Try Before You Buy in SoCal?

So SWMBO and I will be driving out to San Diego in a rented truck near the end of the month with our daughter`s furniture. We are both retired now and can take our own sweet time getting where ever we want to go. She will probably stay in San Diego for a week or 2 helping our daughter get settled. I will stay with them a few days, but was then planning to go back up to Washington state where we have some property that needs to be fenced. This same property has a legal address, but no residence currently. (I`m planning to put up a tiny house in the next few years). I`m thinking about buying a 4 Touring in San Diego or LA, driving it up to WA and then back to NY a month or so later. I would probably try to register it either in WA or in Florida, where we have been spending most of the winter. (From now on, I want to spend as little time as possible in NY.)

As one who does not reside in California, would I have any difficulty arranging a "Try Before You Buy" rental there and other than California sales tax (which I expect I would have to pay there, but could get credited when paying sales tax in the state of registry), are there any other issues of which I should be aware?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

Are you saying I might have trouble finding a dealer with a Prius to rent in or near San Diego? I see several dealers there are part of the program, but whether or not they would have the model I want to try is an open question.

With 34k miles in just over a year, I'm used to doing long drives in my Gen 2. (Seat cushions help with that, I'm hoping I won't need them in the Gen 4). I actually went the other way (Blaine, WA to San Diego) a month ago.

I know, I know, I should have bought my property in Vancouver, WA so I could avoid state income tax and could make all my purchases in Portland, where there is no sales tax. However, I also like to visit Vancouver, BC and that is why I chose Blaine. I don't think I can fool any taxing authority into thinking that I have a residence in Oregon. Maybe that was possible before the computer age. Nice idea, though.

 

tucatz, I see you have the Touring package. Is that a 3 or 4? And the Sea Glass Pearl you have is the color I'm hoping to buy. I've been looking for Four Touring with SG Pearl and the Moonstone interior, but finding very few of them. Last time I checked there were only 4 for sale with those specific options in all the western states, at least according to AutoTrader. Did you have trouble getting yours (or did you even care about color and interior)?

 

>(i went to college in Bellingham, WA, about 20 miles south of Blaine, my brother and his family and my daughter and her family live in Bellingham I will visit mid October.)

No better place to be than Western Washington in the summertime, IMHO. In the wintertime, not so much. ;-)

P.S. Will reach out to Dianne, once I'm out there.

 

Thanks for the info. I will give them a call, if none of the dealers closer to San Diego have a Prius in the program. If I'm going to be using public transportation to get around, I would like to start with the ones that are closest to where we are dropping off the truck.

 

*duplicate post.