Out of State Car Purchase Questions

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Hi, I am looking at buying a new toyota sienna in the next few days. I live in Louisville and the car is in Chicago, they are beating everyone else between here and there. I will be going there next tuesday by bus and driving back (6 hour drive). How do I lock-down the deal without signing actual financing paperwork. I want to make sure that I get the agreed on price (they said that i pay kentucky sales tax to the chicago dealership directly) since I am taking a day off work and paying for a bus ticket up there. I do not want to sign the purchase contract electronically however without actually seeing the car I am buying.

Any suggestions?
Thanks
 
I would ask them to send you all the paperwork in hard copy form a few days before. They should just overnight/2day it to you. You should be able to compare your copy to theirs or just deliver after you see the car and you are ok.

Others will have more advice i'm sure.
 
You have to trust them. If they're shady, they'll "forget" about some fee or "discover" a mistake in the price. They'll know you're more likely to pay a little more since you're 6 hours from home. But not all dealers are shady.

I've even read about dealerships "discovering" mistakes in pricing and wanting extra money or the car back a week after the deal closes.

Look at dealership reviews and if they have a lot of reviews that are obviously written by the dealership themselves... It's gamble but it might be legit and you'll save yourself some money.
 
Just bought a car a month ago from a dealership 150 miles away. All was done by email. Got their out the door price
with taxes, tags, etc. They just needed a $500 deposit to hold the car. If I didn't like the car they would refund
the deposit. Got there and test drove the car, was happy and in less than a hour I was out the door. It was the simple
car buying I have ever done.
 
If putting a deposit down to hold the car, how do you do that? Is that via credit card or some other service?
 
Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
If putting a deposit down to hold the car, how do you do that? Is that via credit card or some other service?


I've always used a credit card.
 
Do the dealerships really handle taxes in KY/IL? I've always paid taxes at the time I go and register the vehicle (since I have insurance lined up at that point as well).
 
I bought the 16 Silverado starting online then by phone. Got them to email a sales contract with out-the-door final price. Easiest vehicle we've ever bought. You do have to trust them a little bit. Good luck.
 
Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
Hi, I am looking at buying a new toyota sienna in the next few days. I live in Louisville and the car is in Chicago, they are beating everyone else between here and there. I will be going there next tuesday by bus and driving back (6 hour drive). How do I lock-down the deal without signing actual financing paperwork. I want to make sure that I get the agreed on price (they said that i pay kentucky sales tax to the chicago dealership directly) since I am taking a day off work and paying for a bus ticket up there. I do not want to sign the purchase contract electronically however without actually seeing the car I am buying.

Any suggestions?
Thanks


My brother bought his subaru from out state. Just got the quote from the dealer in an e-mail, gave a CC deposit. The dealer fedex the documents, he did is own finacing through his credit union and fedex them back the paperwork along with the check. When the car was ready flew their and picked up the car. Did all the registration and taxes himself at the dmv, only payed for the cost of the car.
 
I negotiated a Subaru deal out of state. I gave a deposit via CC. When I arrived I took it for a ride, then signed the paperwork and drove it home. Actually wife drove it home and I pretty much have not driven it since.
 
In 2006 I also bought a Toyota Sienna out of state. I live in NJ and took the train to MD, bought the car and drove it home. It all went very smoothly. I had no guarantee about the condition or availability of the car before I arrived, so I was taking a chance. There was a dedicated internet sales person that seemed trust worthy. The dealership even provided reimbursement for the cab fare from the train station to the dealership. Apparently, they sold a lot of cars this way. Their internet prices were much cheaper than anything I could negotiate at a local dealer, easily making it worth the effort to purchase out of state.

I didn't pay any sales tax at purchase. I paid the NJ sales tax when registering the car in NJ. The only mistake I made was not meeting the time requirement (6 days as I recall) for the payment of the tax, resulting in a small extra charge for not paying the tax in the designated time frame. I guess the state wants their money right away.

Good luck. Talk to the dealership. They are very familiar with these types of transactions.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Do the dealerships really handle taxes in KY/IL? I've always paid taxes at the time I go and register the vehicle (since I have insurance lined up at that point as well).


I have heard of neighboring states collecting sales taxes for each other but I'd be leery of Illinois (especially Chicago) collecting sales taxes for Kentucky...BE CAREFUL.
 
While living in NC, I have purchased vehicles in VA, GA and FL. When you are buying a vehicle in another state and it's to be titled in your home state, the dealer will always collect sales tax for your state so the vehicle can be registered in your state. With your purchase you will get a temporary registration, and the new tags will be sent to the dealer, which in turn will mail them to you. This is a routine matter for the dealer's title clerk.

If you're doing this in one trip, looks like you'll either be paying cash or using dealer financing. Good luck.
 
If you are paying the sales tax for your state to them, insist that they accept a separate check that you make out to your state. Otherwise there is a chance that it gets screwed up and if they do not pay the sales tax to your state you will have to write another check to your state before your state will issue the paper work for your new vehicle.

Also, even if you purchase the vehicle in your state you still want to write a separate check to your state for the sales tax because there have been cases of dealerships going bankrupt and the sales tax not getting forwarded to the state, and the car byre having to pay the sales tax a second time when they had to write a check to the state before the state would process the paperwork for the vehicle.
 
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Make SURE you research the reciprocity on sales tax between what state you live in and what state you buy in.

I've bought many, many cars and RV's in different states, and got screwed once on a travel trailer I bought in IN, and brought home to NY. I ended up paying a portion of the sales tax twice.
 
Went through this back in February when I bought my GTI 2.5hrs away in Virginia. They had a couple on the lot that I wanted just different colors and wasn't a very desirable combo (6MT) so I wasn't worried about a deposit. Emailed/texted back and fourth with the salesman for an OTD price including PA taxes, so there was a "paper trail." Drove down the following Saturday and they held true to their price (actually came in $1K lower to get me out of there, lol). They sent via FedEx Express the titling paperwork and tax/fee check to a notary service in PA and everything was taken care of that way.

Since I was financing I did do their pre-approval app and all I did when I got there was do numbers on my old car and sign on the dotted line (felt like I signed 50 documents...). In your case I would probably do a deposit on a credit card. I would ask to be emailed a PDF copy of the purchase price/agreement.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
If you are paying the sales tax for your state to them, insist that they accept a separate check that you make out to your state. Otherwise there is a chance that it gets screwed up and if they do not pay the sales tax to your state you will have to write another check to your state before your state will issue the paper work for your new vehicle.


This x1000

The way I'm used to it working is you'll pay sales tax to IL and then pay your home state the difference when you register the car.

Screw this up and you'll pay tax twice.

I smell a rat. Keep this thread up to date!
 
My turn:
MD to NJ purchase.
On 16 December 2016, a Friday. I called a Maryland dealership about a car.
I couldn't go to see the car until Monday morning.
I called at dinner time Saturday and the car was still available. At no time did I consider paying a deposit on an unseen used car.
They called back 90 minutes later to say it was sold. I thanked them for calling.
THEN they called around 9:45 to tell me the deal fell through and that they'd hold the car for me 'til noon Monday. I test drove and bought it that day.

A branch of our bank was up the street so I got a cashier's check.
All we did was leave the sales tax square blank. I simply stated I was going to pay the NJ sales tax myself at the DMV desk.
I was also going to transfer my registration (reuse my plates) so we didn't even have to get involved with some out-of-state registration/plate service nor FedExing paper. A little bit of money saved.

I do love the idea of paying your home state's tax with a separate check. I love the way I did it more.

I had he idea to grab a blank sales form at the dealership and fill it in with a $27 total price and pay 49 cents sales tax but my friends talked me out of it.

What's funny is that those out-of-state car reg services are ALL OVER eastern Pennsylvania.
 
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