See the last sentence in the post of mine that you quoted.

That's up to your county. The smog requirement is not the same statewide, once you get the first one.

Ask your DMV, they will know. It may be buried on the DMV site, but I'm not looking for ya!

I would wager that dealership doesn't do a ton of California sales. A border dealer would expedite the process by communicating directly with the DMV so everything is set before you go in.

OP, call Mike Smith at Grants Pass Toyota. I know he can get your truck and the price will be fair, and the dealership will handle the DMV for you.

I bought a used 4runner out of Flagstaff and drove it back to San Diego. Same deal as the guy above. The only thing that was painful was that I didn't want to pay the truck in full and got a loan through my bank. The CA registration process required the actual title to convert it from an AZ title. My bank refused to give that up and after several phone calls, I determined that despite this being a large bank, I must have been the first person ever to do this to them. They were clueless, so I ended up paying the vehicle off to get the title. The dealer provided a 90 day title though to allow time to get this handled, so that was nice.

A couple points to be aware of. Somehow, the tax rate (with state/local tax)I paid was equal or greater than CA, because I didn't owe any taxes to the DMV. I found it odd, because AZ I think is 6% and CA is 8%, but I didn't owe more money to CA which made me happy.

Another big point with taxes is if you're trading a used car. I was trading a car that exceeded the value of my 4runner purchase. AZ allows you to offset the cost of the new vehicle with trade-in value of your old one. So a 10k new vehicle and a 5k trade-in equals you only paying tax on 5k of the new purchase. This meant if I traded my car there, I wouldn't have to pay any tax at all. I couldn't find anywhere that CA would reciprocate this and not charge me the additional tax, so I ended up just trading my car in here, and flying over there.

I bought a Mercedes out of state and the only problem was the loan. My credit union wouldn't finance out of state so I had to finance through MB and then refinance when I got it here.

Thanks so far for the feebdack. I got a 2012 SVTPP Shelby GT500 I'm selling or going to sell to pay for most of my 4Runner purchase so financing is not a major concern.

I am still looking for a dealer with a TRD PRO 4Runner so if anyone knows of one PM me.

As a side tip- check out the classifieds section! There was a guy in there selling a cement pro right after getting it home. Decided he doesn't want it and is in Seattle I think. Also, browse the trd pro thread in the 5th gen section - people who are on multiple wait lists are offering their slots to others when they find their trucks. Both options might save you some time, and welcome!

Hey there! I purchased my vehicle in Phoenix and drove it back to San Francisco two weeks ago. As others mentioned, I spent more time at the DMW then the actual dealership. The sales guy I worked kept me updated throughout the process. He picked me up from the airport the day of and knocked out the transaction quickly.

Not sure what your turnaround time is but I was able to get it at MSRP with a about a one month turnaround.

PM if you'd like an intro.


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Thanks for the offer, I'm supposed to get one in state at MSRP this week. If it falls through I will definatley let you know.

Also one thing to consider, buying in state depending on which county allows you to avoid a smog check for six years. If you own multiple cars, this can be a pain in the butt getting cars smogged annually when the registration comes due.

Hello guys,,..
Buying a car in another state is perfectly legal, but it's a slightly different process than purchasing a car in your home state. For instance, you must pay sales tax to the state where you will register your vehicle, not the state where you purchased the vehicle.