11-27-2021, 09:59 AM
It looks like a tiny difference in terms of taxes. I put information in to the CA DMV tax calculator for 2 hypothetical purchases, one on Dec 15, 2021 and one on Jan 15, 2022 for a 2021 $50,000 electric vehicle sold in Redwood City, CA and found the overall taxes were $5547 for the 2021 sale and $5567 for the 2022 sale.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalcula...cleForm.do
Having said that, I seem to remember that in some states dealers have to pay some sort of tax on cars in stock on Dec 31 each year. If that's the case in CA then a dealer would be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year. The other possibility is that a given dealer might be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year to meet a manufacturer quota or reward level for selling a certain number of cars. Of course, in these times it looks like dealers can pretty much sell everything they can get their hands on so any motivation to sell by the end of the year wouldn't be as likely to have a financial benefit to you.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalcula...cleForm.do
Having said that, I seem to remember that in some states dealers have to pay some sort of tax on cars in stock on Dec 31 each year. If that's the case in CA then a dealer would be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year. The other possibility is that a given dealer might be motivated to sell a car before the end of the year to meet a manufacturer quota or reward level for selling a certain number of cars. Of course, in these times it looks like dealers can pretty much sell everything they can get their hands on so any motivation to sell by the end of the year wouldn't be as likely to have a financial benefit to you.