Private Party Purchase (Out of State)

[ArizonaP85]

Wait, what?!? Where did you hear they are doing away with the reduced registration fees at the end of the year? Is there a way to register for 5 additional years if I still have 1 year left?

Alternate Fuel Vehicle

New law passed this past session, HB 2166. And no, you can't renew earlier than a month or two from expiration, I've checked. The only good news is that once cars, even $100K cars, are 5 years old, the regular registration fee has dropped quite a bit from new.

 

[Don TLR]

New law passed this past session, HB 2166. And no, you can't renew earlier than a month or two from expiration, I've checked. The only good news is that once cars, even $100K cars, are 5 years old, the regular registration fee has dropped quite a bit from new.

That's for Jan 1 2020

https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/2R/laws/0265.pdf

 

[Ghosty]

Fly and drive car back. Probably easiest way. Second, DCU and Alliant credit union are easy to work with. I love Alliant b/c they mail you the check directly - which will simplify a private party transaction. Tips:

1. Use a Credit Union that will mail you the check directly - it will help smooth out transaction.
2. The car has a lien, so make sure seller provides you a copy of the registration (lender will ask for this and a "purchase agreement." - something simple).
3. *NO CA TAX will be paid. If it is a private party transaction and you are not registering the car in CA - you will NOT pay a tax. Your state may require you to pay a tax upon registration. But you will NOT pay CA any tax.*
4. Obtain a driving permit from your state. They should provide you a driving permit if you show them the Financing Agreement from your lender.
5. Obtaining title of the car - this will be the most difficult part. B/c the car has a lien on title - they current lien holder will likely NOT be able to provide you with a title. Title will be given to current owner who will then have to turn title over to you. You may make arrangements with the current lien holder and seller -- ahead of time -- to work out an agreement where lien holder sends you title. However, that may NOT be an option as the person responsible for the current lien is legally entitled to the title.
6. Gather insurance information and or add the vehicle to your insurance by the day you pick up - if you pick up in person.
7. Plan out your trip ahead of time - if you are a first time Tesla owner - you WILL experience range anxiety. Plot your trip to ensure you have charge to arrive to the next charger - you will.
8. DO NOT drive 100mph as you will deplete your battery faster than you can imagine! You will have to stop at every super charger and it will be a very very long drive b/c of all the stops.
9. Enjoy your beautiful car! It will change your perspective about transportation and you will be such a happy camper!!!

 

[Kandiru]

Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) was really great. All online. Your bank/lender will verify the lien and do the payoff for you. If you still feel uncomfortable, you can always use an escrow service. Escrow.com has always been my go to.

Another happy DCU customer.

OP here is my process coast to coast used Model S:

Sight Unseen Used 85D Step by Step

 

[Rahul]

Thanks @Kandiru. I checked out DCU but their rates for used around 4%. Best if 3.74% if I use their checking I think. I'm currently leaning toward Arizona Federal Credit Union (AZFCU) offering 3.24%. The rub is that the vehicle needs to be registered in AZ. So I would have to pay cash and then finance it after I bring it over here.

 

[humuhumu]

Must not be a coincidence that folks from AZ are buying cars from CA. I just sold an MBZ E55 AMG Wagon to a gentleman in Phx and he had a covered transport pick up from San Jose for $850. Great incentive in AZ not to have to pay tax for private transactions. I wish CA would enact something similar.

 

[Markk993]

just for the record it is technically not legal to drive it back from California to Az... Nevada has the same tax structure as AZ and I did the same thing... I bought mine in Newport Beach. I did not know at the time but i was told the car has to be "Shipped" across state lines and driving it back is essentially driving a completely unregistered car... the expectation is that you get it shipped to your house and even then you are technically not even supposed to drive it to the DMV without first getting a rolling permit of some kind.

Odds are that they would never know but in the event that something does happen it may be more of a risk than it is worth...

take a small piece of the tax savings and ship it... by the time you do airfare and expenses you are getting half of the shipping cost back anyway but like others said it should be well under 1K...

 

[Rahul]

Update

I’ve decided to go with either AZFCU or OneAZ because their rates were much lower. But the rub is that I can’t get the loan until the car is registered in AZ. So I paid off (out of pocket) the seller’s loan on 12/6 and the lender electronically released the CA title on 12/7. The DMV will send a printed title to the seller but apparently it can take up to 21 days. This is pretty annoying because now I’m in a time crunch to get this done by end of year. He’s going to overnight it to me as soon as he gets it.

Does anyone off hand here no if the seller needs to notarize his signature before sending it to me?

On the shipping front the best quote Vehicle Shipping Group could get was $1100 incl their fee for closed export. No one bid on open transport at $750. I might end up hopping on a flight ($70), stay the night in OAK at friend’s place and then drive it back in one day.

 

[TonyT]

I dont think notarizing is required. I had to do something similar. I purchased mine from a seller that still owed to the credit union. He was upside down on the loan so we both paid it off at his credit union, my purchase price, and he had a check for the remainder he owed. The credit union will release the title to him now. We filled out a bill of sale (CA form) which he gave me POA for the title. Now CU will send in the paperwork to the DMV and it will take the DMV however long it take to send him the title (up to 21 days). After that I will pick up the title from him and go register at DMV. I'm driving the car around with the bill of sale which shows my "purchase" Then I can have Tesla transfer the car to me so I can have it in my account.

Sorry I was digressing, but for your question we had no notery involved and there is no place for notrizing on the form. CA titles also dont have notary spot.

Out of state adds additional complexity...

 

[ArizonaP85]

No notary required for CA titles, so AZ MVD has to follow CA rules for CA titles (even though AZ requires notarization for AZ titles.)

If a clerk hassles you, ask for a supervisor and/or ask them to review the Polk Manual which describes every state's rules - which must be honored by the receiving state.

 

[tree100]

Wondering if you finally got this all figured out? How did the registration go? Did they give you the option for a 5-year registration?

 

[Rahul]

I've been meaning to give a final update. I must admit doing this private party purchase out of state has taken a lot more effort and time than I expected.

I want to thank @rexorz who made the transaction as smooth as possible. I purchased his 2017 Deep Metallic Blue Model X 100D that he posted on 11/21/2018. @rexorz treats his cars really well and if he's selling another one here, I highly recommend offering a fair price and jumping on it quickly.

I ended up getting the shipping done through Laura Curto @ Vehicle Shipping Group for a shipping quote. I found her name through a post mentioned somewhere else on TMC. I ended up paying $825 for open transport.

Regarding financing, I got it done though OneAZ Credit Union which was able to do 3.09% for 60 months. That's the best I found. The other options mentioned here were closer to 4%. However, I had do it to in a round-about way. They couldn't give me the loan until the car was titled/registered in AZ, so it ended up going like this:

1. 12/6 - I paid off the loan on the title on
2. 12/7 - The lender electronically released the title, CA DMV mails the title to the seller
3. 12/10 - Had the car shipped prior to receiving the title. There was still some remaining balance owed for the negotiated price. That was to be paid when I got the title.
4. 12/14 - Car got here after an anxious 4 days. BUT something I did not realize is that in order to get a 90-day temporary permit in AZ you need to have a notarized bill of sale. I ended up getting 3-day permits ($1) which are really only meant to get the car to the DMV. In hindsight I wish I had asked @rexorz to send it at the same time car was shipped.
5. 12/19 - Title arrives to @rexorz
6. 12/22 - Title arrives to me but DMV closed on Sat
7. 12/24 - I register the car
8. 12/26 - Complete loan application and get funding

I am almost done now, just waiting for one thing... for Tesla to transfer the car to my account!

A few add'l notes:

* Initially Vehicle Shipping Group could not find a carrier to ship the car for < $1200 so I actually purchased a ticket for $70 to fly to OAK and drive back the car myself. I ended up getting cold feet and they were able to find open transport for $825 at the 11th hour.
* I definitely felt a time-crunch. I wanted to get this done by EOY so I could take a sec 179 tax deduction.
* @rexorz was very helpful in this process and he is very timely. This would've been a lot more painful had he not been so helpful in all things with updates, shipping, title, etc.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone in the future.

 

[WambleJ]

New law passed this past session, HB 2166. And no, you can't renew earlier than a month or two from expiration, I've checked. The only good news is that once cars, even $100K cars, are 5 years old, the regular registration fee has dropped quite a bit from new.

It does look like 2020. Does that mean they will still offer the 5 year cheap registration through 2019?
Based on my understanding reading it the valuation will change from 1% of the value to 30% (which is still less than the standard 60% I believe).