USA Bike purchase
 

Thinking of a two up trip across the northern states and a bit of Canada next summer 2004.
Understand there could be tax penalties buying a bike, GoldWing or ST on the West coast and selling on the East coast if we go on to Europe.
Anybody familiar with the implications of this plan.

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Brownie

No tax penalties I know of. If you buy a bike and sell at a profit there would be a tax on the amount of profit only. Saying that it is a techneocality and there is no way to track the profit IF you made one. BTW if you buy a bike, put a few thousand miles on it and sell at a profit, lets go into business. Some states also have a sales tax on anything you buy. If you buy at a dealer you pay the tax when you purchase the bike. I hope this helps.

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John

I am not aware of any tax penalties either, however if you would be buying on the east coast and selling in California that would be a different story. California will not allow you to register a bike from another state with under 6000 miles on the odometer. If it has more than 6000 miles, then no problem. And this goes for all vehicles, not just bikes.

Dave

Since 83 when the ( now ) wife and I spent 12 months touring North America on a Harley, we've now visited 3 times and bought 2 cars and 2 motorbikes in the USA. From our experience your biggest hurdle will be, you not having a local address for registration and insurance purposes. That is of course unless you know someone local. Otherwise there are no real issues. It goes without saying that in litigation mad USA, it does pay to have these matters in order.

Thanks for the replies.
Need all the info' we can get, appreciate it.

Brownie.

G Perkins in Pambula South Coast Australia.
Coming thro there next week on our way to Phillip Island. With your experience I'd love a quick chat. If we can meet please email db62@cnn.net.au or my mobile 0415 498 773

Brownie.

You may be thinking about state sales taxes--they vary enormously by state, from zero to around 10%. I'd suggest, particularly if you are buying an expensive bike, that you purchase it in a state with both no (or low) sales tax, and cheap registration fees. There is no penalty for selling the bike later (to you, that is; depending on where and when it was bought the purchaser in a new state may face local sales tax, but that is their problem, not yours).

good advice re sales tax, their are only a few states w/ no sales tax, oregon, Montana, alaska a couple BUT you may be able to skip the tax since you are not a resident of the state.

dont think of riding without insurance, re no fixed address, what about using one of the temp.-virtual address boxes? the ins co would want to see your license so that may not work, I would inquire in advance to insurance companies