I may be selling my 2017 car to a relative when they visit later this month. We live in NY, they live in CA. We’ll do the transaction while they’re here and they’ll arrange to have it shipped cross-country.
On the NY side, I know we need the signed title and a bill of sale. If it were a purely in-state sale, we’d also need my relative to register the sale with the local DMV and pay sales tax. But since it’s immediately going to be headed out of state … do we still register it with NYS? If not, how does NYS get its sales tax? (Which I’m sure they want.) And what about the plates?
On the CA side, the state has huge warnings about buying new cars from out of state and making sure they are smog compliant … but nothing about buying used cars from out of state. Do we have to worry about that on a car this old? Also, will my relative need to pay sales tax again in CA when they register it there?
Sorry for the zillion questions, but Google is not what it used to be…
The buyer does all the paperwork in CA and pays CA sales tax. They do nothing in NY.
The only thing you do as seller is sign over the title and notify NY of the fact the car is sold. NY will have a form for that purpose.
If the car was being driven across the country you’d want to leave the NY plates on the car for show, then do the right thing with them later.
Since you’re shipping it, then do whatever is normally done with plates in NY for an in-state sale. If they’d normally stay with the car and go to the buyer, well you or they now have some souvenir NY plates. If the plates would normally stay with you the seller, you turn the plates in to the NY agency or transfer them onto your replacement car once you get it. I’m pretty sure the latter is the case in NY.
There should be a Vehicle Emissions Control Information sticker under the car’s hood. This should tell you whether its emissions also meet California’s standard:
It’s probable that your NY car does meet CA emissions standards:
Yes - the tax is paid where the car is going. I bought a car from a dealer in NJ, registered it in NY and paid the sales tax to NY, not to NJ. Just like if I buy something online, I pay tax based on where it’s being shipped to , not where I live or where the seller is located.
You don’t even notify NY that the car is sold- the only paperwork is regarding the plates. You either surrender them or transfer them to another vehicle - but you can surrender plates without selling the vehicle ( for example, if you want to store it on private property until your kid gets a license)
When I brought my car from Washington to California, it passed the emissions by the numbers, but because the sticker did not say it met California emissions I was penalized. It wasn’t long after that that manufacturers started labeling all of their cars as 50 state emissions compliant.
I also noticed something weird is occurring. Last night, on a reliable Win desktop, there was a funny lag in the editor window that was kind of disorienting.
