I have noticed for some time the idea being developed in some states that you should pay sales tax in that state when you buy a car there.

Read the notifications and warnings on this EBay ad:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2411948033&category=6330

Such a nice car, and I refuse to buy it! With more research, I have found that the way this works is that Florida (and some other states) want you to title the car in their state and pay sales tax to them. Then when you go to your home state, if you title within a certain period (in most cases I presume) of purchase you don't have to pay your home sales tax if you can prove you already paid sales tax elsewhere.

The heck with that. Florida isn't getting any tax money from me, and I won't buy a car from a dealer there. Here is the message I sent to that EBay seller:

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You need to organize with other car dealers and complain bitterly about the Florida law that requires collecting sales tax from residents of other states. It is costing you business. I see lots of nice cars in Florida (no rust) but because of this Florida law I will not buy from a dealer.

I can much more easily work with dealers in Georgia, which I just did recently (last month in fact). They collected no tax, gave me a free temporary tag, and backed out their "processing fees" from the EBay total.

It was a great experience, and I have to tell everyone to avoid Florida and go to Georgia. I am a member of the Mercedes Internet Forum on www.peachparts.com. We all know to avoid Florida now.

And I tell you this not to give you a hard time. Just to let you know that your Florida law impacts your business. We want good Florida cars, but will not buy them. Contact your state legislators.

Ken300D
Virginia

I think you only pay the tax if you take delivery in FL. Have a shipper go down and pick the car up for you.

Yes, that's correct. If you have the car shipped there is no tax.

For myself, I'd never send money "blindly" and have a car shipped to me. I have to see it and take it on a short trip before I'll hand over a check.

I like to tell people here that I'm cheap and lazy. When there is a conflict between the two, cheap usually wins. So, the cheapest way to get a car back from Florida (or Georgia as the case was for me) is to take the plane/train down and drive back. I got my most recent purchase back from Atlanta for less than $100.

For most of what I like to buy, shipping would represent 10-20% of its value.



Ken300D

I know whatever county you buy the car in you have to register and pay taxes in that county the first time. They have seemed to become a little less strict on this now because I have not heard much on this in the past few years.