hANNAbONE said:
...That dealer in the other state isn't going to charge me my tax & fees for my homeland of Iowa...
Actually, it varies from state to state what a buyer is charged if they're buying from a foreign state. Some charge nothing, some charge an admin fee, some charge full sales tax with the idea that you'll get credited in your home state for tax paid. And whether you get credited towards your home sales tax (if any) varies too. For example, I'm buying in Texas and if I recall correctly, I'll get charged no sales tax or title fee as an out-of-state buyer, but will be charged a small admin fee to get a 30-day paper plate. I'll then pay full sales tax (actually called "use tax") and title fees in my home state. If I had paid sales tax elsewhere, they would credit me for paying it, but only up to my local sales tax amount - if the foreign state has a higher sales tax rate, then this is lost money.
No hard-fast rules about all this stuff. You have to call your DMV and check with the dealer about what he does with out-of-state buyers.
And there's the gotcha for CA buyers - if the bike is not certified for CA emissions, it can't be registered in CA until it gets a certain number of miles - 7500 if I recall correctly. I don't know if the S10 that Yamaha will sell in the USA is a 50-state uniform model or whether there will be separate 49-state and CA models.
On price comparisons, for a national forum, true OTD (which by convention typically includes EVERYTHING including state fees) is a poor comparison tool. What works best is "loaded price before state fees". Unfortunately, no one has come with with a catchy name for what this is called, so any discussions like this on the internet tend to be confusing.
- Mark