As stated over 7500 miles or the california emissions sticker on the frame. A gift must be from a family member to be tax free. The dmv will want to inspect the vin numbers and engine numbers. Sometimes they may require a MC shop to to a saftey inspection, but not usually. Not a problem. If one dmv gives you a hard time,stop the process and go to another office. T

 

So what's the deal with the 7500 miles? When I retire & bring my bike to SoCal I will be way over 7500 miles so is it just a simple registration change of address & I'm done or is there a inspection involved too?

 

You will have a small inspection. Usually just check vin# and one time they also checked my engine#. That was it. The 7500 mile rule is only for residents of CA that go out of state to buy a bike or car. It does not apply to people who move to CA and bring their vehicle with them

 

You can bring a brand new bike from a dealer into Ca. if it has the CA. emissions sticker.

 

In NYS you were able to claim a used vehicle as a gift all you had to do was to have the owner sign a DMV form stating no money was received for the vehicle, the vehicle was not given to you because the owner was settling a debt owed to you (seen as the same as receiving money).

Then NYS got greedy, about 35 years ago. If you claimed the vehicle was a gift, the nice clerk would open up the NADA book and base the sales tax you owed on the NADA value.

So then people would show up with a bill of sale for $1.

Then the nice people at the DMV said you could not show up at the DMV with a Bill of Sale for less then $5 and a offical DMV form signed by the owner that he sold you the vehicle for $5.

The state made the public do all that to charge them $ .35 sales tax.

I did this back then. Worth the effort. Better to pay $ .35 then $75.00 sales tax on a $1000 used vehicle.

 

Florida's the easiest. No insurance,no helmets,no state inspection. Just give 'em the old title with any amount on it, slap on the plate & ride!

AND

The cops here usually will not hassle a Harley rider even with open pipes, unless they are blatantly disregarding the law. This is the most vehicle ownership friendly state I have ever seen.

 

you are correct.
suspicion?? No more then a "huge" discounted BOS. I know someone who just did it 4-5 mo. ago. Got a bike from MO. and took it to CA. The seller didn't care. Done deal no tax.