Buying used car on craiglist in VA

[Anonymous]

How does the process work and is this a good way to get a good deal on a used car? and avoid tax on the transaction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
How does the process work and is this a good way to get a good deal on a used car? and avoid tax on the transaction?

You can't avoid the tax -- you'll just pay it when you register the car at the DMV (i.e., in addition to the tags, they'll collect the sales tax too). You CAN fudge the Bill of Sale, I guess, but that's risky.

You can usually negotiate a lower price with a private seller, but there are more risks in buying a car. At the very least you pay a mechanic $150 or whatever to really examine it before buying.

[Anonymous]

And if you buy, bring tags from another car even if you haven't registered to the new one yet. The owner should remove his/her tags from the car he/she is selling once signing the title over to you. You'll need some sort of tag to get the car to the DMV/home.

[Anonymous]

You may not avoid tax completely, but you may able to "adjust" the record price on the bill of sale to lower the tax basis.