CA buyers: Buying your BRZ or FR-S out-of-state

[mav1178]

Since a lot of us are buying from out of state (especially BRZ), I figure I'd give everyone a heads up on what is needed to complete the process:

What you need to provide to the DMV:

• Application for registration (usually the dealer will provide this)
• Bill of sale (provided by dealer)
• Certificate of Origin (provided by dealer)
• Proof of financing/lienholder (if financing the car) (provided by dealer)
• Smog check (you must do this)
• Vehicle inspection report (can be done at the DMV, or at a local law enforcement agency that is qualified for vehicle inspection, aka any place that can write off a fix-it ticket, including CHP)
• Statement of facts (you can fill this out at the DMV)

A few things to note:

• The application for registration should be done by the dealer that's selling you the car, if they know how to sell cars out of state. However, some dealers might not send this to you, so you'll have to fill the form out yourself.
• You must smog the car, there is no way around this. It's more of an outdated law that blanket-covers all "non-California compliant" cars, but in my opinion this law should be revised to exempt cars that meet California emissions (which some cars are, like mine).
• Vehicle inspection report: you can print the form from the DMV site, and take the car to any police agency that can sign off on fix-it tickets. You can also do this at the DMV, but you will have to pull the car into the inspection lane and this takes longer. I did this at the LA County Sheriff's Industry station.
• Statement of facts: the DMV employee will ask you to fill one out, but basically you're stating when and where you purchased the car, and for what price.
• The registration date is based on the date you physically brought in the car from out of state. This date is provided as a fact on your application. Even though I registered the car today (7/15), my "entry date" was 6/30 and my registration states as such.
• Make an appointment at the DMV... I had an 8AM appointment, was the first person for vehicle registration, and was in/out of the place in less than 15 minutes with all of my paperwork completed.

I know a lot of people hate the DMV, but I've never had any issues with going there. Having all of the paperwork ready saves a lot of trouble...

Just an FYI.

-alex

[PMok]

Some good info, but there is a long-running thread about this topic already. Check out the link in my sig "CO > CA" for more info.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by PMok

Some good info, but there is a long-running thread about this topic already. Check out the link in my sig "CO > CA" for more info.

Except your first post had incorrect info.

I paid no fees of ANY KIND in Colorado. The tax was forwarded to CA DMV via a Cashier's Check from Heuberger Motors, mailed to me, to be turned over to the DMV.

I had no CO RTD tax, no CO title/license fee, and temp CO plates good through 8/13.

Any dealer you buy from out of state that tries to charge you local fees, is not doing the paperwork correct.

-alex

[mav1178]

Adding onto this (first post should be edited and cleaned up, too much info and not enough consolidation)

(copied from another thread I started)

Since a lot of us are buying from out of state (especially BRZ), I figure I'd give everyone a heads up on what is needed to complete the process:

What you need to provide to the DMV:

• Application for registration (usually the dealer will provide this)
• Bill of sale (provided by dealer)
• Certificate of Origin (provided by dealer)
• Proof of financing/lienholder (if financing the car) (provided by dealer)
• Smog check (you must do this)
• Vehicle inspection report (can be done at the DMV, or at a local law enforcement agency that is qualified for vehicle inspection, aka any place that can write off a fix-it ticket, including CHP)
• Statement of facts (you can fill this out at the DMV)

A few things to note:

• The application for registration should be done by the dealer that's selling you the car, if they know how to sell cars out of state. However, some dealers might not send this to you, so you'll have to fill the form out yourself.
• You must smog the car, there is no way around this. It's more of an outdated law that blanket-covers all "non-California compliant" cars, but in my opinion this law should be revised to exempt cars that meet California emissions (which some cars are, like mine).
• Vehicle inspection report: you can print the form from the DMV site, and take the car to any police agency that can sign off on fix-it tickets. You can also do this at the DMV, but you will have to pull the car into the inspection lane and this takes longer. I did this at the LA County Sheriff's Industry station.
• Statement of facts: the DMV employee will ask you to fill one out, but basically you're stating when and where you purchased the car, and for what price.
• The registration date is based on the date you physically brought in the car from out of state. This date is provided as a fact on your application. Even though I registered the car today (7/15), my "entry date" was 6/30 and my registration states as such.
• Make an appointment at the DMV... I had an 8AM appointment, was the first person for vehicle registration, and was in/out of the place in less than 15 minutes with all of my paperwork completed.

I know a lot of people hate the DMV, but I've never had any issues with going there. Having all of the paperwork ready saves a lot of trouble...

I paid no fees of ANY KIND in Colorado. The tax was forwarded to CA DMV via a Cashier's Check from Heuberger Motors, mailed to me, to be turned over to the DMV.

I had no CO RTD tax, no CO title/license fee, and temp CO plates good through 8/13.

Any dealer you buy from out of state that tries to charge you local fees, is not doing the paperwork correct.

Just an FYI.

-alex

[PMok]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Except your first post had incorrect info.

I paid no fees of ANY KIND in Colorado. The tax was forwarded to CA DMV via a Cashier's Check from Heuberger Motors, mailed to me, to be turned over to the DMV.

I had no CO RTD tax, no CO title/license fee, and temp CO plates good through 8/13.

Any dealer you buy from out of state that tries to charge you local fees, is not doing the paperwork correct.

-alex

Not everybody buys from Heuberger, there are plenty of other buyers who bought from other dealerships out of state and each one handles it differently. Yeah it's lame that some of the dealers charged additional fees when they didn't have to, but it's a fact that some people did pay them. I did buy through Heuberger though and they did it right.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by PMok

Not everybody buys from Heuberger, there are plenty of other buyers who bought from other dealerships out of state and each one handles it differently. Yeah it's lame that some of the dealers charged additional fees when they didn't have to, but it's a fact that some people did pay them. I did buy through Heuberger though and they did it right.

This only serves to make sure people that do buy their cars knows what the laws are, and what they need to do to complete this process.

$700 is not a small chunk of change, and when factoring vehicle transport fees, one can have a swing of $1500 that can make/break a car purchase decision. I did all of my research by calling the DMV and looking at the various forms to be filled out, then purchased the car from out of state knowing exactly what the final price would come out to.

Much like people that go to the DMV, the only time they have trouble is when the paperwork isn't properly prepared, and it's up to the dealer selling the car to know what paperwork to prepare and what not to do.

If some dealer decided to tell me that the car needs to be registered in that state, then transferred to my home state, the GM would get a call from me fairly quickly.

-alex

Edit: for clarification, here's what you need to know:

-- buying from within CA, the dealer is responsible for all the paperwork prepared, but file it on your behalf to be accurate.
-- buying from outside CA, the dealer is responsible for all paperwork related to the car itself, but (as a service) may provide completed paperwork. The dealer may also collect sales tax for you and write cashier's check to DMV on your behalf, but you are responsible for providing this (and registration/title fees). You, the buyer, is responsible for smog check, vehicle inspection, and registering the car within 20 days of your "date of entry" into California.

[tonylop33]

Just ordered from CO. I am a CO>CA member in waiting. It will be a WRB 6MT Limited.

[Gaiakai]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Adding onto this (first post should be edited and cleaned up, too much info and not enough consolidation)

(copied from another thread I started)

Since a lot of us are buying from out of state (especially BRZ), I figure I'd give everyone a heads up on what is needed to complete the process:

What you need to provide to the DMV:

• Application for registration (usually the dealer will provide this)
• Bill of sale (provided by dealer)
• Certificate of Origin (provided by dealer)
• Proof of financing/lienholder (if financing the car) (provided by dealer)
  
• Smog check (you must do this)
• Vehicle inspection report (can be done at the DMV, or at a local law enforcement agency that is qualified for vehicle inspection, aka any place that can write off a fix-it ticket, including CHP)
• Statement of facts (you can fill this out at the DMV)

Just an FYI.

-alex

I have a question for you: since we had to get our cars smogged (shipped mine from NV), do you know if we would need to get our cars smogged every 2 years now instead of waiting 5 years for the first one?

[tonylop33]

Originally Posted by Gaiakai

I have a question for you: since we had to get our cars smogged (shipped mine from NV), do you know if we would need to get our cars smogged every 2 years now instead of waiting 5 years for the first one?

A prior car I brought in from out of state as a new car did not have to be smogged every two years. It should fall under the six year exemption: Owners of vehicles six or less model years old will pay an annual smog abatement fee for the first six registration years instead of being required to provide a biennial smog certification.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2535

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Gaiakai

I have a question for you: since we had to get our cars smogged (shipped mine from NV), do you know if we would need to get our cars smogged every 2 years now instead of waiting 5 years for the first one?

As stated in my post, you only have to smog a new out of state car because of the way the laws are in CA for out of state cars to be imported. This is dumb because the BRZ I bought is CA compliant smog-wise, yet has to be smogged.

Circular statement, I know.

-alex

[tonylop33]

To clarify, I did have to smog the car I brought in new in order to register it, but then I did not have to smog it every 2 years after that.

[mav1178]

Yeah I just realized I was replying in an incoherent manner.

The process of registering a car (new or used) from out of state is sort of the same. You have to smog either way, even if the car is CA smog certified.

Once the registration is done, the smog law(s) for your applicable year vehicle is the same. So newer than ~6 years, exempt from smog laws. 6 years or older, you have to smog it every 2 years like everything else.

-alex

[robot]

I'm interested in doing this (have to sell my m3 first). If I read correctly I'm kind of in a hard spot because all of the 2013 orders are filled, done, etc. and I'd have to order a 2014???

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by robot

I'm interested in doing this (have to sell my m3 first). If I read correctly I'm kind of in a hard spot because all of the 2013 orders are filled, done, etc. and I'd have to order a 2014???

Call Clint and get your answer directly.

-alex