Moved to GA, process to register my "leased" car (Atlanta: sale, 2015)

[ashish2k1]

Hi,

I have moved to GA initially for temporary time but then moved permanenty. what is the procedure to register my leased car and who has to pay for the registration process? Is it too high ? The Car was leased in Philadelphia, PA from Honda for 3 years in 2015 start of the year

I tried getting details from online websites and friends in Atlanta, GA but not helped much. Even I went to the DMV and registration office but it was not explained what all documents I need to register. They mentioned I need some Power of Attorney from the company I leased the car from. But I do not know what details they need on it.

Do I just need to transfer registration or do I need to transfer title etc also

Does anyone know how complicated this is going to be? Also, what kind of taxes will I get hit with for a leased car?

I have proof of insurance, vehicle lease contract, GA driver's license, passport, and bills and signed lease to prove residency.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks and have a great new year ahead !

Kind Regards,
Ashish Srivastava

[Forhall]

Call lease company and get power of attorney and title sent. They will know.

Get GA insurance

Get GA license

Go to DMV (off hours!) And wait. Shortest wait I know is in DeKalb county rural Decatur.

Checks only to pay everything. Check must have an in state address or they will send you home.

Your taxes will be high - you pay the taxes as if you just bought the car in GA new. It can be 1-2k for midrange cars, 4k+ for mid range luxury cars.

[flamadiddle]

Get ready to get your pocket picked.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...ar-leases.html

[CA_Vol]

I just spent nearly $3k to register 2 cars (2008 & 2012) and a 2006 Harley. I wanted to punch the DMV lady in the face...

[cwkimbro]

ashish,

We don't have an annual ad valorem tax anymore. They change it to a single one-time fee you pay up front.

The fee is the same for new and leased cars. It is 7% the value of the car.

This has made leasing less popular in Georgia. The law benefits those who changes cars less frequently and is more expensive for those who change cars frequently.

Since you only have 1 year left on the lease, it is actually bad case scenario for you as you will be paying the tax for essentially one year of use.

If you think there is any chance you will buy the car from the dealer at the end of the lease, it would be advantageous to see if you can do that with the dealer now before registration and not at the end of your lease.

I'm not sure what the penalties would be for breaking a lease, but I suspect they are more than high enough it isn't option.

Sadly, it looks like you might have to pay a hefty registration tax now and another with your next car in a year.

[ca2dfw]

I am planning to move to GA this coming spring. Originally I had planned on shipping two cars from CA -- one of which is a 2015 Chevy Volt. It's market value is probably around $20k but the TAVT calculator is telling me it is worth $33k, with a resulting tax of $2300. I discarded the idea when I saw that and now planned to buy a used car in GA instead.

Can anyone tell me, for used cars, is the TAVT value based on what DMV thinks the car is worth or based purely on the transacted sale price? Thanks.

[CA_Vol]

It's based on what the estimated value is. I also shipped my cars from CA. Had I known I would have to pay 7% to register them, I would have sold 2 of them.

[jayjay3452]

What a scam they have going on.... Im moving from Connecticut with 4 cars and this TAVT calculator is not accurate... It is valuing each vehicle at least $3000 more than its really worth!

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by jayjay3452

What a scam they have going on.... Im moving from Connecticut with 4 cars and this TAVT calculator is not accurate... It is valuing each vehicle at least $3000 more than its really worth!

So two things:

1) It is not a scam. It actually removes a sizable annual tax we previously had. It is a tax for better or worse. It's how we pay for roads your going to drive those cars on.

There are considerations at play and this take doesn't play well in some circumstances and I am understanding of that. I wish they would create a 3-year annual phase-in for new comers. It would help shore-up the more extreme problems like the OP has, where he has to pay a full tax on a car he can only contractually possess for one more year. If he could pay 1/3 for 3 years until he gets rid of the car, it would make his tax liability much closer to that of the old system before he pays for the up front tax on his next lease/purchase here that will last for the time period expected for most to hold onto their cars. No to mention just removing the sticker shock. When you buy a car you can roll this tax into the loan amount, but when you move here you can't. This is a particular problem for early career professionals. This one change would fix most of the criticisms this system has and I'd like to see our state legislature wise-up about this.

2) I understand the valuation differences and why people get confused, but more often than not they are likely correct. The way they valuate the car, first and foremost if the value of the car in Georgia... not somewhere else. Someone from the upper mid-west often has cars that lose values faster due to sale corrosion for example.
The main issue is there are different ways to valuate cars. There are wholsesale prices, there are the prices an individual pays to an individual, the value a dealer would pay for a trade-in, and the value for what a dealer would retail. For each car these values are usually different. Georgia valuates by averaging the wholesale value and the full retail value for the car together.

The problem is most individuals valuate the value of their car in one of two ways: 1) whatever the dealer would offer as a trade-in (which we all know is the lowest value) or 2) the lowest value they see it advertised for between individuals and/or the anticipated price they think they would have to negotiate for it.

The problem is the retail value is typically a few thousand hire, so most people typically feel like it is off by a small amount.

I just wasn't going to comment about the $20k vs $33k price difference from the other poster. Something is going on there, one way or another. Maybe it needs to be appealed. Maybe the research data hasn't caught up to a recent price decrease in how electric cars price falls, maybe tax credit the person received when first buying the car isn't factored in. That is a sizeable large difference, but for most people Its $1k-$4k difference depending on the age/mileage of the car seems to be typical. It's street price vs retail price vs the averaged state calculation that researches all sales.

[ca2dfw]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I just wasn't going to comment about the $20k vs $33k price difference from the other poster. Something is going on there, one way or another. Maybe it needs to be appealed. Maybe the research data hasn't caught up to a recent price decrease in how electric cars price falls, maybe tax credit the person received when first buying the car isn't factored in. That is a sizeable large difference, but for most people Its $1k-$4k difference depending on the age/mileage of the car seems to be typical. It's street price vs retail price vs the averaged state calculation that researches all sales.

You are exactly right. This is because of the huge federal tax and state incentives (total of $9k in CA), plus the huge MSRP discounts. What this means is that a $33k new electric car would immediately be worth a lot less once it is driven off the dealers' lot. The TAVT does not take this difference into account. I won't be bringing this car to GA.