Dealer wants a $5000 non refundable deposit to get a Clarity

A youtube channel named your auto advocate mentioned that the Clarity has a 198 day market supply which is quite high. I think the pandemic hit fuel efficient cars the most because of the low oil prices and the drop in commuting. It might be hard to get a good deal outside of the CA market. The dealer I bought from only had 1 Clarity available.

 

Cars.com shows 642 new Clarity PHEV's for sale in the US.
Of those, about 60 are outside of California, and all but 5 of those are in Oregon and Washington

 

Per Autotrader, a cluster of five Clarities has popped up in Denver.

 

Do we think this will be a civilized gathering or should we expect violence?

 

Probably not a super spreader event.

 

No.
CA will charge you CA sales tax if you take possession in CA. Doesn't matter where you live or will register the car. Arizona will likely credit you for what you paid CA, but if the tax rate in CA is higher you do not get a refund

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/pub34.pdf

Vehicles purchased for use outside California
You are generally not required to report tax on a vehicle that is sold and delivered for use outside California. You must establish that the vehicle was delivered to the purchaser outside California (for example, delivered by your employee or by common carrier), and that the purchaser did not take possession of the vehicle in California.

Required documentation
This may include evidence of the customer’s out-of-state address, such as utility bills or property tax bills.
If the delivery is made by a common or contract carrier, customs broker, or forwarding agent, documents supporting the delivery or shipment may include bills of lading.
If delivery is made by facilities operated by the retailer, documents such as:
• The employee’s expense claims that include fuel or hotel receipts, and
• A statement signed by the delivery person and the purchaser, such as a CDTFA-448, Statement of Delivery Outside California, certifying delivery of the vehicle to an out-of-state location, may be used. You are urged to have this statement notarized at the outof-state delivery point. This form can be used by a dealer to certify a vehicle was delivered to a purchaser at an out-of-state location. It is also used by a purchaser to support the fact that delivery was accepted out of state. Once completed, the original must be returned to you for your records.
​

 

https://www.clarityforum.com/forum/201-honda-clarity-pricing-dealers-purchasing-orders/1107-so-you-want-buy-clarity-but-you-don%92t-live-california-yes-can-done.html

 

One possible option to drive a vehicle away from a CA dealer without paying CA sales tax, which I have done, is to arrange a dealer to dealer sale. The out of state (AZ) dealer can be anyone with a dealer license who is willing to assist.

You/they work to arrange the sale. The selling dealer will/can/should issue a one day transport permit to drive the vehicle out of the state and deliver it to the buying dealer. Anyone can drive the car. The AZ dealer will then sell the car to you. If they’re nice, they might add on a couple hundred bucks for the effort.

 

Make sure the deal is completely negotiated and you have your out the door cost in writing before you give them 5k.