I've been looking for a new Maxima over the Internet and have found a few on dealer sites who are located outside of my state. If I were to buy a car from one of those dealers, I assume I have to pay that states sales tax. Does anyone know if that is correct?

 

I don't think so. Not on cars anyway. I believe they charge you sales tax based on where the car will be registered. And there is nothing on my car registration materials here in VA that indicates where I bought my car. We do have annual personal property taxes here that are charged in addition to the sales tax (which is pretty low here). If that were the case (no sales tax if you're out of state) everybody would be driving out of state to buy their cars.

 

there's a thread out there from not too long ago... It *may* depend on the state, but I doubt it.

I bought my car in MA, but live in NH, so I have to have the car delivered to NH to avoid sales tax (no sales tax in NH). If I lived in MA and bought the car in NH, there is *no* (legal) way to avoid paying sales tax when the car is brought back to MA and registered.

So, you're out of luck. But still look around because you might get a better deal in the other state.

 

That's not true. My friend lives in Nashua NH. I negotiated a deal for him on a Porsche which he bought from a dealer in NYS. The dealer FedEx'd him the MSO, he registered and insured the car, paid the NH property tax (annual), came down to NYS with the Live Free or Die plates and a drove the car home. Of course he settled the money thing with cashiers check before they would FedEx the MSO. It has nothing to do with shipping or driving as my friend drove the Porsche back to NH. He paid no tax to New York.

This tax business is another reason why we have so much fraud going on. I think a really bad fraud is the CT cars who ask their friends/relatives to obtain plates in another state since the property tax is steep in CT.

 

Bottom line is you pay the taxes in the state where you register it.

 

I live in MD and bought my Maxima at a dealership in VA. They ran it through as a Maryland sale and I paid the 5% MD sales tax on it. I think you typically pay sales tax to the state where you are going to be registering the car.

 

You're right, it's all about where you will be registering the car.

I knew some shady characters in college. I went to the VW dealership with this dude and he bought a car "out of state." ie no tax or reggie fees. He told the dealer he was gonna use the plates off his trade-in car. The dealer told him don't switch the plates on our lot. To make a long story he drove the new car off the lot with plates off his old car without transferring the tags. he avoided tax but obviously the car wasn't registered and at the same time he didn't cancel the old car or the insurance thinking he'd somehow be covered.

I think by law the dealership is supposed to verify insurance coverage and reggies before they physically release the vehicle to prevent that stuff.

 

I don't believe it matters where you buy the car. You pay the tax based on the county where the car's title is going to be registered as which typically is your place of residence. Unless there are registration fees, you pay the tax once when you purchase. That's my understanding anyway.