Moving to CA - buy car before or after move?

rekoil

New Member
Hi,

I'm in Georgia, about to move to California in about two weeks, and suddenly need a new car (thank you, Mr. Following Too Closely)...I'm moving as part of a corporate relocation, so if I buy a new car here, it will be transported to CA, but I'm concerned about how to go about registering the vehicle prior to transport. Georgia's registration process can take a few weeks to get your tags - and I don't want to wind up not being able to get them because I've already moved, not to mention paying two sets of registration fees - but at the same time, the dealers here are reluctant to do an out-of-state registration for California (some say it's no problem, but don't forget these are car salesmen talking).

I do have a signed lease for an address in CA, which I was told was a hard requirement for *any* out of state registration

The other option is just renting cars until I move and buy a car in CA, but I'm not sure if insurance will pay for that. Also, Nissan's current incentives (which make one of my choices VERY appealing) ends at the end of the month, well before I arrive there.

The reason the one dealer I spoke with gave for not doing a CA registration (the same dealer will do out-of-state registrations for other states) is the need for a physical inspection at the CA DMV. But how do CA dealerships handle that? Any advice from those who've dealt with similar situations?

Any help and insights welcome.
 

AutoXpert

Administrator
I say purchase the car in Cali. Reason? You dont want to deal with out of state inspections etc. It also depends on the car you are purchasing since some older cars were not eligible to be registered in california due to the emissions standard.
 

Karboodle

Rookie
Purchase the car in California, it'll just make everything much easier. Why worry about the car transfer even though your company will take care of it, when you get there, everything else is up to you.
 

EliR2

New Member
I know this post is older but there seem to be some good California sources in here. I recently moved from Texas to California and began my search for a used vehicle on Craigslist. Unimpressed and too fearful of being caught in a scam I turned to a nearby startup, Instamotor, that promises to revolutionize the used car buying experience. I'm curious if anyone here has used or heard of them and would you recommend using it?
 
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