer in Ohio. They come in two versions: 670 HP & 727 HP. They say the latter is not California legal, but the former is. As long as I don’t have to pay sales tax to both states, I’m going to,do something crazy.
Bejeezus … that’s a hell of a lot of horses for a little roadster … wouldn’t a Chevy Volt be more reasonable?
I Googled; apparently a Ford dealer in Ohio is selling Mustangs with a Roush supercharger, resulting in a 727-HP car for about $40,000.
Just to cover your ass, get them to send pictures of the California emissions sticker, and if any aftermarket parts have been installed, get the details of the CARB Executive Order number and paperwork too. You’ll have to show both once the car gets here.
By the way, other sites suggest a cheaper way to acquire the same thing; buy the supercharger from Roush for about $7,000 and then buy a Mustang GT for the best possible price you can find nationally. Even if you have to pay for the installation (perhaps $1,500), you should be able to save thousands.
However
Yeah, I don’t know if I can get behind that big of a power upgrade without making equivalent upgrades in braking and handling. Plus I don’t think the stock transmission can handle that power indefinitely.
Personally, if it were my money (and it clearly is not) I’d get the GT350, and if I was feeling extra good, the GT350R. They had those out at Laguna Seca and man, are they slick packages. Looked and sounded great on the track as well.
Why do you need to get to Yuma and back in an hour 45 minutes? Maybe instead of a Ford you should look at Cessnas …
The GT 350’s are much more refined, even though they have much less HP. The base MSRP is $49K. However, the vast majority are optioned to $55K +. The dealers I’ve contacted are tacking on a $15K - $20K surcharge. Screw 'em.
The vehicle I’m looking at is, as noted above is a base Mustang GT with a supercharger. While not perfect, you can’t get that much HP that “cheap.”