Purchasing from a Texas dealer

[kb0zke]

We bought our pickup in Texas at the very end of December. We're South Dakota residents, so we expected that the dealer would give us the old title to the truck, properly signed over, of course, and we would put the plates from the car onto the truck and mail the title to SD, where a new title would be produced for us. Not so. We had to pay several hundred dollars in Texas taxes and are waiting on the delivery of a TEXAS title in our names which we will then send to SD for a title and registration. In the meantime we're driving around on a TX temp tag.

Several of the trailers we're looking at are at Texas dealerships. Are we going to have to go through the same song and dance if we buy a trailer in Texas?

[Kirk W]

I wonder if that wasn't the dealer practice and not actually TX law? I have bought outside of TX and then registered here but never the way you are. 

 

[Danfreda1]

Not from Texas but car plates can’t be put on truck plates in Illinois when we lived there. Texas might be same way?

[Randyretired]

I have never bought anything from Texas but I have purchased RV's, trucks and cars from a number of states and brought them back to Colorado. I have never run into what you describe. One dealer in AZ started to talk about some strange procedures and taxes but when I refused we were able to talk with someone that was aware of proper procedures. When we purchased from a dealer they did whatever and sent the paperwork to us to take in here. No problems. When we purchased from a private party they signed the title over and we brought it back home. After a quick inspection we took the information in and registered the vehicle and received a new title. Taking plates from one vehicle and putting them on another has some consequences here if caught.  I would talk with a state person to see the correct proceedure and maybe talk with your home state to determine the best way to do this.

[GlennWest]

When we first left NC we stayed in Texas. I bought a new truck. We paid NC taxes and got NC plates. Dealer handled all of it. Did use a temp tag for a while while waiting for mine to come in. 

[TXiceman]

It sounds like the Texas dealer did not do what was correct for your registration.  We have bought out of state while living in Texas and did not pay any sales tax and had a temporary tag on the trailer and got our registration and tag from Texas and paid out sales tax in Texas on registration.  Pretty sure it works the other way as well.  

Are you sure he did not make the tax collection for SD?

 

Ken

Edited January 20, 2023 by TXiceman

[kb0zke]

We did not pay any sales tax - yet. We finally got the Texas title today and are now working on the paperwork to get the SD title and registration. To answer some of the questions above:

Yes, we can move the plates from the Lincoln to the Ford. I specifically asked our mail service about that. The reason I was questioning all of this is that the dealership had about $400 in various fees that we had to pay: Inspection fee ($33.75), Lic Fee ($60.50) Title Conv Fee ($11.00), Road & Bridge ($11.00), Title fee ($33.00), E-Tag fee ($33.00), Doc Fee ($149.00), and a Dealer inventory tax ($95.20). There is no evidence on the truck that it ever got an inspection, even though the dealer told us about the huge fines they would have to pay if they ever let a vehicle go without one. There is a copy of an inspection report, done two weeks earlier, that lists a cost of $7.00.

The reason for asking this is that we're looking at some trailers that are at dealerships in Texas. If those dealerships are going to charge me $400 in various fees that may be an incentive to buy from a dealer that is closer, even if they have a somewhat higher price.

[kb0zke]

Additional information: The dealer told us that we would get a Texas title in our names, which we would then send to South Dakota. The title we actually got was what I expected to get the day we bought the truck - made out to the previous owner and properly signed over to the dealer.

Now that we finally have all of the paperwork to get the truck properly registered and licensed in South Dakota I'm going to call the Texas DMV and see what's what. I've not mentioned the name of the dealership, or even the location, here, but if I find out that they did try to pull a fast one I'll share that information.

[Ray,IN]

Check with SD DMV about state taxes. I know In Indiana when a resident buys out of state, whatever taxes they are charged must be forwarded to Indiana DMV. Then if you paid more that what Indiana charges, you get a refund of the excess amount.

[docj]

Over the past 9 years, we have purchased two vehicles in TX and have had them registered in SD.  In neither case did the dealer issue us a TX title, but in both cases the TX dealers were totally incompetent with respect to  the transaction.

In 2014 when we bought our CR-V the dealer finally agreed to return the registration package to me so I could sent it to our SD mail forwarding service so that the care could get titled.  The dealer had had us pay for what he thought was the cost of the SD registration but he had miscalculated by ~$100 which I had to forward to our mail service.  The dealer issued me a second set of TX temporary plates so we would be legal to drive (even though that itself wasn't legal).

In 2020 when we bought our Outback, a similar snafu ensued.  As I recall, someone at SD motor vehicles called me on her own initiative to help resolve the mess.

The bottom line is that States has full reciprocity on this; for years we lived in the DC suburbs and no one thought twice about buying a vehicle in VA and having it registered in MD or the reverse.  There it was commonplace; TX dealers appear to be less cosmopolitan.  

Edited January 22, 2023 by docj