Out-of-state Vehicle in CA

[helloT]

Hi All,

I am staying in Boston and moving permanently to CA in couple of weeks from now. I was planning to buy the car(used car) in CA but it looks like cars are expensive in CA. So I thinking to buy the car here in boston and ship it to CA. What is procedure for the registration in CA, will they charge more for tax since it is an out-state-vehicle and how about the registration in boston is it necessary ? Any suggestion on this will be really helpfull.
Final question is it worth buying from here(boston).

Thanks in advance
fido

 

[FlyingRon]

You've got several issues here.

First, you're going to end up having to pay the higher California use (sales) tax when you bring a car into the state within a year of purchasing it. You get credit for the nearly as egregious Massachusettes tax (6.25%) but California will want more (at least another two percent). Of course you pay this whether you buy in state or not.

You'll also need a smog certificate. Normally when you buy a car from a dealer in California, they must provide it. Bringing in a car from out of state means you'll have to deal with that yourself. Depending on HOW OLD the used car is or whether anybody tinkered with it, you may have repairs that need to be made on your dime to get the smog certificate.

Your fees you pay to register the car in Massachusettes for the short period are going to be essentially lost (you'll also have to pay to mail the plates back in to cancel). In addition, you'll be paying a Massachusettes excise tax for the period you had the car in that state. Depending on just where this all falls in the year, you may get that bill later or you may have already paid for more months and you'll get a refund eventually.

 

[JETX]

So I thinking to buy the car here in boston and ship it to CA. What is procedure for the registration in CA, will they charge more for tax since it is an out-state-vehicle and how about the registration in boston is it necessary ? Any suggestion on this will be really helpfull.

Since you are too lazy to even GOOGLE... here is the link FOR you...
California DMV HTVR9 - How To Register A Out-of-State Vehicle (Nonresident Vehicle)

Final question is it worth buying from here(boston).

No... no... no.... maybe.