Chris Y.

Hi Guys/Gals...

I'm planning to pick up a new car in California and use in So. Cal for two months. I plan to lease a either a BMW 745Li or new Range Rover, so in CA, do you pay sales tax on the lease payment or the full purchase price of the car?

Thanks for the assistance!

Chris
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'01 996 TT

Viken

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Chris Y.:
<strong>I plan to lease a either a BMW 745Li or new Range Rover, so in CA, do you pay sales tax on the lease payment or the full purchase price of the car?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Sales tax is applied onto each payment rather than the entire purchase price of the car.

viperbob

Viken is correct on the taxes. But if you are taking the car back to Hawaii, then you probably want to avoid California registration. On a new car like that, it is probably going to run you $1000+ for the year, paid upfront, of which you will only need it for a two month time period. If you are taking the BMW back to Hawaii, lease it from there (your place of residence) and try to get a Hawaii temp plate for the time you are in CA.

Just a thought.

JayM

Viken is technically correct, but the implication that you would only owe two months of sales tax is not correct. When you buy the car, the state gets the entire amount of the sales tax from the leasing company, who then factors that into the amount financed and charges you for it every month. But if you move after 2 months, you are still on the hook for the remaining lease payments, including the tax payments.

I like viperbob's suggestion. If you are planning on taking it back to Hawaii, I would try to buy, title and register it there, but pick it up here through a "courtesy" delivery which you local dealer can facilitate. If you can avoid the DMV's definition of becoming a CA resident (keep your Hawaiian drivers license, for example) you should be OK even if you are stopped by our state's finest <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

viperbob

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by JayM:
[QB]Viken is technically correct, but the implication that you would only owe two months of sales tax is not correct. When you buy the car, the state gets the entire amount of the sales tax from the leasing company, who then factors that into the amount financed and charges you for it every month. But if you move after 2 months, you are still on the hook for the remaining lease payments, including the tax payments.
[QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">JayM,

What you are saying meakes sense, but this has not been my experiences with leases. I leased two cars in Missouri and moved to New Hampshire. My payments went down as NH has no sales tax (and I had three years left one lease and two years on the other). I then moved to California (home of the "TAX" <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> ) and the one leased car I had at the time then required me to start paying sales tax. All three of these were different leasing companies. So maybe the leasing companies can only charge tax on each monthly payment (this is the way it is billed anyway) just as Viken stated. Just a thought.

Chris Y.

Thanks Guys...

viperbob, registration is $1,000+ in California? How do they based their registration fee? Weight

The only reason I want to pick the car up in California instead of Hawaii is to save the $900 shipping cost. My dealer in Hawaii has a sister dealership (Shelly BMW in Buena Park) and have agreed to a courtesy delivery.

BTW, anyone own the new 745i/Li? I read the BMW forums and their are some horror stories. This will be replacing my S500 and I don't want to get another one because the body will change in '05.

Thanks again

Chris

Trojan Man

Chris, I thought the Hawaii/LA sister dealerships were McKenna not Shelly?

As an aside, the McKenna family are a bunch of heathen scoundrels that have horrible business practices. They treat buyers of $100K+ cars are though they are buying Jettas. (I wound up not dealing with them and went over to Beverly Hills Porsche.)

viperbob

Chris,

A couple of things. First, yes registration will cost in the area of $1000, maybe a little less, but close. I just bought a '97 993TT and it cost well over $600 to register (plus sales tax @ 8.25% for a six year old car, I hate California). Everything in California is based upon MONEY. The more you have, the more they want. It has actually gone down in the past couple of years dramitaclly. When I first moved here in '99, I had a '97 Dodge Viper. I nearly fell on the floor when the DMV asked for $1400 registration and $300 smog certificate fee (the smog fee has since been ruled unconstitutional and refunded to those that paid).

Second, I just bought a 2000 740i Sport. Can not come to grips with the new 7 Series. When I bought the car, the finance manager at the BMW dealership told me the horrible time they were have with all the complex systems on this car, and how the customers are so mad that they are always in the shop. Then she told me how the sales people almost don't want to sell them as the new car delivery process takes HOURS to show people how to use EVERYTHING.

Good luck with the car...

Chris Y.

Ryan,

McKenna has a few dealership here, but not BMW. They have a Ford, VW, and Mazda here in Hawaii. They used to have the Porsche dealership here, but sold it a few years back. I believe Mike McKenna owns a home here and I see him once in a great while driving in a red 750il.

I drove the new 7 for a few hours yesterday. I like the driving, but I'm not exactly excited about the new styling.

For those of you in Southern California, what are the best BMW dealers to deal with? Sounds like the new 7 is a car that will require a good relationship with a service advisor

Chris

Viken

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by JayM:
<strong>Viken is technically correct, but the implication that you would only owe two months of sales tax is not correct.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">If you lease a new car from a dealer in California while you are living in California, temporarily or not, you will be liable for CA registration and sales tax for as long as you live there. If you eventually move into another state with a different tax rate or no sales tax, that portion of the payment will be re-adjusted by the leasing company.

Chris Y.

Thank Viken...

Another delima is...I pay the California regisitation, but when I leave and register the car in my home state of Hawaii, will the State of California refund me the remain 10 months of registration I paid. I doubt it, but is that so?

Thanks,
Chris

viperbob

Chris,

You can not get any type of a refund back from California.

Hamann7

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Trojan Man:
<strong>
As an aside, the McKenna family are a bunch of heathen scoundrels that have horrible business practices. They treat buyers of $100K+ cars are though they are buying Jettas. (I wound up not dealing with them and went over to Beverly Hills Porsche.)</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Funny you should mention that because someone on this board just went to McKenna this past weekend and got $10K off on a new Porsche Cayenne S. I'll take the abuse to a point if they give me THAT kind of discount on my GT3...

Viken

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Chris Y.:
<strong>Another delima is...I pay the California regisitation, but when I leave and register the car in my home state of Hawaii, will the State of California refund me the remain 10 months of registration I paid. I doubt it, but is that so?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">No, California will not refund you any or all portions of DMV fees under any circumstances. At this stage, however, the said fees are quite low.

Chris Y.

Thanks for the reply guys!!!

I think I'll skip the CA hassle and buy the car locally. The dealer has agreed to pay shipping to CA! Looks like those 7's are hard to move.

-Chris