Dumb question - buying a used car from a private party out of state - method of payment?
drobs
Member Posts: 22,620 ✭✭✭✭
I'm looking to pickup a used Wrangler here in Florida. I found a 2010 Rubicon 2 door manual with low miles for $16k. How should I go about paying the seller?
Cash?
Meet at my bank and have the bank give them a check / cash?
I've only bought 1 used car privately previously. The local seller had a credit card account. We gave them a grand on a credit card and a personal check for the balance.
I plan to drive the Jeep back to Missouri. To do that in Florida, I need to get a temporary tag and pay Florida taxes on the vehicle. Looks like .06% taxes or $960. I will then have to pay Missouri taxes on it.
Could I avoid paying Florida Taxes by having a car shipper ship it back to Missouri? I got a couple quotes that run about $1000.
What are your thoughts on that?
Comments
Pay taxes twice? Not good.
When I lived in Arkansas, I bought two trucks just across the line in Oklahoma. I did not pay Oklahoma sales tax on them because their destination was Arkansas. I paid for the trucks and drove them home. Then, I had to pay sales tax at the tax office in Arkansas in order to register the trucks and get license plates.
Give the guy a personal check, have him give you the title, drive it home, go to your courthouse and pay title, registration and sales tax. Our courthouse wants a bill of sale now because too many people were giving a much lower sale price to save on tax, especially on a cash deal.
Check those regulations. I've driven several vehicles home w/o a problem with nothing more than a bill of sale. You shouldn't have to pay taxes in Florida. Sales taxes on vehicles are paid in the licensing state.
I have paid with a cashier's check from my bank in a similar situation.
Well, what I do is call my insurance guy and have the car insured after I pay for it. I will meet the seller at a bank, have them notarize the title, and pay the seller with a bank check. I am not going to pay tax in another state. By the way, before I drive to Fla., I am going to take the time to find a local mechanic that will do a good $100.00 inspection. I would arrange that with the seller before hand, or no deal.
Maybe trailer it with a Uhaul?
listen to Ricci.
What LS&D said. we live in Arkansas and buy vehicles in Texas and Louisiana all the time. NEVER had to pay another state's sales tax.
Be sure that the title the seller gives you is CLEAR.
And, ask the bank to make a photocopy of the seller's drivers license, if he doesn't bring one for your.
Neal
Drive the Jeep up here to Virginia and double your money. Jeeps, new and used, are bringing stupid money up here.
"Our courthouse wants a bill of sale now because too many people were giving a much lower sale price to save on tax, especially on a cash deal."
In Texas, it's a 3RD DEGREE FELONY to falsify a bill of sale. HAHAHAHAHA!
It happened so often, that the state set up a system to check the presumptive value of a vehicle. They plug in the year, make, and model, and the program establishes a value. It's set up to hose you.
I bought an old truck for $2300, and like a dang fool, turned in the accurate figure on the bill of sale. Just for grins, I asked the clerk to tell me the presumed value. "$400," she said. That was stupid. In my world, a pickup truck that will start and get down the road was worth a minimum of $1500. Today that figure is probably double that.
I bought an old Saturn from my mother for $300. It had over 200,000 miles on it, and would need an engine overhaul soon. That didn't matter to the clerk. She said the value was $1800, and that's the amount I paid tax on.
It's hard to beat the tax crooks now days.............😡
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
I feel like I'd be pulled over multiple times driving with out license plates from Fort Lauderdale Florida to SW Missouri.
So it is legal to drive on a bill of sale and no plates through multiple states?
I'd get it insured right away + will have a mechanic go over it.
That's a good question. As your insurance guy or maybe call the state police. Or just drive really fast and at night.
I thought you always had a certain number of days to get a newly purchased vehicle licensed
This right here.
Do it the hillbilly way: Make a sign our of cardboard that says "lost tags" or "Farm Use".
In Florida, the seller will keep the existing plate. This is because the plate can be transferred over to a new vehicle and the seller doesn’t incur that additional tax they have previously paid.
I share this because you may not be rolling on an expired tag out of Florida, but no tag.
I've never heard of the seller keeping the plates. I've got a pile of plates from vehicle bought out of state, and in state. Tell me what color you like and I'll send you some.
From Florida DMV website:
Seems like a free stop to any state trooper that wants to. Not that "I have anything to hide." Or am doing anything illegal. I just don't feel like getting stopped in multiple states on the drive home w/o license plates.
As much as I support the blue, I do my best to not invite them into my life.
Seems like Florida is becoming a less attractive place to retire. My offer still stands. I'd wager, in the current environment, most Leo's are happy to look the other way, short of sideswiping their cruiser, or being caught hiding in the closet when they get home.
I would have made a deal with the seller to mail his plate back to him.
No luck on a Jeep in Florida. Test drove a couple. All seemed overly rusty. Back to looking in MO, AR, OK.
Might just hold off until used car prices get back to normal.
If and when that ever happens.