We currently live in Kansas City, Missouri but will be relocating to
the Stockton/Modesto, California area in one month. Neither one of us
have ever even been to CA, but the job is to good to pass up. I know
housing is 2.5x the price, but I have no idea about vehicles. We have
decided to buy a 2005 Honda Odyssey.  I do not know anything about the
tax laws, CA emissions, or price of vehicles.
Question #1 - What should I do?
Question #2 - What are the differences in Taxes, Titles, Plates, and
cost of the vehicle?
   
A great answer would be the following:
A 2005 Honda Odyssey will cost you roughly $XX,XXX in MO and $XX.XXX in CA.
The Taxes will be $XXX in MO and $XXX in CA
etc......
etc......

Your total savinsg will be $### if you purchse your Honda in CA/MO.

Let me know if you need anything else. 
Thanks

---

Clarification of Question by wdhayden-ga on 24 Jan 2005 18:32 PST

FYI, We are wanting the EX model.  Starting price of $28K on Honda's
website, but I don't trust that number. Thanks

Sales tax is more or less a wash; all three areas are around 7.5%. 
You may be able to save some pennies by buying out in the rural parts
of MO.

HOWEVER, if you buy in MO, you will have to tag and register the car
in MO.  Then, when you move to CA, you'll have to re-register and tag
the car.  You could then apply for a refund on the unused portion of
the property taxes from MO, but you cannot get the flat fixed fees
back.

Additionally, cars cost the dealership the same amount, in CA or MO. 
The only difference is the volume the dealership does; more volume
means the can afford to make less profit per unit.  There are also
mfg. incentives to move a certain number of units so the dealership
may be willing to take less profit to move a unit.

So, the price of the car will be roughly the same.

To answer question 1, then, wait till you get to CA to buy the car. 
It'll save the overhead of two registrations.

I'll leave it to another researcher to dig out the details from the CA
DMV website to answer question #2 and claim the fee.

WDHayden --

You do want to be aware of the smog test and registration requirements
for the state of California, should you decide to buy before moving:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/nonresident.htm

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA