This is how I read it, though admittedly I only took the quickest of looks. I considered picking up my Model 3 at Fremont, getting a tour, and then road-tripping back to Colorado. That's a scenario that's currently prohibitively expensive in CO and many other states, as CA does not currently waive sales tax when the car is purchased to be registered in another state. I would have had to pay the ~9%ish (IIRC) combined sales tax rate in Fremont, then the ~5%ish rate back home. In short, something like a $4k hit after trade-in vs picking up here in CO.
Concur. There's really no good reason for CA to do things this way. If Tesla buyers could pick up their cars at Fremont and not get hit with this multi-thousand dollar duplicate tax bill, I think some significant # would do it. Then Tesla would have lower expenses for those sales (no transport costs), the buyers would get a cool tour, and California would reap significant tourism/tax benefits from those folks lodging in CA, eating in CA, perhaps sightseeing rather than turning around and going straight home.
Currently, they receive virtually $0 from this scenario, as very few people are willing to take that tax hit.
