Buying a Z out of state
 

I'm new to the forum and have finally located the Z that I've wanted. I'm in Michigan and the Z's in California at a dealer. Hoping to get some feedback on problems that I might expect in the transaction. I'm planning on having the car shipped to my location. Thanks

Just wait to buy one at your dealership..

I drove to Nevada with the trade in , and drove the new car back to Arizona.

The main issue is how the states handle paying the state tax. California will not allow the car on the road without the taxes being paid. If you're shipping it, it won't be a problem.

In my case, Nevada allows you to drive it to your state witout having paid taxes. The only real issue i had was that because I did not pay taxes or registration when I bought the car, the taxes/registration I eventually had to pay in AZ were not rolled into the financing; I had to pay them out of my own pocket when I went to register the car, and that ended up being over 2 grand.

You might also look at your tax laws, as in AZ if I paid the tax in Nevada, I would not have to had paid in in AZ. If your state tax rate is higher than CA, it might be worth paying the CA tax if your state will let you.

Rick, as far as buying cars out of state I will recommend having the purchase order straightened out and emailed to you before you agree to anything. I purchased my car and Connecticut and had the dealer correct the purchase order 3 times as they were trying to sneak in extra thousands of dollars in additional fees over and over. I will also recommend checking shipping quotes with trusted third parties before getting dealership quote. Finally you must LET the dealer know that the car ll be registered out of state. You ll pay for state taxes n they ll send u check for you to use during registration. Good luck

I'm in PA and bought mine at a dealership in Maryland. As I recall, I had to pay state sales tax in amount equal to PA's, though possibly to Maryland. I did have two Department of Transportation Registration fees---one in Maryland for the temp tag and one in PA to get my permanent plate. The deal was so good though that it was worth a 3.5 hour drive each way.
HOWEVER, check the car out very carefully before you accept shipment. Once I left the dealership (and you sign for the delivery), the selling dealer can lose interest and you're on your own at a franchise near you, which didn't sell you the car. While it's obviously obligated to do warranty items, its courtesies for non-warranty accommodations might be limited.

+1.

I'm in PA and the exac 2011 370z sport tour coup nav black on black mt was in conn. I paid 1,000 to ship the car from the dealership in conn to pgh. The local dealer traded a car to the conn dealer. Took two weeks to get the car.

Wow I only had to pay 300 to have my Z shipped from a Lamborghini dealership in Chicago, single covered trailer to knoxville just south of Indianapolis 100 miles north of my house. I finally ended up paying about 1,600 in taxes & licencing here in Ky.

Check with Louis Fusz, I beleive he is a Sponsor in this forum.

He is also the General Manager of a Nissan Dealer, great guy.

Check with your DMV on what they require. I'm in CO and just bought a Z from CA. CO will "credit" any taxes paid in CA to taxes due CO. Problem I'm having now is CO is telling me the bank needs to send them the CA title so they can convert to CO title and I can then register it. Problem is the bank has only sent me the CA registration card, and the dealer is saying I don't have to title it in the same state I register it, and so teh bank is not sending the CO DMV the title. I hope to get it resolved this week.

As mentioned, you need to check with your local state laws as to how to correctly pay tax and register. Adjacent states are used to dealing with this kind of thing (I too recently got a 2010 in MD, we are in PA: they collected the tax to pay to PA (6%) else I would have to pay it when I registered the car. I expect PA plates soon as they submitted that for me).

If there is a specific option/color combo you want, it may never come close by given the low volume of the Z, or if it does you may not be able to get them down in price: that is the chance you take.

If you feel that is the case, then work with the CA dealer. If you have time, may be
a good opportunity to get a cheap one way ticket out, buy the car, and road trip it home: could be some lovely sights to see, and some nice variable speed break in on the Highways (where in some states you can go quite fast :D)

Otherwise, if you are shipping it back, the $ you save probably is not going to make sense on the sale vs. waiting for a local model. Invoice pricing is invoice pricing.

- b

I bought mine from Cali. I had to deal with the Salesperson via internet/phone, and make sure you hammer out the numbers, and always have a paper trail online. The guy i dealt with was a douche, but only because I hammered out a price that was ridiculously low. Make sure your contract numbers are right, and try to negotiate a OTD number. The only complications are the actual titling, tax and registration process when you get the car back to your state. I had the car shipped via a transport service that i found on Transportreviews.com, and when going through the reviews, find only the best (afterall your buying a $30k+ car).

If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

I'm in Michigan and bought a car out of state a few years back. You'll pay the sale tax on the car when the title is transfered from Cali to Michigan. Pretty easy transaction really, pretty much the same as buying a car in state. Are you really having that hard of a time finding a Z in state to have to go to Cali? I know the dealer near me in Grand Rapids has a few.

Are you bent on getting a new one? I saw a Z w/o sport package sitting in a used car lot in Battle Creek, MI with 4k miles. I think they want 31k ... But that is sticker.

---

Found it on their website:
Used 2009 Nissan 370Z TOURING For Sale | Battle Creek MI

That car will be sitting for a while. I bought a nicer car in wisconsin for thousands less. This is the second time i found a great car deal over there. The GR dealers did not have the inventory nor the deals. most
Usually had one 370z and thought it was special.

Where in Michigan are you?

I did the opposite. Bought in PA, live in MD. Paid the MD tax and registration. I would just talk to the dealer and see how they can work it. Obviously negotiate a firm price before going out there (if you are).

Z
 

Clinton Township....about 20 miles north of Detroit.

I just went though what you are doing a couple of months ago. I live in Texas and bought a used 2010 convertible from a dealer in CA. At the time the price was a lot better in CA, this was right before the earthquake in Japan. The dealer I used had never shipped out of state so it took them a little while to get everything straighten out with regards to Texas taxes and registration. They finally decided to use a vehicle registration service (I think they were call RegUSA). The service handled all the registration and title transfer, no cost to me.

Overall the dealer did what they said they would do and the car was exactly like they said it would be except for it did not have a spare tire (but they sent me a check to help offset the cost).

Shipping was properly my biggest mistake, I used a company that the dealer recommended. They shipped the car on a open trailer. Normally when they shipped a convertible they are usually loaded on the top, but for some reason mine was loaded on the bottom. There was a wrecked car on the top which leaked oil on to my car. Mine was the last one delivered so they had to move my car on and off the truck about 8 times in the shipping process and scratch the underside and side of the front end pretty good. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely pay the difference for an enclosed trailer.

Good luck with your decision, I know it is hard buying a car without seeing or driving it first.

It was an option. :tiphat:

personally I would tell them to kick rocks if they are trying to get 30k out of it. I would check the classifieds on this site.

Thanks Guys for all the input. The deal fell through in Cali. so I'll just be patient and hopefully one will become available closer to home.

If you do decide to buy out of state PLEASE have it shipped closed (covered) trailer. I shipped mine open because it was $200 cheaper thinking "What could go wrong?". I ended up with a couple scratches that had to be repaired near the gas cap due to road debris hitting it. The Lexus at the front of the trailer was damaged so bad that it'll need to be repainted. The truck took a detour and ended up driving through construction zones, kicking up tiny pebbles, basically sand blasting that Lexus. Not pretty.