Moving to SF Next Month - But With Two Cars - Question About Registration/Selling because our cars are considered 'New' (fit in)

[vi0let]

My husband and I are moving to SF next month (yeah!), but we have two cars and will need to sell one as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, both our vehicles are considered 'new' by CA law because they have less than 7500 miles (about 5000 miles will be on each car once we get there). The only reason we have these newer cars is because of a natural disaster that totaled our vehicles last year.

I've been all over the DMV website and found this info so at least it seems like we'll be able to register them even though they don't say "California Compliant" (I do have paperwork from the dealer that says they are both 50 State Emission Compliant).

"If you are moving to California from another state, you may register a new federally certified vehicle in California if it was first registered by you in your home state, or for military personnel, in your last state of military service. When applying for vehicle registration in California, you must provide evidence of your vehicle's previous registration and that you were a resident of the other state when you acquired the vehicle."

So once I go through all that and register our vehicles...do I have to wait until 7500 miles to try to sell them? It looks like a current CA resident cannot by a car with less than 7500 miles not specifically made for CA Emissions.

We really only need one car out there and two is such a hassle. But it looks like there is no way of getting around the 7500 mile issue. The only thing I've had suggested is trying Carmax (which would be at a loss) because they sell across the USA.

[artemis78]

Can you just arrange to sell it before you move? Even if you can technically register and sell it when you get here, you still have to deal with the smog certification and all that jazz when you're bringing in a vehicle from out of state. Should be fine on a new car, but still---headache (and potential cost) that you may not want to deal with. If you're just hanging onto it to move, you might try shipping the things that won't fit into the one car. If you're living in SF proper, two cars will be something of a pain to deal with on all counts.

[vi0let]

We considered trying to sell one - but just did not have the time. The cars we have are not as popular here as in California and the market is horrible right now in the Midwest for used cars. I don't think the new car tax incentive is helping us - if the cars were 3 years old it'd be easier. No one wants a lightly used 08 when they can get an 09 for near the same price with the tax break + incentives.

I know it may take 2-4 months to sell one of them them and I expect that in this economy. But our time frame is just too short to attempt it here.

We originally hoped to sell one first, and would have preferred that, but there weren't any serious inquiries for the week I had them posted. Then the time frame between trying to sell and our move date was just too close.