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Article posted on Jun 11

Thank you for visiting California. Now never come back.

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 11, 2007, 5:45 pm

I got my title back from Carson City Toyota and will mail it to Auburn Toyota soon. I went to the DMV, surrendered the plates on my old car (and got $122 prorated refund on my registration, woo), and paid $1300 in taxes on my new car. And I finally bit the bullet and applied for vanity plates. Here's what I should be getting:

If you plan on going my route and buying a car from a California dealership, there's one gigantic gotcha I found today. California requires you to provide proof (if they request) that the vehicle has not been used primarily in California for a year after purchase, to avoid California taxes on the vehicle. That's reasonable, not the gotcha.

This is the gotcha: You may not enter California with the car within 90 days of purchase. Period. No exceptions. If you do, you risk being charged full taxes on the car, in addition to what you paid to your state.

Totally unreasonable. Now, I understand the principle behind the law (to prevent people from buying a car to use in California, but registering it in Nevada to avoid paying the higher California taxes on it), but this makes no exception for people like me who live in Reno, work in Reno, but occasionally go down to the Bay Area for a day.

Now, I could probably risk it and drive it in California anyway, but of course the penalty for that risk is about $2000. I've got a good relationship with Enterprise and can get good rates (and when you rent in Reno, they allow you to drive in both Nevada and California since we're so close to the border), so it looks like I'll be renting cars for the occasional weekend trip.

Screw you, California.

(Besides that, the car is great so far.)

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