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Property tax on leased car

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nnk123

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Connecticut

I had a leased car in CT and I had to pay personal property tax on it. When the lease ended I returned the car to a dealer and cancelled the plates. After a while, the leasing company, Honda Financial Services, sent me a letter requiring to pay the property tax for the full last year. I agree to pay the portion of the tax for the part of the year when the car was in my possession, i.e. until the date when I returned the car and cancelled the plates (leasing company has the copy of this receipt). The leasing company, however, claims that I am still liable until the period when they, as an owner of the car, sold it. It sounds absolutely ridiculous to me, because I had no control of the car after I returned it and cancelled plates and the leasing company could have owned it forever. In this case I would have been liable for property taxes for all this period if I accept their view ! In my case, I returned the car in April, while the leasing company re-sold it in July. My position is that I don't have any tax responsibility for the period between April and July. I did everything I could to resolve this with Honda Financial Services, but they deny the obvious and now started threatening me with collection agency for non-payment. I would appreciate any advice on the matter. I think it is really a matter of principal and would like to bring this company to justice. Should I sue them? Or try to send a complaint in the BBB maybe? What are my options here? Thanks in advance for help.What is the name of your state?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Connecticut

I had a leased car in CT and I had to pay personal property tax on it. When the lease ended I returned the car to a dealer and cancelled the plates. After a while, the leasing company, Honda Financial Services, sent me a letter requiring to pay the property tax for the full last year. I agree to pay the portion of the tax for the part of the year when the car was in my possession, i.e. until the date when I returned the car and cancelled the plates (leasing company has the copy of this receipt). The leasing company, however, claims that I am still liable until the period when they, as an owner of the car, sold it. It sounds absolutely ridiculous to me, because I had no control of the car after I returned it and cancelled plates and the leasing company could have owned it forever. In this case I would have been liable for property taxes for all this period if I accept their view ! In my case, I returned the car in April, while the leasing company re-sold it in July. My position is that I don't have any tax responsibility for the period between April and July. I did everything I could to resolve this with Honda Financial Services, but they deny the obvious and now started threatening me with collection agency for non-payment. I would appreciate any advice on the matter. I think it is really a matter of principal and would like to bring this company to justice. Should I sue them? Or try to send a complaint in the BBB maybe? What are my options here? Thanks in advance for help.What is the name of your state?
The first thing that you need to do is review your contract with them. That should answer the question as to whether or not they can do that.
 

nnk123

Junior Member
I did review it. There are two paragraphs
1) "I agree that my liability ... any official fees and taxes imposed in connection with lease termination"
2) " I agree to pay ... taxes over the term of my lease"

There is no definition of lease termination, but I assume it is the date when the car is returned and plates cancelled. Lease term is defined as 39 months from 2/1/2003 i.e. 5/1/2006.
 

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