Moved to California a few days ago....Is it a foregone conclusion that I have to register my car here (and pay $600ish dollars for it)?

What have others done that moved out of state, whether its California or somewhere else?

I think I have a 20 day window to do it, technically. But I also know of people who move out of state and never seem to get around to this...

When I moved out of state, I kept my Texas plates until I needed another inspecition sticker. They wouldn't inspect an out of state vehicle so I had to take the plung.

Same here. I would go as long as possible without registering. It was around $700-$800 for me in Maryland. Terrible.

Only problem is, I think if you miss the official window they give you, it costs even more to register (at least in CA). My registration is up in April, so I'm thinking I may as well just suck it up and do it now, within the window, than wait 3 months and possibly have to pay more.

If anyone else has thoughts on this please share!

Oh and my actual inspection expired in December 2012..

is it a new car? some states you have to watch, like in Oklahoma I waited a year to register because when I moved here my truck was 1 month old, and I was told Oklahoma would charge me sales tax on the truck even though it was bought in Texas. apparently it's a big problem here people going out of state to by vehicles to avoid the higher sales tax.

Yeah, thats the issue here, the sales tax I paid in Texas for the car (was very gently used) is credited toward California, but the majority of the $700 "fee" is leftover sales tax from what I understand...

I think Georgia officially states you have 30 days, but I've had friends who waited until their previous state registration was about to expire. We registered both of our vehicles within two weeks, because I was in a situation requiring a few hoops to jump through to establish residency for tuition purposes. I don't remember it costing anything other than the annual fee, which was around $90/car.

I'm going to just suck it up and register it here I think....I'll let everyone know how many hundreds of dollars it costs

You're moving permanently right? Why the resistance to register? What is waiting 6 months going to accomplish? Just register it. If you wait you only risk paying higher fees.

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but I've had friends who waited until their previous state registration was about to expire.

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I don't get this.. unexpired plates from a previous state are likely not 'valid' in a new state. So why the procrastination?

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but I've had friends who waited until their previous state registration was about to expire.

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I don't get this.. unexpired plates from a previous state are likely not 'valid' in a new state. So why the procrastination?

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It saved me hundreds of dollars, that's why.

In most cases, their registration expired shortly (within 3 months) of moving out of their previous state. So, when they got to Georgia, they didn't want to have to pay again so quickly. Thus, the wait.

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It saved me hundreds of dollars, that's why.

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No it doesn't, it only prolongs the inevitable of you paying hundreds of dollars.

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No it doesn't, it only prolongs the inevitable of you paying hundreds of dollars.

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What are you talking about? The hundreds I saved is not going to be paid to the state of Oklahoma. I fail to see your "inevitableness." If I had registered my truck in Oklahoma right when I moved, they would have seen I bought it in Texas less than a month before my move, and charged me Oklahoma sales tax on a vehicle purchased in Texas (where I already paid tax...at a lower rate). They would have thought I was skirting their higher sales tax rate by buying in Texas, and making an attempt to capture it.

[This message has been edited by Pahdz (edited 1/29/2013 1:56p).]

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They would have thought I was skirting their higher sales tax rate by buying in Texas, and making an attempt to capture it.

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The person I was responding to was talking about his friends waiting 3 months for their registration to expire; meaning they didn't just buy car right before they moved, cause if so it wouldn't expire in 3 months. So your situation doesn't apply to that.. and that's what I'm talking about being inevitable, so why wait?

But to go on what you're talking about; I fail to see how buying a vehicle and then moving from one state to another would indicate that person is trying to avoid a higher sales tax. That only makes sense if you live in OK, buy a truck in TX, but still live and continue to live in OK. If you buy a car and then move, that's ludicrous for the new state to think you bought it before hand just to avoid a sales tax difference.

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But to go on what you're talking about; I fail to see how buying a vehicle and then moving from one state to another would indicate that person is trying to avoid a higher sales tax. That only makes sense if you live in OK, buy a truck in TX, but still live and continue to live in OK. If you buy a car and then move, that's ludicrous for the new state to think you bought it before hand just to avoid a sales tax difference.

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You're preaching to the choir, but it happens. I was told specifically by the people who work at the tag agency (privatized offices that issues drivers licenses and do vehicle registrations here in OK) when I moved here to wait.

$800+ today

$500 or so is sales tax, $300 or so is the actual registration fee

woo hoo

deciding when to register your car in another state is like deciding what to deduct on your income taxes----you can do what you want or what you rationalize---until you are caught or audited.

The rules are the rules and you can decide yourself if you want to flaunt them or not.

all this stuff about "i paid my fee in another state, so I don't want to pay here" is just self-rationalization.

Its a gamble...say if I'd have made it 3 years, and eventually had to pay the $800 plus a fine...well, I'd have still saved a few hundred bucks probably....

I have 0 moral obligation to pay this state back sales taxes, I just think its a gamble that isn't worth it. Its stricly about the money in this instance, has nothing to do with doing "the right thing"

[This message has been edited by BiggieSmalls (edited 2/7/2013 12:12a).]

Moved to Cali last September (2012) and ended up having to pay sales tax on a car we purchased in Texas in October 2011. I feel your pain.