I Saw These At My Golf Club Yesterday

[DaveyF]

I guess they were dealers Davey

Possibly, or it's the game that they play in my neck of the woods. It goes like this: Guy buys an expensive car and he also buys a dealer tag from the DMV. The guy is in no way a dealer, BUT this saves him from having to register the car as a new owner and pay the sales tax and the ongoing registration fees as the car ages. When the guy comes to sell, the car is then re-titled as a used vehicle. Mega bucks in savings! The games people play

 

[Steve Williams]

Possibly, or it's the game that they play in my neck of the woods. It goes like this: Guy buys an expensive car and he also buys a dealer tag from the DMV. The guy is in no way a dealer, BUT this saves him from having to register the car as a new owner and pay the sales tax and the ongoing registration fees as the car ages. When the guy comes to sell, the car is then re-titled as a used vehicle. Mega bucks in savings! The games people play

interesting

I would never have thought of that

 

[DaveyF]

interesting

I would never have thought of that

Steve, that's because you and I do not think that way, LOL.

Perhaps that's why we are not driving those cars also...


BUT we can sleep well at night.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Possibly, or it's the game that they play in my neck of the woods. It goes like this: Guy buys an expensive car and he also buys a dealer tag from the DMV. The guy is in no way a dealer, BUT this saves him from having to register the car as a new owner and pay the sales tax and the ongoing registration fees as the car ages. When the guy comes to sell, the car is then re-titled as a used vehicle. Mega bucks in savings! The games people play

you can't just buy a dealer tag from the DMV. there is a big process to that.

the way the law works is that any dealer must pay sales tax on their driver since it's for personal use. or if they are an employee they are taxed based a monthly fee equal to the whole value of a lease and insurance as income....there is a schedule for that. plus any gasoline is taxed as regular income.

so there is not likely easy sqeezey dealer plate missuse. and anyone owning cars like that have lots to lose from any violation.

the IRS and State Revenue people are all over car dealers and it's a huge source of revenue. i would bet it's all according to Hoyle.

depreciation on high dollar demos are in the 10's of thousands of dollars. so it's not a small thing either. and the State has strong rules about dealer plate use too.

now if you go to an auto auction you will see plenty of wholesalers driving around various cars with dealer plates on them....but few new $100k ones.

 

[DaveyF]

Mike, like I said, in my neck of the woods, we often see mega buck cars driving around with dealer plates; i know the game I described, because one of my "friends" is currently doing this. Are you sure in California that the rules are the same as in Washington?
BTW, IF I remember correctly, Steve Jobs was doing something similar ( I'm not sure it was the dealer plate game, BUT! ) with his Benz. After his death, there was some report that he did this as he was against paying the registration fees.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, like I said, in my neck of the woods, we often see mega buck cars driving around with dealer plates; i know the game I described, because one of my "friends" is currently doing this. Are you sure in California that the rules are the same as in Washington?
BTW, IF I remember correctly, Steve Jobs was doing something similar ( I'm not sure it was the dealer plate game, BUT! ) with his Benz. After his death, there was some report that he did this as he was against paying the registration fees.

people will always break laws. we call them crooks and criminals. and if Steve Jobs did that, then he was a crook.

but every state has strong laws on this stuff because that is where they get their money. without knowing the specifics of your 'friend's' situation it's hard to comment, but I very much doubt that it's common to circumvent the rules regarding dealer plates. but sure, I agree it can happen.

in my state what is more common is to have a resident of Washington State buy their mega-buck cars in Oregon with a 'phony' Oregon address to avoid our 9.8% sales tax. I know one local doctor who got fined over $250,000 and did jail time because of that. there are hot lines for people to call if they see expensive cars with Oregon plates regularly in their area to turn them in, and they do.

just follow the money......the State revenuers certainly do.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Pretty sad when those with the means to afford these cars have to stoop so low.

 

[asiufy]

Steve Jobs' cars had no license plate at all. Mostly because people would just steal them, whenever he parked, as he always drove a certain kind of Mercedes (forgot the model).
AFAIK, it had nothing to do with money.
But he was kind of a jackass, in terms of parking. There are countless photos of his Mercedes parked in handicapped spots, or using 2 parking spots... It was easy to know it was his, because it had no license plate, and it was awfully parked


alexandre

 

[DaveyF]

people will always break laws. we call them crooks and criminals. and if Steve Jobs did that, then he was a crook.

but every state has strong laws on this stuff because that is where they get their money. without knowing the specifics of your 'friend's' situation it's hard to comment, but I very much doubt that it's common to circumvent the rules regarding dealer plates. but sure, I agree it can happen.

in my state what is more common is to have a resident of Washington State buy their mega-buck cars in Oregon with a 'phony' Oregon address to avoid our 9.8% sales tax. I know one local doctor who got fined over $250,000 and did jail time because of that. there are hot lines for people to call if they see expensive cars with Oregon plates regularly in their area to turn them in, and they do.

just follow the money......the State revenuers certainly do.

Mike, I'm NOT saying that the game is legal here in Calif anymore so than in Washington. What i am saying is that it is prevalent in my neck of the woods. We also have the same game like you describe with the out-of-state license plates; plus the other game, which is no plates at all. Guy drives around for years with the new car dealer ad in the license plate holder. ( I'm not sure how this one works). Anyhow, all of these games seem to be played by the more well-to-do citizens where I reside.

 

[cjfrbw]

Isn't it sending kind of a mixed message to be driving a grandiose, outlandishly expensive car, but also show that you are chintzing out on the fees?

I would think it more likely that the dealers are just paying for some product placement where they think their typical customers are hanging out.

 

[mep]

Possibly, or it's the game that they play in my neck of the woods. It goes like this: Guy buys an expensive car and he also buys a dealer tag from the DMV. The guy is in no way a dealer, BUT this saves him from having to register the car as a new owner and pay the sales tax and the ongoing registration fees as the car ages. When the guy comes to sell, the car is then re-titled as a used vehicle. Mega bucks in savings! The games people play

How do you buy a dealer tag if you aren't a dealer?? He has to have a business ID number listed with the DMV that is easily checked and shows he is a dealer. Otherwise, everyone who buys a new car would be a 'dealer.' The DMV isn't that stupid. Is this the same guy that makes a gazillion dollars everyday from the stock market that you talked about before?

 

[puroagave]

i see exotics everday near newport coast and maybe half run around with dealer tags - its kinda suspicious. there have been many high profile fraud cases in orange county involving high-end car dealers going back to al mardikian. the most recent case was dealer laundering drug money with f-cars and lambos.

 

[DaveyF]

How do you buy a dealer tag if you aren't a dealer?? He has to have a business ID number listed with the DMV that is easily checked and shows he is a dealer. Otherwise, everyone who buys a new car would be a 'dealer.' The DMV isn't that stupid. Is this the same guy that makes a gazillion dollars everyday from the stock market that you talked about before?

It's not very hard to go out and get a business ID number. Here in Calif just about any joe can do that. You want to assume the DMV is checking these things...have you been to the S.CAlif DMV recently? LOL
Puroagave, when I was in Newport coast last, I saw the same thing....same thing as in my neck of the woods. Suspicious is almost an understatement.
OTOH, I suppose some of us would rather believe that there are loads of dealer's who have nothing better to do than drive these exotics and other high priced cars to places like Steve's country club!

 

[JackD201]

Over here there are no such things as dealer plates. All you get is a date coded conduction sticker and provisional registration papers until you get your actual plates. Dealer cars are ferried about nekkid with the exception of the conduction sticker pasties.

Off Topic- I noticed that many cars don't have front plates. I know it is a requirement in CA. I hate front plates BTW.

 

[marty]

C'mon Steve, isn' this the car you'd really rather have?