Car Buying Advice - Leasing Car from a Different State

jayceee

Hi,

I live in CA, but I found a car in Chicago suburbs that I would like to lease. It's a Mercedes SUV. Are there any restrictions either from Mercedes or from IL/CA states that I need to be aware of? Especially, given that CA state have stricter rules in bringing cars from out-of-state.

Thanks!

kyfdx

jayceee said:

Hi,

I live in CA, but I found a car in Chicago suburbs that I would like to lease. It's a Mercedes SUV. Are there any restrictions either from Mercedes or from IL/CA states that I need to be aware of? Especially, given that CA state have stricter rules in bringing cars from out-of-state.

Thanks!

If you are purchasing, then sales tax gets stickier. But, if you are leasing, the bank takes care of registering the vehicle where you live, and all sales tax is taken care of there. As long as you don't make any CAP cost reductions, you should just pay CA sales taxes. I'm pretty sure that all Mercedes are 50-state compliant.

jayceee

I am planning to lease. I was concerned that IL state might require taxes on full purchase value to be paid upfront, but looks like they changed that rule starting Jan 1, 2015. That leaves me to just worry about taking the car to CA DMV for vehicle inspection. Thank you for your response. It is reassuring!

kyfdx

jayceee said:

I am planning to lease. I was concerned that IL state might require taxes on full purchase value to be paid upfront, but looks like they changed that rule starting Jan 1, 2015. That leaves me to just worry about taking the car to CA DMV for vehicle inspection. Thank you for your response. It is reassuring!

If you live in CA, and you are leasing, you shouldn't pay taxes in Illinois.
If they require you to pay taxes in Illinois, you shouldn't do it, as Illinois collects tax upfront, and you'd still owe tax on the payment, once it's registered in CA.

jayceee

Got it. Thank you!