Out-of-State Prius Purchase - Back to CA

Whether a car meets 50 state emissions or not, it will need to have the factory sticker/plate on the car saying that it meets California standards. No sticker/plate, no registration in California unless you bought is used with enough miles and time on it to meet the definition of used.

Have the dealer send you a picture of the certification sticker/plate that the factory mounted on the car.

Also check the requirements on the California DMV website, what I'm telling you is based on info a couple of years old.

I bought a new car out of state and DMV did check to see that it had the California certification sticker mounted on the car.

 

If it were any other state than CA, I'd say that YES, you can buy out of state (NEW!) and register in Cali---be sure you square away the sales tax issues. Some states require that the dealer collect sales tax for that state and then you have to work it out with the state that you register the vehicle in.
I've bought many vehicles out of state (since I shop around and save!!!) and generally new (or other A-title) vehicles can be registered in your state of residence.
I'm sure that the Prius is CARB compliant----heck, soon it will probably be CARB MANDATED. However (comma!) I never make blanket statements about the People's Reblubic of California, cause you just never know.... I'd call the DMV (in fact I'd call several, since you may get bum doped by a noob worker!)

Warranty: If the vehicle is registered in a CARB state---and I can't remember how many there are, but you can rest well-assured that California is one of them , I believe that you're entitled to the extra battery (and other EPA gizmo) warranty coverage provided by living in a CARB regulated state.
I mean....there has to be SOME payback for living in California---right?

CAVEAT: I'm a Prius noob, and I'm sure that someone else will chime in. VERIFY the CARB warranty ammounts. VERIFY that you can register an A-title vehicle in the PRC by calling the DMV.
Don't pull the trigger based on $.50 worth of our 2-cents.

GOOD LUCK!

 

I second this. Leave nothing to chance. Check fueleconomy.gov for emissions compatibility as a start--you might be surprised at what vehicles are dually certified as CA/Northeast and the rest of the states separately.

AFA the warranty, the only issue would be the 2500 miles or so fewer left on it than had you bought it locally, but buying locally also makes it easier if you want to take it in to the dealer to, oh, say, ask them to correct that gawd-awful backup beep or something--they might be more accommodating if you've bought one of their cars.

I might be mildly concerned with engine break-in issues (putting 2500 relatively high-speed miles on a brand new engine), but only mildly. 20 years ago maybe a bigger concern with a new car. One thing in the Prius' favor in this regard is that the computer constantly adjusts the engine/motor input--I had a scangauge for awhile, and the RPMs were all over the place all the time. Perhaps the only car I can think of where a tachometer would make no sense.

Just curious--my understanding is that Prii are not that hard to come by nowadays--why not buy in CA?

If you buy in GA, have a nice ride home!
~T

 

$4K? Wow. $4K is $4K and GA is nice this time of year, too. As the previous poster mentioned, the CARB-certified states warranty benefits you--so, if it is a matter of registration rather than place of purchase being the driving factor, sounds like it works in your favor.

I hadn't thought of the tax--but that is an issue. Here in MD, you have to pay tax (pro-rated, generally not too onerous as taxes go) on cars re-titled in state. So, check that out, too. Again, good luck.
~T

 

Hi Berryman,

A couple of months ago, I bought a 2005 BMW motorcycle out of state. I had to take the motorcycle to my local CA DMV. In order to get it registered, they had to see a) 50 state emission sticker, b) VIN Sticker, and c) engine serial number.

I'm pretty sure that you will have to pay new car sales tax (here in CA), as well as registration fees. If you drive the car across country, you might want to check the laws of each state you drive in to ensure that you can legally drive it through each state without any registration.

Good Luck,

Keith

 

It's not possible that there's a $4000 diff. if they both have the same equipment. The GA car is missing a fair bit of stuff for that cost diff.

 

At some point the notion of unrestricted Interstate Commerce needs to be resurrected.
Up here in Maine, we have restrictions on imports of both lobsters and wooden clothespins :welcome:

 

You were misled or you misunderstood.

A 2005 motorcycle wouldn't need to be 50 state certified because it qualifies as a used vehicle. It only had to meet the Federal standards in effect when it was first sold, unless it was first sold in California, then

 

I agree with you. The lady at the DMV was insistent on examining the factory emission sticker (which states "50 States") before looking at anything else.

Thanks,

Keith

 

According to the Warranty & Maintenance Guide:

Since you won't be buying it in one of those states, it sounds to me like you are not eligible for the California Emission Control Warranty, and may need to get regular emissions testing. (Normally, the Prius is exempt, but to be exempt requires this warranty - however, the DMV might just exclude you based on model, without knowing where you bought your Prius. Which would make sense, since the Prius isn't really any different whether you buy it here or not.)

So you'll potentially lose the 180 month/150,000 mile coverage for Performance and Defects in the emissions components, and the 120 month/150,000 mile hybrid battery warranty. Instead, you'd get the national coverage; 36 month/36,000 mile defect and 24 month/24,000 mile performance coverage on emissions components (though some are covered to 96/80k by the powertrain warranty), and the hybrid battery would have the standard 96 month/100,000 mile hybrid system warranty.

Whether Toyota and whatever California dealer services it for you would actually track that you bought it out-of-state is a different question.

As far as sales tax, last I checked, California will require you to pay sales tax on any vehicle that is less than 1 year old when you register it here. If you pay sales tax elsewhere (eg Georgia), your sales tax is reduced by the amount of tax you already paid. So the sales tax will be exactly the same whether you buy it in CA or elsewhere.

 

There is a member here who purchased a Prius here in Atlanta the beginning of August and drove it back to CA. I helped him with the purchase here locally with the dealership I purchased from. I sent him a PM with a link to this thread. Hopefully he can share his experience with registering the car when he returned to CA...

 

Yes, I did exactly what you want to do - GA to CA - in early September (Thanks again to Paul58 for all his help via this site!)

Yes - 2010 Prius is a 50 state emission car (OK in CA). No smog test required in CA. If you go to the DMV with all your GA dealer paperwork you will be fine. It does say "50 state" on some offical paperwork you will recieve in GA.

You will either pay the GA dealer the tax determined by your local SoCal address or have to pay the tax at the DMV (in addition to the license charge). I payed tax at DMV in CA.

In my case the DMV took the GA title as well and sent me a new CA title (pink slip) in 3 weeks. I would make a copy of the GA title for your files just in case as backup. You get your tags at DMV with registration stickers. Paper registation also mailed to you.

Make an advance appointment with the DMV way in advance (prior to your GA trip). Don't just show up at DMV without appointment if you can at all help it. Due to my dealer switching paperwork I should have received earlier I had to cancel my original appointment and go in cold. Not good! You have approx. 20 days after you physically enter CA to register your new "out-of-state" purchased car. Appointments currently are a minimum of 15 to 20 days from the date you go online to make them. If you have AAA go in to your local AAA and they will do alot of this for you. It's a great resource. FYI - they will also help with DMV mattters regarding selling your used car if you need to do that.

Two other MUST have things done at GA dealer prior to leaving:
1) Have the beeping taken off (when car put in reverse)! In case you don't know the car will beep non-stop in reverse. The dealer (via laptop) can make the constant "reverse beep" into a single beep. It drove me nuts and it took calling 4 LA dealers to find one to do it for free.
2) Have the GA dealer put the front license plate holder on. In GA only the rear plate is required. They will have to drill holes and put on the holder (without a license plate). If they say they don't have another holder look in the rear tire compartment in the trunk and it will be in the plastic bag laying on top. For me this also required another trip to a local dealer where it was a free install. The cost of the license plate holder is about $85!

I saved approx. $1,000 on a 4 (sunroof/nav) vs. best CA price when everything was said and done (including ALL costs to get the car back to SoCal - fight to GA, all hotels (4), all food, all gas, all incidentals (i.e. Grand Cyn. fee/Petrified Forest fee, etc...). It was a great roadtrip although I will I had taken alittle more time. I think I averaged about 550 to 600 miles a day if memory serves. My total costs were about $550 including everything. As an experiment I wanted to see how cheap I could do it!

If you want to know more feel free to send me a private IM.

 

All new cars sold anywhere in the continental 50 us states are ca emission certified. Check your window stickers and you will see it as part of the additional options of the car. Just can't remember if it was dealer or port installed option.

 

Did you get clarification about whether or not you have the CA 10 year 150kmile warranty?

 

This is something that is governed by State EPA Laws, Toyota isn't giving CA residents a longer warranty just because they like them better! If the vehicle is 50 State certified and is physically in the State of CA, the CA Dealership should honor that warranty. besides, there is nothing on the vehicle that states it was purchased outside of CA and once titled it has a CA Title and Registration. Dealerships swap vehicles all the time, CarMax will ship a vehicle from any of their dealerships to another for a customer, and they do sell new cars as well as used ones... Besides, all Toyotas originate in CA anyway, that's where the Port of Entry is, the car has no idea which dealership it will end up at and they are all built the same!

 

Mine came through Portland. Last time I checked, that wasn't in CA.

 

I bought my car in Georgia last week. The sticker definitely says "50 State Emissions" under the Optional Equipment listed under the MSRP. Code is FE and cost is 0.00 (as in zero).

BTW, Port is Jacksonville, Fl.

 

So sorry, I guess I assumed being as they are made in Japan and shipped to the US from Japan that they all ended up in a Port in CA. Years ago that's how it was, guess things have changed... Regardless, I still believe the emissions warranty is governed by individual State Regulations, so if the vehicle is registered in CA and being serviced by a CA Dealership, it should get the longer warranty...