Car buying -- Should I buy a car here or there?? (DMV, taxes)

[rxblitzrx]

I'm in a really tough situation and I could use a lot of advice here.

My current car 2000 Honda (190k miles) won't last much longer. It will cost me $700-$1000 to ship it to California and ~$200 to register it. I don't know if it's worth that much money just to drive it another six months or so. If I sell it, it's only worth about $1k

Another option is to buy a new car. If I do it here in Texas I pay the $700-$1000 to ship it, plus ~$1000 to register it in California.

The last option is to buy the new car in California. I could leave the 2000 Honda here and try to setup something via phone/internet so that I can pay for the new car when I get there.

What would you do??

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by rxblitzrx

I'm in a really tough situation and I could use a lot of advice here.

My current car 2000 Honda (190k miles) won't last much longer. It will cost me $700-$1000 to ship it to California and ~$200 to register it. I don't know if it's worth that much money just to drive it another six months or so. If I sell it, it's only worth about $1k

Another option is to buy a new car. If I do it here in Texas I pay the $700-$1000 to ship it, plus ~$1000 to register it in California.

The last option is to buy the new car in California. I could leave the 2000 Honda here and try to setup something via phone/internet so that I can pay for the new car when I get there.

What would you do??

I don't know what buying a car here will cost you. I don't know what other added costs California or the DMV charges you for buying a car in California. I got a good deal on a new Honda in Texas 6 months before I moved here and paid 895$ to register it here. I also had to get a smog test done (on a brand new car) before I was allowed to register it. Once you have a smog test performed on your new car then you don't have to have another smog test for 6 years. I drove my car here instead of having it shipped. They did not charge me taxes on the car to register it here since I had paid the taxes in Texas when I purchased the car. I am almost certain that the taxes in Texas will be lower then what you will pay here for a new car. Do some research and find out?? There is a Honda dealership right down the street from where I live. I can ask them for you and compare it with what I paid in Texas.

[ubringliten]

TVC15 has a good idea. Why don't you drive the car here and that will save you $1000 and if your car happens to die, it's no harm because it already got you here. It is also a test if your car can last. I will tell you that you can still sell it afterward. And if you want to get another car, you can probably trade it in (maybe for some changes).

If you do live in SF, you won't need your car much at all which means your car can last longer than normal. Hondas do last almost forever.

[Joe_Ryder]

At 190K miles, the Honda is just starting to get broke in!
The only problem I could foresee is smog testing. In this area we have a somewhat more stringent test than many areas. Depending on which motor you have and whether you have mechanical valve adjusters can be an issue. Honda valves tend to tighten up over time. Also many techs purposely adjust valves on the tight side because customers are not gear-heads and don't realize that "tappy valves are happy vales". They only hear the slight ticking and think something is wrong so techs save themselves a headache and adjust on the tight end of tolerances. The unfortunate consequence is frequent failure of NOx emissions.

Of course no one knows your car better than you and if you feel the car has little life left it may be time to retire it.

Good Luck.

[rxblitzrx]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm probably just going to buy my car when I get there. I think that solves the most problems.