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East Coast buyer, but pickup in CA
- Thread starter cgauthier
- Start date
At this point no one knows for sure. One of the reasons for West coast deliveries being first is so that earlier produced cars are located closer to the factory to facilitate repairs and corrections. So you may not move up in the queue based simply on being willing to pickup at the factory. You can probably still arrange for a factory pick up but with all of the other people that may decide to do it as well, it may end up taking more time to do it that way.
Your best bet is to wait until there is more info and see if, when you configure, you can change the delivery address and if that affects your date.
Your best bet is to wait until there is more info and see if, when you configure, you can change the delivery address and if that affects your date.
Haxster
Member
Taking a "just off the line" vehicle on a long trip is a little risky. Cars often have production defects that don't always show up right away. Some of them could cause (longish) delays to have repaired, impact your enjoyment of the car or even your safety.
I'm surprised there aren't at least a dozen threads discussing this topic.
BluestarE3
Active Member
I think you may be conflating production date with delivery date. While you might get delivery of your car a bit earlier by picking it up at the factory vs. waiting for it to be transported across the country to your local store, the production date of your car will still be based on where you live. When Elon said West Coast will get cars first, he meant customers living there will have their cars produced first and, consequently, get delivered first. Showing up at the factory does not improve when they start building your car; it only improves when you get your hands on it after it has been built.
cpa
Active Member
I really wish people would research their particular state's sales and use tax rules before making spurious comments about being charged twice for sales tax if they pick their automobile up in Fremont, California.
Because you don't pay twice. You receive a credit from your home state on the sales tax paid to another state. If home state sales tax < California, you pay no additional sales tax. If home state sales tax > California, you pay the difference.
It has been this way at least for 30 years.
I would like to see proof of this sort of double taxation, cuz I haven't seen it, and I probably encounter more situations like this than the rest of you.
Please share with me, D.E.
Because you don't pay twice. You receive a credit from your home state on the sales tax paid to another state. If home state sales tax < California, you pay no additional sales tax. If home state sales tax > California, you pay the difference.
It has been this way at least for 30 years.
I would like to see proof of this sort of double taxation, cuz I haven't seen it, and I probably encounter more situations like this than the rest of you.
Please share with me, D.E.
Before assigning a comment a label as "spurrious", you might actually look into it. So are you familiar with Tennessee law regarding sales tax on new cars? If not, you are speculating.
So you "wish" I'd looked into it.
I don't claim to be correct. But I do claim to have looked into it.
I read the proposed california bill that would have changed it. I read about the legislator that felt Tesla had benefited more than she thought fair, so she actively fought the bill. I read about how the bill changed. Then I checked with Tesla sales.
The system makes no sense. I don't argue that either.
There is idiocy in the California system that taxes out of state cars. They won't register the car and issue a tag despite taking the money.
There is idiocy in a Tennessee system that doesn't recognize another state has taxed a new car first, and poached the money that should belong to Tennessee. They want the tax or they apparently won't issue the tag.
I recognize governmental idiocy. I watch the news. I appreciate it more each day.
I really don't want to spend an extra $6187.50 to find out if you are right and the Internet and Tesla sales are wrong. So I'll just let them deliver my car and I'll skip the California vacation. And I'll warn others.
You are free to make your wishes. You are free to claim your knowledge is superior based on "probably encountering more situations like this than the rest of you", despite not having checked. I think you do the reader a real disservice offering advice unless it is confirmed correct for every state.
As for me, it is now moot. My Tesla is to be delivered on Monday. And mine will be taxed exactly once.
So you "wish" I'd looked into it.
I don't claim to be correct. But I do claim to have looked into it.
I read the proposed california bill that would have changed it. I read about the legislator that felt Tesla had benefited more than she thought fair, so she actively fought the bill. I read about how the bill changed. Then I checked with Tesla sales.
The system makes no sense. I don't argue that either.
There is idiocy in the California system that taxes out of state cars. They won't register the car and issue a tag despite taking the money.
There is idiocy in a Tennessee system that doesn't recognize another state has taxed a new car first, and poached the money that should belong to Tennessee. They want the tax or they apparently won't issue the tag.
I recognize governmental idiocy. I watch the news. I appreciate it more each day.
I really don't want to spend an extra $6187.50 to find out if you are right and the Internet and Tesla sales are wrong. So I'll just let them deliver my car and I'll skip the California vacation. And I'll warn others.
You are free to make your wishes. You are free to claim your knowledge is superior based on "probably encountering more situations like this than the rest of you", despite not having checked. I think you do the reader a real disservice offering advice unless it is confirmed correct for every state.
As for me, it is now moot. My Tesla is to be delivered on Monday. And mine will be taxed exactly once.
Congrats on your new Tesla!!
In cpa's defense he was probably referring to the TN side of things not the CA side. Yes, in the absence of the CA law passing everyone has to pay taxes when they take delivery there, but most states will give you a credit on what you pay there against what you would owe in your home state. You should check with TN to see if they offer such an agreement, if so then you;d only be out the difference between the two - assuming that CA is higher.
Not really. If my research is correct the Alameda County (Fremont) CA sales tax is 9.5% while TN is 7%. You can get credit for out-of-state tax paid when registering in TN so it will cost you 2.5% to pick up in CA. If you have a trade-in it would be much worse since CA will not reduce by the trade value while TN will do so. I just looked this up, so I could be incorrect. Plus you save $2,500 or so for the delivery fee
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I can tell you how it works when buying a Tesla the other way -- live in CA and buy in another state -- you pay CA sales tax based upon the address on your driver's license and no sales tax in the other state. I believe the point-of-sale is different than the point-of-delivery; and in CA you pay taxes based on residence.
Tesla encourages that, and it is common, for inventory cars because you avoid the $2,500 transfer/delivery fee if you pick it up yourself. (maybe it's less, I forget)
Tesla encourages that, and it is common, for inventory cars because you avoid the $2,500 transfer/delivery fee if you pick it up yourself. (maybe it's less, I forget)
You are free to make your own decisions and form opinions about state tax policies. If you had chosen to pick up your car in Freemont, you would not have owed Tennessee any use tax though:
Credit for Sales or Use Tax Paid in Another State - TN.Gov
As a side note, for Tennessee as with most states, Sales Tax is not owed on out of state purchases, Use Tax is.
I disagree with your objections to California charging sales tax on cars for out of state use. Sales Tax is by definition charged at the point of sale on all items it applies to. Tactically, I do think California could have found a way to encourage tourism related to car deliveries by either eliminating sales tax or even limiting it to the sales tax that would otherwise be charged by the purchaser's home jurisdiction. I don't think there are many other things subject to the sales tax that would enourage folks to go to California to pick up though.
In CA you pay sales tax for a car based upon the address on your drivers licence. Sales tax varies by county & city; you pay based on where you live not where you purchased the auto. Other goods, like furniture, is different.
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Well, if TN doesn't charge the tax on a new car purchase if already taxed elsewhere, that is a good thing. Thanks Jersey Shore Tom for posting that link. My tax is 7% plus local taxes on the first $1600 so a CA tax in the 9.5% range would be $2500 or so higher. That I think, would be enough to dissuade me from the factory pickup.
Ray, I'm not sure how CA would figure sales tax based on the drivers license address if it is not in CA. I would think they'd charge the state tax and not any of the the local county or city taxes, or do they charge the tax at the pickup point?
I think the use tax is the same as the tag fee.
I'll ask about the double sales taxation at the Tesla showroom on Monday when I get the car. It is worth finding out if there is something different about auto taxes. It is certainly counterintuitive that any state could again tax something already taxed, it sounds just as wrong to me as it does to everyone else.
As far as whether it is right for CA to collect the tax or not, if a car is picked up at the factory, does that define the point of sale as that of the factory? I'm picking up the car in GA but I'm paying TN sales tax. According to the point of sale logic goes, it seems I would pay GA tax then the TN difference. As far as I can tell, that isn't the way it is being done. GA must count it as a sale for other state use so not tax it. CA doesn't tax the car if it is loaded on a carrier and shipped to another state. If I buy it in GA or TN, pay for it in GA or TN, register it in TN, I'm not sure how it became a CA sale just because I drive it out of state rather than it being shipped.
I'll post the Tesla response. I'll assume their answer is definitive.
Ray, I'm not sure how CA would figure sales tax based on the drivers license address if it is not in CA. I would think they'd charge the state tax and not any of the the local county or city taxes, or do they charge the tax at the pickup point?
I think the use tax is the same as the tag fee.
I'll ask about the double sales taxation at the Tesla showroom on Monday when I get the car. It is worth finding out if there is something different about auto taxes. It is certainly counterintuitive that any state could again tax something already taxed, it sounds just as wrong to me as it does to everyone else.
As far as whether it is right for CA to collect the tax or not, if a car is picked up at the factory, does that define the point of sale as that of the factory? I'm picking up the car in GA but I'm paying TN sales tax. According to the point of sale logic goes, it seems I would pay GA tax then the TN difference. As far as I can tell, that isn't the way it is being done. GA must count it as a sale for other state use so not tax it. CA doesn't tax the car if it is loaded on a carrier and shipped to another state. If I buy it in GA or TN, pay for it in GA or TN, register it in TN, I'm not sure how it became a CA sale just because I drive it out of state rather than it being shipped.
I'll post the Tesla response. I'll assume their answer is definitive.
If you're referring to the delivery fee Tesla charges you pay that regardless of where you pickup you car. Everyone pays the same amount and you can't get away with not paying it.
BrokerDon
Active Member
I'm a CA resident and bought 2 cars out of state (2003 Jeep used in FL and 2006 Corvette Z06 new in TX) and paid those states sales tax when I picked up the cars. When I got home with these cars from my "road trips" I was charged CA sales tax but credited the out of state taxes.
Fortunately I live in one of the lower sales tax cities (Newport Beach) in on of the lower sales tax counties (Orange) instead of the CA cities & counties that charge their residents significantly higher sales tax (like Los Angeles). http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/boe95.pdf
YMMV
Fortunately I live in one of the lower sales tax cities (Newport Beach) in on of the lower sales tax counties (Orange) instead of the CA cities & counties that charge their residents significantly higher sales tax (like Los Angeles). http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/boe95.pdf
YMMV
He is referring to an inventory $2500 charge for car deliverys from states other than your own. The original delivery charge (less$) is still paid as it is built into the sticker but you would save the additional $2500 delivery that's added to the inventory cars if picking it up at its current location.
BrokerDon
Active Member
In a perfect world you'll get an "inventory" discount which is greater than the CA sales tax "surcharge"... and get an AMAZING road trip back to your home. I tried to find an "inventory" P85D out of state but as luck would have it the perfect "unicorn" P85D with the rare Plus suspension in the EXACT colors and options we wanted was at a Tesla showroom 10 miles from home. If it had been out of state we would have gladly flown there to pick it up.
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