I bought a used car from a dealer, and there are some problems with it
and I want to return it. The dealer is willing to take it back, but
says that the sales tax and DMV licensing fees are not refundable. Is
this true?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 23 Jun 2004 12:28 PDT

Laws vary from place to place. In what nation, state or province did
you buy the car?

---

Clarification of Question by carbuyer-ga on 23 Jun 2004 13:04 PDT

Good question: I am referring to the state of California.

Call the DMV and explain the problem.  NO sale was made, so no tax is
due.  The dealer may be looking at your sales tax as his profit...... 
You can file a complaint against this dealer as he is licensed with
the state.

I not suggesting you do this, but I have done this myself when a
dealer ripped my off for car repairs.  My wife and I picketed his car
lot on a Saturday with a letter explaining what happened. We gave
copies to his customers.  The letter was fair.  We got back the
portion of the repairs that were not needed or asked for.

Good luck

Thanks - in the mean time I contacted an attorney at the California
Board of Equalization (http://www.boe.ca.gov ) who said that the
dealer can register the car as a return, and will get the sales tax
back. If the dealer doesn't want to give the sales tax back, its
because they are either too lazy to deal with it, don't want to wait
till they get the money back from the state, or want to keep the money
for themselves. In this case they can be sued for the money.