Why buy out of California

I can give you so many reasons to purchase out of state. Some times I really have to wonder why anyone would ever consider purchasing an RV here for any reason other than convenience.

I purchased my 2005 Sportscoach in Jacksonville Florida. Flew there twice once to look at it, once to bring it home. Even after that I still feel like I saved about 15 - 20K. That's a lot of money.

I also paid my sales taxes in Florida, and the dealer gave me a document to take with me too the DMV when I had it inspected and registered, and California accepted that as payment for my state taxes here.

It's no secrete that many many used motor homes end up other places than California. Florida has a large amount of retirees that pass away or other wise leave these things sitting around for resale.

I'm talking used here, I know nothing about new, as my personal business experience, with this sort of thing prohibits me from ever considering purchasing something like this new. I've just never had that sort of money laying around.

When I picked up my Sportscoach, the dealer had (3) very new looking Prevosts. Truly beautiful rigs, most expensive one was about 350K. I'm certainly no expert about this sort of thing, but I kinda think these coaches sold in excess of 1.3M new.

I do buy new cars in California, not knocking the place really, just think everyone should keep there options open.

deandec wrote:

rondeb wrote:


Just curious, how do you get your license (plates) and tabs if you don't pay taxes. You can't buy and register a vehicle in a State you don't live in (well legally you can't) You can't drive the vehicle around without plates.

Yes you can. In California. Legally. Take out of state delivery but register the vehicle in California.

Please read the references already given.

That is exactly how it works. All you need to do is to play by the rules and keep documentation. Trust me, I used this out of state delivery process one time as a CA resident, played by the rules and was audited by the State of CA. I passed their audit with my documentation. Not hard to do if you know and play by the rules.

Safe travels.

rondeb wrote:


Just curious, how do you get your license (plates) and tabs if you don't pay taxes. You can't buy and register a vehicle in a State you don't live in (well legally you can't) You can't drive the vehicle around without plates.

Yes you can. In California. Legally. Take out of state delivery but register the vehicle in California.

Please read the references already given.

We bought ours in Arizona and took delivery in California! The rig was being exported to Canada so no taxes. Just couldn't register it in AZ for several years.

rondeb wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Read and completely understand Pub 52 for CA. Among other restrictions in 2004 and I believe still current was functional use out of state, currently for 1 year. Storage was not functional use. This are other current restrictions that may make it difficult to qualify, perhaps very difficult for a CA resident.

Just curious, how do you get your license (plates) and tabs if you don't pay taxes. You can't buy and register a vehicle in a State you don't live in (well legally you can't) You can't drive the vehicle around without plates.

I took delivery in Nevada, then registered in CA and kept the rig out of CA for the required time.

Temporary tags are a possibility and you can register is some states that you don't live in.

CA Traveler wrote:
Read and completely understand Pub 52 for CA. Among other restrictions in 2004 and I believe still current was functional use out of state, currently for 1 year. Storage was not functional use. This are other current restrictions that may make it difficult to qualify, perhaps very difficult for a CA resident.

Just curious, how do you get your license (plates) and tabs if you don't pay taxes. You can't buy and register a vehicle in a State you don't live in (well legally you can't) You can't drive the vehicle around without plates.

path1 wrote:
If you lived in CA and didn't want to licensed rv why not buy a "trip permit". That way the state get some $$ and you get to use RV. You both win.

California doesn't allow trip permits. If you actually take possession in California they must collect the taxes no matter what state you live in. That is why we had to have a driver drive the motorhome we purchased in California to Nevada and meet a Power of Attorney who signed the document of delivery in Nevada. We Live in Washington State and didn't want to pay our taxes to California. California does not have a program to collect the taxes for your State and send it to them. They keep every sale delivered in California. When you get to Nevada, your are then driving with not even a temporary license, so we had already made arrangements to send the paperwork and tax money to Washington and they sent our plates and paperwork back by overnight delivery. (Washington State has private DMV's so that is possible to make those arrangements)

California is strange (in a lot of ways.) Dealers can deliver your new RV beyond the state line with no problems. You just have to register it somewhere else. For some reason, they won't issue a temporary operating permit like many states will allow, so you can drive your own rig back to your home state. We may buy our new RV in Oregon, but we'll register it in South Dakota (since that will be our official domicile.) The dealer will give us a TOP to get out of Oregon, and SD will mail us the license plate.

Roy

This article last month in San Jose Mercury news exemplifies California government agencies are cracking down more so than ever. 10-15 years ago, no big deal. But due to the budget crisis for state, county and local governments they have really ramped up.

click here

On Publication 52 and getting out of the California use tax, how people use it, in my opinion, is a loophole. What the law allows is for a person who is a California resident to purchase a vehicle or a vessel that is intended for use in another state. For example it would not be unusual for somebody in California to purchase a yacht that they keep in Florida intended for use in Florida. In that case the yacht would be registered in Florida and Florida would get the taxes. The same could be true of a motorhome. The intent of the law is to allow California residents to purchase these items out of State if the intent is for them to remain out of state and be used mostly out of state. The law then goes on to tell you what you have to do in order to prove that is your intent and currently that now requires the 12 month stay out of state.

So in my opinion, if you are using this law simply to avoid paying the sales tax and you fully intend to bring the vehicle into California as soon as your 12 months expires, then technically you are violating that law. However, it would be an unprosecutable violation as even though you did not comply with the spirit of the law, you did comply with the letter of the law. So you can use this loophole to avoid California use tax.

When I purchased my Class A the sales tax was $13k. At the time the requirement was only keeping it out of state six months and I could have easily done that. But I read the law and I saw that wasn't the intent of the law, and since I myself was a government law enforcement employee at the time, I choose to pay the sales tax on the vehicle.