citytravelfotos
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I'm still resistent to having to do this, but I didn't prepare because I didn't know I'd be hit with such taxes.
I bought my van last year but haven't gone vandwelling yet. I move to California (to move my mom and sister out of Arizona) and we move pretty far from the Arizona border (650 miles). My registration on my van ran out at the end of December and I go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register the vehicle. I find out that I owe over $350 in use taxes (not including the registration charges) because I didn't pay sales/use taxes in Arizona. I bought it through a private party and Arizona didn't require me to pay sales taxes on it! They told me that they charge the use tax unless I bought it and brought it into California more than a year ago. The vehicle originated in CA so I hope I don't have any of the emissions penalties (it passed the smog check.)
I read that the state of Washington also does this.
I don't think its fair that I have to pay use taxes when I was an Arizona resident at the time I bought the vehicle. Use taxes are primarily intended for residents of the state that buy stuff from out of state to avoid buying from businesses in the state (like when you buy something on the internet from a company out of state and get to avoid paying sales taxes.) Charging someone from out of state use taxes is unfair and nothing more than ripping off an out of stater.
They also verify the information you put with the motor vehicle department in the state you had the vehicle last registered with.
I know what some of you are thinking:
"Why don't I just reregister it in Arizona?"
I try to avoid trouble with the law. I hate it but in some cities with corrupt police, they can even plant evidence to get you arrested.
I would not really be staying in California that much (only in the winter and sometime in the summer) but I also have a crossover SUV that I'm lending to my mom and I'm worried that she'll eventually be hassled for driving a vehicle with out of state plates in a small city (pop 65,000) that's not part of the contiguous part of a metropolitan area.
I already had my two vehicles smog checked (costed me $68 for the van) and the info was sent to the CA DMV.
I've had bad experiences before when trying to save money. Still, it's hard to stomach what might eventually come out to be $620 (including the smog check) to register my van (about $250 for my crossover SUV) for a total of $870. If I reregistered my vehicles in Arizona, it'd cost only $180. I can see why so many people hate this state.
Actually it'd cost $235 (because of the smog check on both vehicles) to reregister the vehicle in Arizona
It'd cost $170 to drive my Crossover SUV to Phoenix to reregister (I have to do the smog check there as well) and more if I can't sleep in my vehicle (since it's not been altered to sleep in.) I'd be passing by the RTR if I go in my van so it's not a problem to go to Phoenix on it ($50 extra.) A mailbox (with a physical address) might cost about $120 for 6 months. So the total cost to reregister the two vehicles NOW since I left Arizona would be at least $575 (not including the van trip to go to Quartzsite, AZ to the RTR.) This doesn't include if I get pulled over.
I bought my van last year but haven't gone vandwelling yet. I move to California (to move my mom and sister out of Arizona) and we move pretty far from the Arizona border (650 miles). My registration on my van ran out at the end of December and I go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register the vehicle. I find out that I owe over $350 in use taxes (not including the registration charges) because I didn't pay sales/use taxes in Arizona. I bought it through a private party and Arizona didn't require me to pay sales taxes on it! They told me that they charge the use tax unless I bought it and brought it into California more than a year ago. The vehicle originated in CA so I hope I don't have any of the emissions penalties (it passed the smog check.)
I read that the state of Washington also does this.
I don't think its fair that I have to pay use taxes when I was an Arizona resident at the time I bought the vehicle. Use taxes are primarily intended for residents of the state that buy stuff from out of state to avoid buying from businesses in the state (like when you buy something on the internet from a company out of state and get to avoid paying sales taxes.) Charging someone from out of state use taxes is unfair and nothing more than ripping off an out of stater.
They also verify the information you put with the motor vehicle department in the state you had the vehicle last registered with.
I know what some of you are thinking:
"Why don't I just reregister it in Arizona?"
I try to avoid trouble with the law. I hate it but in some cities with corrupt police, they can even plant evidence to get you arrested.
I would not really be staying in California that much (only in the winter and sometime in the summer) but I also have a crossover SUV that I'm lending to my mom and I'm worried that she'll eventually be hassled for driving a vehicle with out of state plates in a small city (pop 65,000) that's not part of the contiguous part of a metropolitan area.
I already had my two vehicles smog checked (costed me $68 for the van) and the info was sent to the CA DMV.
I've had bad experiences before when trying to save money. Still, it's hard to stomach what might eventually come out to be $620 (including the smog check) to register my van (about $250 for my crossover SUV) for a total of $870. If I reregistered my vehicles in Arizona, it'd cost only $180. I can see why so many people hate this state.
Actually it'd cost $235 (because of the smog check on both vehicles) to reregister the vehicle in Arizona
It'd cost $170 to drive my Crossover SUV to Phoenix to reregister (I have to do the smog check there as well) and more if I can't sleep in my vehicle (since it's not been altered to sleep in.) I'd be passing by the RTR if I go in my van so it's not a problem to go to Phoenix on it ($50 extra.) A mailbox (with a physical address) might cost about $120 for 6 months. So the total cost to reregister the two vehicles NOW since I left Arizona would be at least $575 (not including the van trip to go to Quartzsite, AZ to the RTR.) This doesn't include if I get pulled over.
