HAHAHA I orriginated this process, I flew to Denver to buy my car in Centennial CO, on July 2nd,
Spent the next 2 days driving it back to SoCal, including a break in trip to the top of pike's Peak with less than 100mi on the ODO.
I opted to pay no tax in CO and defer the tax to California, this was no problem at all with my dealer, and I got a half sheet of paper for the back window with a 60day registration and the aforementioned business card sized slip of paper.
When i got ta cali (and the registration period mostly elapsed) i went to the DMV and played their games.
1.) VIN verification,
2.) Smog
3.) $2797 registration and tax
I highly recommend not shipping the car several reasons.
1.) my flight to denver was ~$204.00 and gas was about $180 (1200mi/27mpg*~$4.00 (gas is actually cheaper but this will give safe number))
I stayed in hotels 2 nights at about $85 each so...204+180+170=$554.00
2.) no better way to bond with your new baby than taking the long way out of colorado then leisurely driving through beautiful Utah and Nevada.
3.) California expects (requires) you to register within 10 days of the vehicle entering the state. if it arrives on a bill of lading from a trucking company... well that's your game to play i guess...i wanted to use all of the Colorado reg time I could.
4.) you are buying this car to drive it right?.........so drive it already quit mucking around....