The days of a premium on an Elise must be over

Congratulations on the Noble.

I don't agree with your evaluation completely. Premiums are coming down, but immediate deliveries would still command something. Perhaps your offer was not very attractive. Don't know the details of your offer, but the marginal benefit for those who are already in the second batch is very little. Those who have not yet ordered could be keeping their options open. By cost + tax, do you mean the purchaser must buy the car from you? Paying double tax is not very attractive either, when a similar premium could land them a car sooner.

Just my speculation anyway. But premiums are on their way down, depending on where you live. Still pretty hot in SoCal though.

I am in the market for an early Elise and I saw your post. I would make an offer if you had possession of your Elise but you do not. Also, I don't want to pay a premium to take possession in late October/November, being that I live in the northeast.

i would be very interested in that offer but i have to sell my evo first....i have someone on the hook for it, but i would hate to be stuck with 2 cars....
damn! what color and options did u order??

I am definitely not interested in making much if any money on the deal - I would like to see the car go to an enthusiast.

It is Magnetic Blue, Hardtop, touring and clearshield.

I have to buy it and pay tax - then sell it. I could invoice it to the person for less money so the second tax hit is not so much

If I could get $1000 to put towards the Noble I would be very happy.

dodgy_01 said:

I could invoice it to the person for less money so the second tax hit is not so much

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You wouldn't be offering to do anything illegal on a public forum would you???:huh:

In Texas:

Vehicles Purchased Out of State

There is a 6.25 percent use tax on the selling price (less trade-in allowance) of a motor vehicle purchased outside of the state and later brought into the state for use on Texas highways by a Texas resident. The tax also applies to vehicles leased in another state and registered in Texas by a Texas resident. With proof of payment, similar tax paid on the vehicle to another state can be credited against the tax due.

You should check the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax in PA. Call your county tax assessors, they should know.

Also keep in mind that if you are going to finance, you probably will have trouble trying to buy from someone other than a dealer. If you are going to pay cash or use a personal loan then you should be fine.

In Missouri you can also reclaim the tax on a car you sell if you buy another car within 180 days. So if you buy the Elise now, then sell it, and buy your Noble within half a year, the price you got for the Elise would be subtracted from the price of the Noble to calculate the taxed amount when registering the Noble.

I don't know if the same is the case in other states.

Most of the "buy my contract" type sales offers are pretty worthless from the Buyer's POV. Too much uncertainty, usually a geographic distance combined with months of worrying if you can actually close the deal... where the contract holder prefers to receive his end up front..and Lotus does not want sales like that taking place and has nixed some of them, or the dealer has done so.

Congrats on the decision to get a Noble. Sounds like you're going from one fun car to another. It really is a great time to be a car enthusiast.

In California, you can't register a car that was originally purchased in another state unless it has at least 7,500 miles on it. Apparently, the purpose of this law is to avoid people buying cars from other states with looser emissions laws, and to protect Calif. car dealers. Most people don't know about this law, and would get a nasty surprise when they go to register their out of Calif. Elise at the DMV.

Richard 350z said:

In California, you can't register a car that was originally purchased in another state unless it has at least 7,500 miles on it. Apparently, the purpose of this law is to avoid people buying cars from other states with looser emissions laws, and to protect Calif. car dealers. Most people don't know about this law, and would get a nasty surprise when they go to register their out of Calif. Elise at the DMV.

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I believe this is only if the vehicle was originally not 50 state certified.

-Steve

offroadr35 said:

I believe this is only if the vehicle was originally not 50 state certified.

-Steve

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That's correct. The place I hear about this all the time in on the TDIClub forums. TDIs aren't 50 state compliant, so 'new' VW TDIs with 7500 miles often sell for MSRP or more when gas prices are high in Cali.