Buying outside CA
05-23-2008, 11:53 PM
#1
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Buying outside CA
Curious to know, for example, you saw a BRAND NEW CAR, NEVER TITLED, located outside CA and would want to bring it to CA and register for your personal use, would the DMV in CA register it? Someone told me that if you bought a car (new or used) outside CA and the mileage is less than 7,000 or 7,500, DMV in CA cannot register the car for use in CA. Is this true?
05-24-2008, 10:40 AM
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
If it's not California emissions certified (and it probably won't be), it can't be registered.
http://arbis.arb.ca.gov/msprog/NonCAVeh/NonCAVeh.pdf
http://arbis.arb.ca.gov/msprog/NonCAVeh/NonCAVeh.pdf
05-24-2008, 11:44 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
Can be CA-registered after car is smog-tested in CA....
Real reason most OCD car guys would never buy a new car from a non-CA (or even non-local) dealer is risk of dealer bungling deliv by: drilling front bumper for plate; attaching various tacky dealer metal ads to trunk lid (a common phenom in ex-CA
); abusing car for joy-drives while at dealer; sending car via cheapest poss, inept trucking svc and incurring damage during shipping, etc
And upon car's arrival in CA, one needs to waste own time/effort to have car smog-tested and actually visit a miserable DMV office to perform registration, etc....
For anyone whose time is valuable and/or prefers to have seamless deliv of a pristine, non-raped, new car, buying outside local region is a non-starter, no matter alleged, nominal discount....
Real reason most OCD car guys would never buy a new car from a non-CA (or even non-local) dealer is risk of dealer bungling deliv by: drilling front bumper for plate; attaching various tacky dealer metal ads to trunk lid (a common phenom in ex-CA
); abusing car for joy-drives while at dealer; sending car via cheapest poss, inept trucking svc and incurring damage during shipping, etcAnd upon car's arrival in CA, one needs to waste own time/effort to have car smog-tested and actually visit a miserable DMV office to perform registration, etc....
For anyone whose time is valuable and/or prefers to have seamless deliv of a pristine, non-raped, new car, buying outside local region is a non-starter, no matter alleged, nominal discount....
05-24-2008, 12:40 PM
#4
MBWorld Fanatic!
As the document I linked says, make sure the car is California certified. It will say so under the hood. If it doesn't have the cert, it can't be registered regardless of whether it passes a smog test or not.
More cars are California-certified for all 50 states now than five years ago, but you have to check.
More cars are California-certified for all 50 states now than five years ago, but you have to check.
05-24-2008, 08:36 PM
#5
MBWorld Fanatic!
whoover, sorry, didn't review the link you provided and misread your cover statement...
The shipping cars across US issue brings up memories of Tech Bubble, when a couple of smart, ?21-22yo financiers/traders, one in NYC and other in SF, would casually lease then-hot S/CL55s in NYC; ship them to SF; drive them a couple of wks and trade them in....pocketing an easy ?$5K net profit per car....fun arbitrage games, as S/CL55s then routinely commanded ?$20K more in SF than in NYC.....interestingly, those traders who played that arb game in their spare time yrs ago are now both elder statesmen-car nuts in SF who still get various new AMG CL/SL/S for their consumption every 3-6mos (though only from the favored dealer on SF Peninsula)....but the deprec costs of AMGs are obviously diametrically different....
BTW, the other risk to price w/cars shipped from non-local dealers is likely poor support if have lemon law/serious warranty issues....logically, any well-run dealer will invest its finite capital to protect its most profitable customers....
The shipping cars across US issue brings up memories of Tech Bubble, when a couple of smart, ?21-22yo financiers/traders, one in NYC and other in SF, would casually lease then-hot S/CL55s in NYC; ship them to SF; drive them a couple of wks and trade them in....pocketing an easy ?$5K net profit per car....fun arbitrage games, as S/CL55s then routinely commanded ?$20K more in SF than in NYC.....interestingly, those traders who played that arb game in their spare time yrs ago are now both elder statesmen-car nuts in SF who still get various new AMG CL/SL/S for their consumption every 3-6mos (though only from the favored dealer on SF Peninsula)....but the deprec costs of AMGs are obviously diametrically different....
BTW, the other risk to price w/cars shipped from non-local dealers is likely poor support if have lemon law/serious warranty issues....logically, any well-run dealer will invest its finite capital to protect its most profitable customers....
