Is it better to have my son sell me a car for a dollar or gift it to me? Naturally I'm just trying to save money on registering it and wonder which process is the best way to go?
Thanks much for the knowledge and experience :)
You can gift it...its cheaper initially...but then they will ask you what its worth, and THATS what you pay the taxes on. So I personally think its easier to say you bought it for 100 or 1000 bucks and that it had XX wrong with it, any reason to justify a lesser value. Usually I say it had a blown motor etc....Good luck!
I trust we are talking about California. When a car is transferred between family members, there is no cost, no use tax etc. And the other thing I wasn't aware of, you don't need a smog certificate which is necessary if you get it any other way. Too bad I had already had it done.
As Anna W. said, there's no cost to transfer between family members in CA and no smog requirement. If you are a AAA member, go there to do your registration transfer. It's $15 (cash only) for that process and usually no waiting! You can get the DMV forms off the internet so you can fill them out in advance and you'll see that it talks about transfers between family members.
I'm sure you will get some wonderful answers. If you haven't done so yet, please check the website of DMV. They provide some good info there. If in CA the site is http://www.dmv.ca.gov. Hopefully this helps.
Gifting is better. No taxes, no smog certificate required, and the form is easy to fill out.
Kymster
I would check with your state licensing like Kelly suggests. A long time ago, my husband got a car from his brother and the tax was much lower. It depends on state laws.
Either way is probably okay. I think when it is family he can just give it to you. My husband's sister gave/sold us a car for $1 and the title place told us since it was family there was no need to sell it. You might want to call your local title department and ask them.
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I'm not sure how it is now and I believe that it depends on each state but when my parents gifted a car to me they paid the taxes for it. They paid taxes on the value of the vehicle not the price. If they had sold it to me for $1 they would have paid a lot less taxes
Yup, check with your state laws. In PA, you can gift a car tax free to family, all that you pay for is the title transfer and a new registration. Call a local Notary Public, they should be able to answer this for you and do all the necessary paperwork to transfer the car to you.
It doesn't matter anymore. Just go ask the tag agency. They will tell you that the tag and registration is more regulated now and that they only go by the year, make, and model of the car. I have been given several vehicles and bought one nearly the same make and they were almost the same to the penny to change over.
