About to order a Clarity 2019

[Steve B.]

DucRider,

1) It was the sales manager who has been at the dealership for 12 years and assured me it could be done easily and does not require residency (but the State of California does require residency to get *its* rebate amount ... but not to buy the car itself).

2) Being from Minnesota, I know that the credit on sales tax is a slight possibility, but he won't have to pay sales tax twice, of that I am certain.

"If he has to pay the sales tax twice, the cost of a plane ticket, fuel, hotels, meals driving back I'm not sure what the overall savings would really be."
Let's take a look at what it will cost. I know these numbers cold after making the drive last June and flying back-and-forth a few times already:

• He could fly out to John Wayne airport from Minnesota for about $325 booked a couple of weeks in advance (a round-trip ticket is under $400, but I'm factoring in a one-way ticket price)
  
• He'd stay at our house so no hotel and we'd feed him
  
• It's an 1,850 mile drive from our house to his house. Even if he averaged 42mpg combined the entire way home to Minnesota and didn't plugin anywhere, that's 44 gallons of gas at an average of $3.25 per gallon = $143
• Three nights in a hotel would cost, on the high side, $150 per night = $450
• Three days worth of meals (again, on the high side) would be about = $250
  
• TOTAL EXPENSE = $1,170
• SAVINGS ON BUYING THE CAR IN CALIFORNIA vs. IN MINNESOTA = $4,830

I think saving nearly $5,000 would be completely worth it.

 

[4sallypat]

Make sure the dealer also contributes to the deal by discounting the profit side.
$6K Honda incentives + $2K / 2.5K = $8K/$8.5K off the MSRP.

Internet sales manager or director is the person to hit up.....

 

[RogerB]

If it were that easy, I don't know why most people from non-PEZ states don't go this route. I'd imagine most people would be willing to do a 3-day trip (or less) to save 5 grand.

 

[M. Shah]

DucRider,

1) It was the sales manager who has been at the dealership for 12 years and assured me it could be done easily and does not require residency (but the State of California does require residency to get *its* rebate amount ... but not to buy the car itself).

2) Being from Minnesota, I know that the credit on sales tax is a slight possibility, but he won't have to pay sales tax twice, of that I am certain.

"If he has to pay the sales tax twice, the cost of a plane ticket, fuel, hotels, meals driving back I'm not sure what the overall savings would really be."
Let's take a look at what it will cost. I know these numbers cold after making the drive last June and flying back-and-forth a few times already:

• He could fly out to John Wayne airport from Minnesota for about $325 booked a couple of weeks in advance (a round-trip ticket is under $400, but I'm factoring in a one-way ticket price)
  
• He'd stay at our house so no hotel and we'd feed him
  
• It's an 1,850 mile drive from our house to his house. Even if he averaged 42mpg combined the entire way home to Minnesota and didn't plugin anywhere, that's 44 gallons of gas at an average of $3.25 per gallon = $143
• Three nights in a hotel would cost, on the high side, $150 per night = $450
• Three days worth of meals (again, on the high side) would be about = $250
  
• TOTAL EXPENSE = $1,170
• SAVINGS ON BUYING THE CAR IN CALIFORNIA vs. IN MINNESOTA = $4,830

I think saving nearly $5,000 would be completely worth it.

Or your buddy can get a 2018 Touring from Chicago for $28500+ Tax title plates. The offer is also good for out of state buyers. My cousin from Wisconsin also bought one.

 

[2002]

Being from Minnesota, I know that the credit on sales tax is a slight possibility, but he won't have to pay sales tax twice, of that I am certain.

From what I understand California won't refund the sales tax if you take delivery in California, even if you pay tax in the state where you register it. The only way to avoid California sales tax is to have the car shipped so that you don't take actual delivery in California. I would call California DMV to verify this instead of relying on a salesperson, who won't do squat for you after the sale if they turn out to be wrong. Also check with Minnesota DVS to make sure things haven't changed since you lived there and that they won't charge tax even though California will not be relinquishing it to them. Another option would be getting the car from Oregon as the $6,000 credit is currently available there also. Although I realize they would not have free room and board there like they would in SoCal Another option as mentioned by Mitral Shah is to find a similar deal in another state, possibly one much closer.

It's an 1,850 mile drive from our house to his house

Perfectly fine if they want to make a vacation of it, stopping at state parks along the way etc. Driving six hours every other day would be about ten days. That would be enjoyable. But a marathon three-day drive of that distance would probably be pretty miserable, and fatigue will likely be an issue unless they already do those type of long drives, which most people don't except on longer vacations. I used to do those type of marathon drives when I was much younger, I don't attempt them now. Also they won't find out until about 300 miles into the trip how well their backside handles the Clarity seats on long drives, that is something impossible to predict just from sitting in a car in the showroom.

Another alternative is to have the car shipped to Minnesota which can be done for about $600, probably no more than $800, about equal to what would be spent on airfare, hotel, gas, food, and mileage on the car. All paperwork can be handled via FedEx document delivery. People do this all the time, although I realize some people are unnerved by the idea of buying a car sight unseen, even though they do have rights in case of damage or other issues, but in this case they have you available to inspect the car for them which would probably make them feel more comfortable about it.

Make sure the dealer also contributes to the deal by discounting the profit side. $6K Honda incentives + $2K / 2.5K = $8K/$8.5K off the MSRP. Internet sales manager or director is the person to hit up.....

This. Dealers love it when people happily accept only the mfg discount and the dealer gets a huge pot of gravy. Similar to the tax rebate, they like to remind you how much you will save at tax time so that you will agree to buy the car with no other discounts. Let them know that you are aware that the discount is coming from Honda and the tax rebate from Uncle Sam, and you want to know how much they will be contributing. If they won't budge you should have no problem finding a dealer who will.

Be careful though if buying out of state to make sure the dealer will honor the quote, as they may be mistakenly including the manufacturer rebate when for out of state the dealer has to put up the entire discount themselves. I have heard of people buying out of state and they made it clear they live out of state, then when they arrive and the sale is being finalized they are told the rebate doesn't apply to non-residents, and the dealer will only give them a couple thousand off. So make sure it's all in writing and that on the quote from the dealer it specifically states that the quoted price is the dealer price and does not include any Honda incentives.

 

[4sallypat]

From what I understand California won't refund the sales tax if you take delivery in California, even if you pay tax in the state where you register it. The only way to avoid California sales tax is to have the car shipped so that you don't take actual delivery in California. I would call California DMV to verify this instead of relying on a salesperson, who won't do squat for you after the sale if they turn out to be wrong. Also check with Minnesota DVS to make sure things haven't changed since you lived there and that they won't charge tax even though California will not be relinquishing it to them. Another option would be getting the car from Oregon as the $6,000 credit is currently available there also. Although I realize they would not have free room and board there like they would in SoCal Another option as mentioned by Mitral Shah is to find a similar deal in another state, possibly one much closer.



Perfectly fine if they want to make a vacation of it, stopping at state parks along the way etc. Driving six hours every other day would be about ten days. That would be enjoyable. But a marathon three-day drive of that distance would probably be pretty miserable, and fatigue will likely be an issue unless they already do those type of long drives, which most people don't except on longer vacations. I used to do those type of marathon drives when I was much younger, I don't attempt them now. Also they won't find out until about 300 miles into the trip how well their backside handles the Clarity seats on long drives, that is something impossible to predict just from sitting in a car in the showroom.

Another alternative is to have the car shipped to Minnesota which can be done for about $600, probably no more than $800, about equal to what would be spent on airfare, hotel, gas, food, and mileage on the car. All paperwork can be handled via FedEx document delivery. People do this all the time, although I realize some people are unnerved by the idea of buying a car sight unseen, even though they do have rights in case of damage or other issues, but in this case they have you available to inspect the car for them which would probably make them feel more comfortable about it.


This. Dealers love it when people happily accept only the mfg discount and the dealer gets a huge pot of gravy. Similar to the tax rebate, they like to remind you how much you will save at tax time so that you will agree to buy the car with no other discounts. Let them know that you are aware that the discount is coming from Honda and the tax rebate from Uncle Sam, and you want to know how much they will be contributing. If they won't budge you should have no problem finding a dealer who will.

Be careful though if buying out of state to make sure the dealer will honor the quote, as they may be mistakenly including the manufacturer rebate when for out of state the dealer has to put up the entire discount themselves. I have heard of people buying out of state and they made it clear they live out of state, then when they arrive and the sale is being finalized they are told the rebate doesn't apply to non-residents, and the dealer will only give them a couple thousand off. So make sure it's all in writing and that on the quote from the dealer it specifically states that the quoted price is the dealer price and does not include any Honda incentives.

Very well informed member ^^^.

CA will not refund tax or DMV fees once paid so make sure your or the dealer can arrange transport out of state to avoid taxes & DMV fees. There are few dealers that are knowledgeable about the paperwork involved in shipping out of state. Try eBay - ask CA car dealers who know a lot more about shipping cars and having them registered in another state.

Shopping closer is much less of a transport cost so try to find the car in the closest ZEV state possible - Northeast states have ZEV + DLFC combined incentives which is better than west coast ZEV incentives.

And finally as @2002 stated, make sure you know what the pre-incentive discount will be (dealer discount) then apply the manufacturer, federal, and state incentives. I have seen so often that the salesperson will talk up the huge Honda discount combined with the federal tax credit and then conveniently forget about dealer discount. Dealers love customers who give them full MSRP profit....

 

[2002]

make sure your or the dealer can arrange transport out of state to avoid taxes & DMV fees.

What I have heard at least anecdotally is that people have more success arranging shipping themselves, which is quite easy nowadays. There are online sites where you can quickly get quotes and from what I have heard the process from beginning to end works quite well as these shipping companies do this all the time, they are professionals at it. Whereas I have heard of people having problems when dealers arrange the shipping and they get it all messed up. And also you will almost certainly wind up paying the dealer a fee to arrange shipping for you when they are doing nothing more than you can easily do yourself online, and you aren't guaranteed they will add any value to it if they don't know what they are doing or they are (is it possible?) careless.

Now as you mentioned you might be lucky and find a dealer who is already experienced with all of this and conscientious and can competently handle the shipping arrangements for you, but that is not something you can count on especially if you are shopping among different dealers for the lowest price.