Oregonian, purchase car from Calif., sales tax?

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Paul Stivers - 02 May 2004 22:55 GMT

If I live in Oregon and purchase a car through private sale from
California, do I have to pay Calif. sales tax? I'd be shipping the car to
oregon, never driving it in Calif. Paying Calif. sales tax whould hurt, if
not break the deal. Oregon has no sales tax. If I would have to pay the
sales tax, what is the rate?

Thanks for any info.

--
Paul S.

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Paul Stivers - 03 May 2004 01:57 GMT

> If I live in Oregon and purchase a car through private sale from
> California, do I have to pay Calif. sales tax?

I'll answer my own question, for those who may google later. I checked
with an acquaintance who is a used care dealer. He said I don't have to
pay sales tax to Calif. because I live in Oregon. Sheew!

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Paul S.

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E Brown - 03 May 2004 20:25 GMT

>> If I live in Oregon and purchase a car through private sale from
>> California, do I have to pay Calif. sales tax?
>
>I'll answer my own question, for those who may google later. I checked
>with an acquaintance who is a used care dealer. He said I don't have to
>pay sales tax to Calif. because I live in Oregon. Sheew!

BUt you'll have to pay sales tax for Oregon, if they have any. I
live in Chicago but have bought cars from Delaware, Virginia, and
Florida. Each time, I had to cough up the taxes when I got home and
tried to register the car - luckily, that's only $25 here.
Emanuel

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1983 Porsche 911
1983 Porsche 944

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Paul Stivers - 04 May 2004 03:43 GMT

> BUt you'll have to pay sales tax for Oregon, if they have any.

Correct. No sales tax in OR though. OR gets most of it's tax money
through very high income tax and fairly high property tax. Hence my
concern if I had to pay sales tax to Calif.

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Mark Carroll - 03 May 2004 12:48 GMT

>If I live in Oregon and purchase a car through private sale from
>California, do I have to pay Calif. sales tax? I'd be shipping the car to
>oregon, never driving it in Calif. Paying Calif. sales tax whould hurt, if
>not break the deal. Oregon has no sales tax. If I would have to pay the
>sales tax, what is the rate?

I don't mean to hijack your question, but what would you do if you were
driving it in CA? Does one need to get a temporary tag ahead of time
from your home state (can you do this before the purchase?), or can one
get one from the seller's state? Or do you just have to use some tag
you already have? I assume you can't drive without plates at all?

-- Mark

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Paul Stivers - 03 May 2004 19:17 GMT

> I don't mean to hijack your question, but what would you do if you
> were driving it in CA? Does one need to get a temporary tag ahead of
> time from your home state (can you do this before the purchase?), or
> can one get one from the seller's state? Or do you just have to use
> some tag you already have? I assume you can't drive without plates at
> all?

No problem. I'm just thinking out loud, er, in writing. Maybe someone
else knows for sure. I'm thinking the Calif. registration could transfer
to me, then I drive it to Oregon and get Oregon plates. But maybe since
I'm not a Calif resident, the Calif registration can't transfer to me. I
know if I buy a used auto in Oregon, there's a small resgistration transfer
fee, and I keep the tags and plates from the previous owner until those
tags expire.

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Paul S.

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E Brown - 03 May 2004 20:30 GMT

>I don't mean to hijack your question, but what would you do if you were
>driving it in CA? Does one need to get a temporary tag ahead of time
>from your home state (can you do this before the purchase?), or can one
>get one from the seller's state? Or do you just have to use some tag
>you already have? I assume you can't drive without plates at all?

You are supposed to get temporary tags in the state of purchase.
Me, I just take the plates off of one of my current cars and use it
until I get home and get local plates. This is technically illegal,
but since the plates are registered to me anyway I can't imagine there
being a real hassle. On one car, the seller loaned me his plates and I
FedExed them back when I got home.
Emanuel

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1983 Porsche 911
1983 Porsche 944

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