Wizard,
I understand that Calif. is the most difficult state to buy from as they want their sales tax even if you dont intend on registering there. Almost every other state will allow a dealer to issue a Temp tag that will get you home where you can do your own registration. Your main problem is that most banks want a lien on your title if you financed so many times the dealer takes care of that. I have heard that many dealers in Calif. will deliver over the state line to avoid the tax problem but you have to sign something stating that you will not bring the unit back into the state for a set number of days. I know El Monte has a dealer in Las Vegas, NV and you may be able to get a cheaper air fare as well as no tax issues. I purchased mine out of state and the dealer gave me a 30 day temp tag for $2 and mailed my paperwork and notarized bill of sale. I then took them to the DMV and got my permanent tags after paying my state tax and tag fees. El Monte sells so many RV's they must have this figured out but it does not hurt to ask.
I was thinking about buying from El Monte and I live in WV. That would have been a cross country flight and drive back. When I talked to them they said it would be no problem they sell to out of staters all the time. I had the same concerns about not liking the one I went to see and so had planned to fly into a central area and rent a car and drive to the 2 or 3 El Monte dealers to look at all the units that meet my specs. That would have been more units than I could find in my area in a year and hoped that one of them would meet my expectations. It would have been a bit of a pain but when you are getting ready to spend this kind of money a little inconvenience is to be expected, and I looked at it as my first vacation in the new RV with plans to make stops along the way home. As it was I bought local but even local meant 100 mile each way drives to look and several trips back and forth to finalize everything and getting a family member to take the drive so I could get it home.
By the way I dont know how many car rental companies do this but I go Enterprise because they will come pick you up and when you go to drop it off they will give you a ride back to your destination so its one less thing to worry about if you do buy.
