Buying a new car in the state of Oregon when relocating

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by ThornyLocust

“ Also correct there is a sales tax, but it's really really small so negligible. ”
I lived in OR, last car purchase was 2014, no sales tax.
Never heard of the 0.5% tax, when did that start, and is it a state tax, or some kind of city - county local tax?
Curious.

Even if you live in CA, you could still go to OR and buy a car and pay no sales tax. Or have the fascist left done away with that loophole?

The .5% came in about 4 years ago as part of a transportation bill. It is statewide.

I seriously doubt CA ever let people just go to Oregon and buy a car and pay no sales tax on it. If so, they were the only state I've ever heard of that would allow that to happen. DMV would generally collect it when you go to title the car. If you really could go to Oregon and pay no tax, Medford dealers must have had a field day.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by punkyd

Even if you live in CA, you could still go to OR and buy a car and pay no sales tax. Or have the fascist left done away with that loophole?

You can buy all the cars you want to in Oregon. You just can't register the car in Oregon without an Oregon address. When you take the car back to California, before you can register the car in California, California will charge you sales tax on it. Maybe they call it something different than "sales tax" but it is a percentage of the value of the car and it's pretty steep.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

When you take the car back to California, before you can register the car in California, California will charge you sales tax on it. Maybe they call it something different than "sales tax" but it is a percentage of the value of the car and it's pretty steep.

IIRC this is often referred to as a "use tax" because these sales tax fraudsters will end up making use of and benefitting from CA's publicly-funded infrastructure, not OR's.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by punkyd

Even if you live in CA, you could still go to OR and buy a car and pay no sales tax. Or have the fascist left done away with that loophole?

Drive through any neighborhood in Vancouver and look at how many OR plates you see. Or park in front of any elementary school during the morning drop-off and count how many late model SUVs you see with OR plates dropping off kids at Vancouver public schools. Which is a pretty prima facia piece of evidence that the family lives in Vancouver.

Yes, some eventually get caught. But the amount of car tax-evasion by Vancouverites is pretty epic. I don't know what addresses they use in OR to register their cars there. Maybe their old addresses, or maybe the addresses of friends or something. I think some who think they are more clever register some sort of business entity in OR and then register their car in the name of that business to try to get away with tax evasion.

There is probably a lot lot less of this along the CA border because it is basically unpopulated. You have to go all the way to Redding to find the first city and it isn't very big.

[cooky01]

On a slightly different subject, why buy new cars and take the huge appreciation hit, when you can buy used for much cheaper price? (unless you rely on the warranty for big ticket repairs)

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by cooky01

On a slightly different subject, why buy new cars and take the huge appreciation hit, when you can buy used for much cheaper price? (unless you rely on the warranty for big ticket repairs)

That's normally good advice, but with the current market conditions it's not exactly accurate. The used market is hugely inflated right now. You're better off buying new if you can, even with the markups. Used car prices have increased 40% year over year, while new cars have gone up 10% or so.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by EasyBeezy

That's normally good advice, but with the current market conditions it's not exactly accurate. The used market is hugely inflated right now. You're better off buying new if you can, even with the markups. Used car prices have increased 40% year over year, while new cars have gone up 10% or so.

I agree with this. A brand new car is your best deal, but you need to negotiate. Never buy on line! They will rip you off before you know it. These dealers want you to get these new cars off the lot, plus they want your service business. Be aware, however, that these dealers also want you to come back and buy new again within 2-3 years. Service and resale is their real business. Most car dealers make very little on new car sales. It is all a pretty nice dance in the end for the dealer. Consumers can't change the system, but being aware of it is helpful.

[pnwguy2]

Oh, and sure this has been brought up before, but if you buy a new car in Oregon but live in Washington you are on the hook for the WA sales tax. You can try and fake it but nowadays they will quickly catch up to you. This an ongoing issue between WA and OR.