I recently purchased a used 1996 Cadillac. At the time I was already thinking about getting another car. But I stumbled unto this Vadillac. The owner was desperate for fast cash so the price on the car was well below blue book value. It was the low price that made me call the guy to look closer at the Cadillac. I was planning on getting a SUV. Anyway I bought the Cadillac the next day, the price was just too good to pass it up.
Then I went to transfer the title and get the registration for the Cadillac at the Irving location for Dallas County Tax Office.
They asked me how much I paid foe the car and I told them $ and gave them a copy of the reciept the previous owner and I both signed, which showed the purchase price of $2000.
The clerk wrote the amount down on my title application and told me to have a seat while she get everything taken care of.
When she called me to her window she said the market value of the was $4628, and becuase I bought the car from an individual and not a auto dealer, I will ne paying sales tax on the market value of the car...$4628.00
I argued with her telling her I was not paying SALES TAX on an amount of money that was never paid to the previous owner. She told me that was now the law and I had no choice if I wanted to get the registration for this car, or I could bring her the license plates from the car and not transfer title or get new license plates.
So I paid SALES TAX on an extra $2628, more than double the amount I paid for the car. So I paid taxes more than twice on one car.
Sales tax is a percentage of the total amount of what is purchased that is paid to the county. Not a percentage of what this car MIGHT have been able to sell for. Used cars all have some problems, and that is what the buyer takes into consideration before deciding what they are willing to pay for the vehicle. If this car had been priced at $4628, I would not have bought it anyway. The windshield needed to be replaced, it has a water leak, and several trouble codes display on the instrument panel. Plus your usual little dings and scratches here and there.
The book market value price is based on that car running, driving, and looking the exact same as it did when it was brand new, for the mileage, This book value does not take into consideration that this car has to have some money put into to be able to become (1) legal (2) safe (3) and appear nice.
This was absoultely the BIGGEST ripoff I have ever seen or heard of in my whole lifetime. And the worse part is the buyer has no choice but pay it or never legally drive the car just purchased. Or to never buy a used car from anyone other than a car dealer.
I had to pay an extra $158 for taxes on something that was never purchased and because of it the windshield replacement has to wait, which still makes the car worth below the market value.
This will probably lead to most people not buying used cars from individuals and those people will have to get ripped off by buying a used car from a dealer with over-priced cars, and the guy with that old car he wants to get rid of will get ripped off by a dealer by trading that used car in.
So no matter how it done the consumer will get ripped off buying a used car anywhere if they live in Texas.
0 comments