Car buying in KS vs MO?

[wolfpaws]

Maybe someone can help me with this. I recently moved to the KS side of the city from the MO side, and am now shopping for a new vehicle. Is there pros/cons to buying in one state versus the other? I've heard all sorts of stories from sales tax situations to licensing, etc

Comments

[_peregrinus_]

I bought in KS and lived in MO. I paid sales tax to MO when registering the car. And I had to have a dealer put on the holder for the front license plate (not used in KS, used in MO) for free.

I've never heard of financing the sales tax, but I haven't financed a car in 13 years, so have no idea what the options are. That's the only reason I see that it would matter one way or the other.

[whatyouwanted]

I live in Kansas and have bought cars in MO and KS. The only difference was we paid the property tax to the dealer at tome of purchase in KS and when we bought the car in MO we paid it when we registered the car.

[diermuid]

I got hit with what you were talking about, we bought a car and a bike from a dealer in MO when we lived in Kansas. When we registered them, we had to pay the sales tax, so registering the car was close to $2000. I think the deal was that Missouri didn't charge us sales tax because we were from out of state, but Kansas made us pay sales tax on the purchase price of the vehicle when I registered it. There was some rule that they can't finance the sales tax for a different state.

So yes, it does make a difference. I would tend to buy my KS cars in KS if they are financed or $20k+ Paying sales tax and property tax on a $12k car wasn't too bad, but can be a nasty surprise.