Purchasing Out of State

Hi! I am completely new to the whole buying out of state bit. I had been waiting for an allocation on a TRD pro for over a month. Then the anxiety started creeping up on me about the cost so I started looking around. I found a 2022 TRD OR (no premium) that had just been allocated to a dealership in NC (only 2 hours away from me). It has the XP package (apparently a southern thing added by dealerships) which I am ok with because it adds everything that I would've added myself so its a win win for me AND 10k cheaper. Any way....I've never purchased a vehicle out of state. How does that work with titling, tags and what not? Just would like a little guidance as my car will arrive in 23 days Thank you in advance

 

I’ve purchased out of my home state once long ago. It wasn’t a big deal.

They gave me some paperwork? And when I got home to register, I payed the sales tax for my home state.

Bottom line, unless things have changed, you pay sales tax for your home state, not the state you purchased the vehicle in.

 

Ok, I'm just trying to make sense of this sheet this guy sent us.

 

You could probably make a few calls or look online about your state rules too.

The dealership can probably advise you too on the protocol’s.

 

Purchasing out of state shouldnt be an issue at all really. Go to the dealer, theyll acknowledge you're out of state, so dont pay their sales tax/titling/registration fees and what not. Should just be MSRP or agreed sale price, you'll get dealer/temp tags to be able to drive it home. Those are usually good for 30 days. Then in your home state go to your DMV and get it titled/registered/pay the requisite taxes. They have to be accounted for somewhere...

Exactly how I bought mine in 2019, from CA and living in MD.

 

I'm from Texas and flew to Maryland last year to complete my purchase.

The dealership will usually handle all of your title paperwork. In some states (like Texas) it's mandatory the dealership submit everything on your behalf. Just call the front desk to the dealership you are looking to do business with and ask to speak to the title clerk. Let them know where you are from and they will tell you the entire process.

 

Oh, and if they take too long on the plates, they will send you repeated new temp tags till you are riding legally. Koons Annapolis did the same thing (Purchased September 3rd and got my plates two weeks ago)

 

I’ve purchased multiple vehicles out of state. It’s easy especially if you have a dealership that is easy to work with and knows what they’re doing. Typically it goes something like this.
You pay agreed upon price for vehicle and any add-ons
You don’t pay sales tax in the state you are purchasing but in the state the vehicle will be registered (your home state). The dealer will typically send the paperwork to your county dmv and you go there pay sales tax, tag fees etc.

 

Some states require a sales tax if you pick up the vehicle in person such as California. I tried buying a car from California, and the only way to buy it new from a dealer without paying sales tax was to have it shipped to my state but the dealer wouldn’t work with me so just keep that in mind.

 

Another consideration is that some (most?) states you pay sales tax on the net cost of the transaction, not the full purchase price of the vehicle. So if you're trading in a car and the dealer gives you $20k for your trade, you end up paying sales tax on (new vehicle - 20k). You'll want to check into that if you have a trade that you're not bringing to the out-of-state dealer.

In my case, CA doesn't follow those rules and charges sales tax on the full purchase price, but that is less common.

 

I just want to point out California makes everything difficult and just because something is the case in California, doesn’t mean it’s the case in normal America.

Just don’t come here to buy a car, you’ll regret it.

 

Lol well I'm in Virginia and going to North Carolina so don't worry; not buying a car there

 

So stupid too because Cali vehicles in most cases are the next best thing to AZ/NV vehicles (desert cars).

 

What happened to waiting for the lime rush? I know the feeling... I thought about trading my 22ORP for a pro but decided to just keep it. I've already upgraded and got full tints, full front end PPF and few misc stuffs.

Buying out of state isn't as hard as it seems. You'll just need to do a few extra thing is all. I say if you find one out of state and you like it, pick it up!!

 

The allocation kept getting pushed back and I was doing my usual stalking of dealerships and found the one I wanted in the color I wanted with a lot of the pro features and much cheaper and will be here in 23 days....I said yep, that's mine and here we are lol

 

As long as you're happy w/ the OR edition go get that bad boy and bring it home!

 

The most important thing you need to know is does the state you’re buying in collect their own tax. Most of the time the answer to this question is no.

The next thing I would make sure is that they collect the correct amount of tax for where you’re going to be registering the vehicle and send it to your DMV.

You can pick up the car without paying tax on it, but then you will have to pay the tax out of pocket when you’re register versus financing it… Depending on your financial situation, dumping 8% of $45,000 might be a lot. Some states may not allow you to pay the tax yourself, and would prefer it to be sent to the DMV by the selling dealer.

Many dealerships that are used to selling to people out of state know exactly what they’re doing, if it sounds like they don’t know what they’re doing you could have a problem on your hands.

 

The OR was what I was originally getting until I got a wild hair up my butt and put in for the pro....then I panicked about the price lol Oh I can't wait. I am going to have the front silver part wrapped eventually. That's the only thing that I don't like. But other than that I'm super excited....I wish it was the premium but I don't need all those bells and whistles

 

I know that our tax is 4.5% (Virginia) and North Carolina is lower. They are a large dealership and I would hope they would know what they are doing. My other half is going with me and he's in sales so he's a good talker and he wouldn't let them sneak anything in lol

 

But don't you want heated seats? Heated side mirrors? Softex? Auto rear dimming when you drive in front of all those idiots putting HID bulbs into their halogen housing? I kid..

 

lol well I know our tacomas heated seats burn my butt off so no, I'll survive lol Pray for me and my lack of luxury...oooh my princess status has been demoted to peasant lol

 

Uhhh....so I do get heated mirrors....lol

 

Interesting point didnt know about the dealership requirement... I specifically didnt let CA process anything due to their tax requirements. No thanks on that

 

You could always post a picture of the purchase order with personal info redacted to verify everything is on the up and up.

I live in VA and just bought in Connecticut.

 

I did this in September. Picked my pro up in Nebraska and paid just the sticker price and + dealer document fee. Got 30 day temp tags and when I got back home to California went to the DMV with the form filled out and smog check, paid for my plates and taxes and was in and out in 20 minutes ( I was shocked, I thought I was going to be there all day)

 

Where in Nebraska? I saw 2 Omaha dealers were charging a markup.

 

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised. It took forever to get the plates because the title clerk made assumptions. 12 weeks later im getting an email asking for the vehicle inspection. Because I've only been in Texas for a little less than a year it didn't occur to me that they would need that. Anyway, once they got it they were able to submit the paperwork to have the vehicle titles in Texas and registered here.

 

That's cause this guy took off for the week:

 

I’ve brought vehicles I’ve owned into California and purchased from out of state, and each time the experience has been vastly different.

When I registered my Macan, the guy was super chill, reeked of weed, and processed everything immediately.

When I processed my 4runner, the woman demanded I handover my CO license plates before she gave me the California plates, this was not going to happen since the license plate bolts had rusted into place after years in Colorado.

Fun fact, the DMV sells out-of-state license plates to gift shops around the Bay Area, so they really want your old license plates.

When I brought my Tacoma in from Hawaii, they were adamant that the Hawaiian title was not valid and refused to register it. I took it back on another day and they registered it just fine. They really wanted the Hawaiian plates for the gift shops.

I also bought a 911 in Nevada and brought it in without any problems, took like 20 minutes.

 

Tiny dealer in North Platte. Premier Toyota