Transferring used AZ vehicle to CA: Emissions question...

Hi All,

Not a Tundra, though I own the TRD Pro, so felt I paid my dues...

The last few weeks, I have tried to find a used Highlander for my mom in California with little success per her limited budget. Since that is the case, we have discussed her purchasing my 2013 Accord for almost half of the value.


I contacted the CA DMV before as to get info on purchasing of a used vehicle and found that you need an emissions cert to register the vehicle and it cannot be older than 90 days. Since I purchased my Accord in AZ, I want to be sure all is well before I trek 400 miles to get this done. The Emission control info tag under the hood does indicate it conforms to regulations including "California: LEV II ULEV PC OBD: CA OBD II. Is that all I need? Anyone perform similar transactions in CA?

BTW, I LOVE that California charges tax on private used sales... AND, that she will have to pay tax on the true value, not the sale amount...

Thanks All.

 

They're all over the place for 4-6 grand for a good conditioned 2004 to 2007 in orange county. Wish I had more info to help you with the accord :/ Good luck! Hopefully someone who knows can chime in.

 

I was looking for a 2007 plus with around 100K, for around $10K in the Ventura area/50 mile range. Saw a couple, but they did not do well with maintenance and or take care of the vehicle. I just did not feel comfortable putting her into something where it was clear they did not really take care of the vehicle. I'm sure if I had more time, I could have found something, but I think the good ones are snatched up immediately... Tough for me, since I only had a week on the ground. None of the leads I previously found panned out.

Thanks.

 

Ya the ventura area is pretty rough. 100% of the time I start my searches in the orange county craigslist section. I've yielded solid results from there. And most of the time it's rich people selling their backup backups car for pennies on the dollar just to get it gone. In the 10k range down here there's TONS. I just looked. atleast 20 on the first page in good quality and below that budget.

 

you probably need a smog check first as every cars here that is sold private party. It has to be less than 90 days and costs about $50.
Make sure you accord has no mods like cold air intake or missing exhaust cats. You will have to register it here and your mom will pay sale taxes on the "used" price. If I were you I would " gift" it to my Mom. Then you only need SMOG certificate.

 

I knew the smog cert per my research and planned to take an extra day and do it before I sign it over/take her to the DMV. I was also considering a vehicle from AZ and saw the "gift" to avoid tax, but it was clear I could not perform this when buying from another party. I thought it said the only way to avoid the tax via "gift" was if it was in state. Since I am out of state it would not work, but I will look again since it changes per my own vehicle... That would be nice... Especially since it is a gift in the sense of value. Thanks for the info.