So the van saga continues (see my previous post for Part 1)…
Eric got up this morning and decided to just take the morning to get the van squared away so we can legally drive it. Good times.
He drove to Pataskala (30 minutes east) because their BMV and title office are right next to each other. Kill two birds with one stone. Excellent!
Instead, the complications immediately ensued.
1. The BMV had no electricity (title office did), so they weren’t open. Hoped to be open soon, but not open then.
2. Eric headed to a nearby car dealership (which would also be able to do the “inspection” required to change the title), but they weren’t open yet.
3. He waits for them to open, gets the inspection done, goes back to the title office.
4. Gets the new title issued and pays Ohio sales tax. Full Ohio sales tax.
Wait…WHAT? I thought that a notarized bill of sale indicating that we paid Michigan sales tax meant we wouldn’t have to pay full Ohio sales tax.
Guess not. According to title office lady, because Steve wasn’t a dealer, he wasn’t authorized to charge us sales tax. So the price we paid him was just the price we paid him. And now we owed Ohio sales tax. All of it. So of course, Eric has no choice but to pay tax. Again. (Can you tell this is the part where I’m annoyed?) But it just wasn’t worth one more battle at that point.
5. Eric leaves title office. BMV was still closed.
6. So he drives to the Hilliard BMV. They are slow. But they do finally get the rest of the necessary stuff taken care of (plates, registration, etc). He even renews his license while he’s there.
7. And now, at lunch time, he can finally go to work and try to accomplish something. And we finally have a legal van to drive. But I will definitely think twice before doing a private car purchase ever again. Seriously…this was way more hassle than it seems should be necessary. Seriously. *huff*
October 4, 2010
wow. i hope after all that hassle you will be able to focus on the blessing of God giving you this ideal vehicle in His perfect time! we LOVE having our van!
October 5, 2010
That was complicated! So glad you’re legal now!
October 6, 2010
For a while our state was charging a $300 fee if you brought a car in from another state.