sales tax on used cars

As you can probably guess, i'm in the process of looking for a new 'stang. I'm currently looking at 01 cobras, mach 1s, and of course, terminators. I'm curious how sales tax works. Does anybody know states that don't have tax? Or if you buy from a private party, can you get around the tax somehow? Any guidance would be very helpful, thanks.
 
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you have to pay tax on a private party sale. But it's not like there's a receipt. If the seller is cool he can write down that he sold it to you for 5k or so, but you'll have to fill out a form at the DMV when registering the vehicle that describes why it's so much under KBB. Rust/engine trouble are both good reasons to sight that they can't call you on.
 
The VA DMV doesn't give you any problems. On all the vehicles I've bought I've told them that I bought it for $1. I just tell them that I got the car from a family member, who sold it to me for $1. You could always say the car was a gift as well, but that usually incurs a decent tax as well.
 
Depends on the state laws I think... I got SCREWED on mine. I went to a surrounding city to buy my car for the lower tax rate (6.3%). When I went to register and tag the car in my home city where the tax rate is 7.8%, I had to pay the difference in tax when I tagged it. So they wanted 1.5% EXTRA, I wanted to cry....
 
In Texas they have this new thing called the "presumptive sales tax" which is tax based on the value of the car by the year and milage regardless of what you paid for it.:mad: They wised up to everyone cheating the system. You can still cheat a little by claiming it has higher miles than what it really has.:D That lowers the value of the car and in turn lowers your overall tax. Tax rate is still 6.5 I think.