Anyone registered a car in Alberta?
 

Curious to know if anyone here has circumvented the BS luxury tax implemented by our useless NDP government by registering their new car in Alberta?

Seems insane to me to buy a car for $200,000 and immediately have to cut the government a cheque for $50,000.

Has anyone successfully registered a car in Alberta whilst living in BC? Does the car physically need to travel to Alberta? Do you need an Alberta driver's license? Or just an Alberta address? I've talked to a few people regarding this but no one seems to fully know the logistics of how this works.

OP: please teach me tax evasion 101.

Write a letter to your MP, suck it up, or buy a cheaper car.

Makes sense to me. Buy it from Alberta, drive it home and get it inspected in BC. Sounds easy I wonder why everyone doesn't do this.

Berz out.

You need to be an Alberta resident and hold a valid Alberta drivers license. If you purchase a car from Alberta when you register it in B.C. they collect the taxes. You cannot get registration in Alberta without insurance. To get insurance you need an Alberta drivers license. To get the drivers license you need a valid Alberta address.

So here's how you do it:

1) setup a PO BOX in Alberta
2) move your driver license to alberta by sending some of your bills to that PO BOX address (then go get a valid Alberta driver license)
3) Buy a car in BC and then register it in with that PO BOX. You will need Temp BC insurance
4) Buy Alberta Insurance
5) If Alberta insurance finds out you're living in BC 100% of the time, and that this whole thing is a scam, they'll probably kick your policy out.

Heres why you shouldnt do it:

It looks retarded to drive around with a Alberta plate on your exotic car. Yes you save money, but honestly you look like a bum doing it. Plus if the cops ever pulled you over (and they will in vancouver) you'll have to explain why your driver license is based in alberta and why this car is registered under your name in alberta. Now if you dont care about these things, then go ahead. I know a few people who are in the a similar situation and ive always asked why the fuck didnt they just buy used instead of new. The same 200k car lightly used will be 150/100k just a year or two down the line (especially if you buy high end bmw/mercedes).

Dont get me started if you ever have a claim to file... gooooood luck with that hahaha.

To register a vehicle in Alberta you need:
-photo id
-proof of Canadian citizenship
-proof of residency (something mailed to your Alberta address within the past 90 days)

Word of caution OP.

Friend of mine did this. Alberta insurers explicitly mention this kind of stuff in their policies and if you do file a claim they will investigate why you were in B.C. My friend had insurance do some digging, find out he was working/living in B.C. and voided his insurance. The person he hit then sued the shit out of him through civil court. It did not end well. Sure you save taxes, pay less but it is all fraudulent so you aren't actually covered. In fact you are setting yourself up for some really big headaches. But hey, if you are buying a $200k car you would be the perfect person to actually sue. You have money and something to lose.

Precisely what I was worried about. Thanks for the heads up.

Reason to do it:

- Won't need a front plate
- Shop tax-free in Washington State

Lol... My neighbourhood has 2 cars that are always parked around here, one with Alberta plates, one with Alaska plates. They've prob been here for at least 2 years.

:pokerface:

Why don't the guys using our insurance in the US to register their illegal RHD cars ever get in shit lol

Its not an issue until something happens and you need to make an insurance claim. Might as well drive uninsured

Amateurs... :fuckthatshit:

You ain't rich enough to pull it off with a single car. But I'd give you a basic model how the riches do it without being caught.

1) Create a car rental company in AB
2) Finance exotics under that company and register everything in AB
3) Buy "FLEET" insurance, write off all maintenance, parts... etc
4) "Rent" the exotics to another entity... possibly to the company rich dude has.
5) Barely makes a profit hence no tax
6) Dude pays all the exotics with gross income (as in before taxes) and deducts pretty much everything.

fuck you
I hope they tax $125,000+ vehicles even more
the reason why my ICBC rate has gone up 10% YoY despite a perfect driving record


you visit some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the US and people might have a Lexus, or maybe M6 at the top-end

people here feel they need to buy a McLaren for going to school, whatever good for them I wish I was that fortunate, but to openly ask how to obtain it through illicit means? Fuck right off.

I believe there's a requirement that any vehicle in BC for more than 3 months straight (excluding students) is required to be registered in BC. So on top of potentially invalid insurance there might be another fine you're looking at.

It's why I always get the excess underinsured coverage, too many Albertans rolling around here with invalidated insurance.

The only benefit to doing this is to avoid the $598 no insurance ticket + tow. But that's about it.

Speaking of ways to avoid tax I have been watching the Georgia crack down on Montana registration/plates via vinwiki on Youtube. Quite interesting to watch if you have time. In video #2 Ed is interviewed on an ABC affiliate tv station.

we're not talking about how to save 36% tax on fuel, or even suggesting how to save GST/PST on a used car that's already been taxed 2-3x over

let's talk purely car ownership

my shitbox worth 5k costs 1.8k to insure annually, a Performante worth 280k costs maybe only 3x that to insure

who do you think is footing most of that bill when a shop needs to import a 40k replacement bumper from Bologna Italy and paint it 4 coats?

the NDP is restoring some balance by slapping on a 13% premium

I will at least give OP credit for not beating around the bush, but to openly discuss this is in bad taste and a slap in the face to the common folks

True but the taxes and extra insurance would cover majority of the “minor” repairs the exotic needs. Trust me, the government and insurance is still ahead. In most cases people with exotics are even more careful as to not make a claim. It’s all about resale.

Tax payers would only get dinged hard if the car was written off.

Wait... people buy exotics for resale? Lol

My Performante was $385k, my insurance will be around $7k with full discount and 20+ years accident free and no tickets. Deductible is around $4k. There's a lot of "mature" exotic car owners who have no accidents and excellent driving records who basically have to pay a premium to cover all the bad drivers.

And the ICBC financials are complex and there isn't a silver bullet for the massive loses. Exotics make up a small portion of cars insured and the big chunk of the loses at ICBC is due to bogus claims, payouts and inflated repair costs.

As for the OP original post, Alberta is a bad idea. Just pay the tax, I know it's a ton of money but in the long run you'll be better off.

well not exactly.... but you'd be surprised at how little money some of them depreciate. 458's are still going for 200k and potentially will even go up a bit more than that due to it being NA.

Look at a 360 Modena. That piece of late 90's shit is still going for 100k.

If you want to maintain the value on your exotic, you gotta put low miles on it, make sure there is no accidents/incidents and generally never drive it. Fun times.....

Hell if you bought a 911R a few years back, you would have made 200-300k just flipping it. Some cars even appreciate, though its hard speculating on which one will be worth millions 10-20-30 years down the road.

If you are an alberta resident and owned a car more than one month, when you move and become a bc resident you dont need to pay taxes.

They should however raise the luxury tax criteria from $55k to $75k. Nowadays even a honda can go over $55k

They probably won't because they can't claim the 1-3% off majority of new sales done then...:pokerface: