Sales Tax for New Car Tags (car insurance, how much, buying) - Hawaii (HI) - City-Data Forum

hilobound · 10-31-2008, 09:00 AM

I was wondering if anyone knows about buying tags for cars that you have shipped over from the mainland. I was asked by a guy here if you have to pay sales tax on the value of the car when you get your tags. He said they told him in florida when he moved there he would have to pay sales tax again for his vehicle. Does anyone know if that applies for hawaii and is there a law for how long you can ride with out of state tags. thanks for any information

leilaniguy · 10-31-2008, 10:42 AM

There is no sales tax on vehicles brought in but you'll need to get Hawaii tags within 30 days.

hilobound · 10-31-2008, 11:06 AM

How much are tags and a safety sticker?

leilaniguy · 10-31-2008, 11:27 AM

Hmm, deja vu. Anyway, Vehicles are taxed according to weight and type so it varies. Safety checks are done at gas stations for $15 to $20. They will give you a reciept to take to DMV. Then the state hands out the sticker with the tags.

Sweetbeet · 10-31-2008, 01:27 PM

It was $5 for the tags on my Prius. Coming from NY, I couldn't believe how cheap it was!

hotzcatz · 10-31-2008, 02:12 PM

Generally they are called "plates" here. If you call them "tags" folks will have to sit there and think about what you mean for awhile. Grocery carts are wagons and it is always rubbish never garbage. North, South, East & West are place names, not directions. Anyway, back to the cars.

You can drive around with an out of state license plate for awhile, until it expires, even, I think. However you do have to pay a weight tax and get a state tax sticker to put on your bumper. If you have current out of state plates and that tax sticker, you should be good.

hilobound · 10-31-2008, 04:45 PM

It seems to me that the words used in hawaii are very much european english. Yet europe is a long way away but thank you for the heads up. I cant believe that a prius only cost $5 that is great but i have a very large truck so i wont be so lucky. That would be nice if i could drive until my tags expire because they are expensive where i live. thanks for the posts

MadRussian · 10-31-2008, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

You can drive around with an out of state license plate for awhile, until it expires, even, I think. However you do have to pay a weight tax and get a state tax sticker to put on your bumper. If you have current out of state plates and that tax sticker, you should be good.

If you have to pay same amount for driving with out of state plates isn't it make sense to get HI plates? Well... unless you planning to ship car back to mainland soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilobound

... i have a very large truck so i wont be so lucky. That would be nice if i could drive until my tags expire because they are expensive where i live. thanks for the posts

What kind truck you have? I'm planning to ship my 2007 Toyota Tundra DC with 8 foot bed.

hilobound · 10-31-2008, 08:14 PM

No, i just got the plates in tennessee and we are moving to the big island in january. So i didnt want to have to get new ones just after getting them here. I have a four door chevy 2500 HD.

Sweetbeet · 10-31-2008, 09:57 PM

Even in NY, we said "plates"; I was just using the terminology already in the thread. I tend to do that when talking to people, pick up on the words they use for stuff.

I've gotten used to slippers (though it's tough now to find my bedroom slippers - which are actually plushy-fuzzy "flip flops" now! - since when I start hollering about "where are my slippers" nobody knows which pair I'm talking about), and rubbish, but the "wagon" thing is going to be hard for me.

I was really surprised how cheap it was to get my car registered here, and get my 'rainbow plates'. And if you ask, they will let you keep your out-of-state plates; I mailed mine back to NY and got a refund of the second year of my registration fee (it's a 2-year registration there, but if you return the plates before the end of the first year, you get the 2nd refunded).

Be aware of this, though - I got Hawaii car insurance first (same company as my NY insurance), then cancelled my NY policy, THEN got my car inspected (gotta have HI insurance to get the safety inspection), then got it registered here (gotta have safety inspection to get HI plates), then sent back NY plates (can't send them back until you have something to put on in their place). THEN I found out that you're not supposed to cancel your NY insurance until you surrender your NY plates! Fortunately for me it was all within a couple of days, so the penalties (incuding license suspension!) didn't get imposed before they did get the plates back. But Beware! Don't cancel your insurance in the old state until after you send back the plates. You might have to carry two insurance policies for a little while.

If my NY license HAD gotten suspended, I would no doubt have had difficulty getting my HI one, and would have had to get that all straightened out and probably disclose the suspension on my application here.