SPCNS (Caterham) registration in the SF Bay Area

[Maggie S.]

There was no tax charged when we bought the kit and had it delivered from the UK. Also, no additional charge for the tag 🤓

[Alex-Ks1]

2 hours ago, Maggie S. said:

There was no tax charged when we bought the kit and had it delivered from the UK. Also, no additional charge for the tag 🤓

The 7300$ was a tax .if you gave the DMV any money it was a tax .and for all that money you got a 3$ metal plate with numbers. 

Wow, what a deal 

[Alex-Ks1]

17 hours ago, Maggie S. said:

Yep, we paid $7,300 taxes for our self resembled Caterham in CA. The DMV (Redwood City) did the VIN verification! Ask if they can do it for you, doesn’t hurt! 
Good luck!!

How much was the kit over the 7300$ taxes .I built mine from scratch for about 4,000$ .Don't you people in California get tired of getting screwed ?

[TBone1209]

Yea, I'm aware that CA will take their pound of flesh. Likely much more than a pound as the LB Stratos is much more than the Caterham...well perhaps the Caterham 620 might be getting up there but I went into it knowing it was going to cost a pretty penny.

 

After digging some more, I don't think I want to mess around with claiming the car was imported as a kit (vs fully built minus the drivetrain) and that I built it as I'd have to fake receipts for the car which I won't do for obvious reasons. I'll likely have to show DMV the import paperwork which will show the cost and the tariff amount. The kicker is this ridiculous tariff of 10% (from the UK) and then the frigging 10% sales tax from CA. That's a big chuck of change. In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes. 

 

Alex- It's just money. Don't you get tired of looking at corn fields? 

[MV8]

The kit is "turn key-minus". You'd be the primary assembler of the kit unless you had someone else do it. A kit must become a kit before it can be assembled primarily by anyone. Lister is not primarily assembling kits; they are using a basic kit to manufacture the "turn-key minus" kit. if you were to buy the basic kit, then have some one build that up to a point where you installed the drive train, it would still be splitting hairs as to who is the primary.

 

I suggest a locally sourced drivetrain from an auctioned Alfa.

 

I think I'd like the conservative STR; no wings, spoilers, and same size wheels all around.

Edited November 28, 2025 by MV8

[TBone1209]

@MV8 - LB no longer sell kits as of 2-3 years ago. LB only builds and sells either fully built complete cars ( to countries that will accept a fully built car) or turnkey minus which is the same fully built car minus the engine and trans. Every electrical and cooling system is complete and finished. Hence my earlier question re the statement of construction doc for the SB100 process.

 

I'm not going Alfa because there's only a single year that Alfa exported 24 valve 3.2L to the US and to get any kind of power out of one of them cost a fortune and that's if you can actually find some old timer that still works on dual overhead cam Alfa motors. I'm taking the much more practical and infinitely more reliable route of a toyota 2grfe with some external and internal mods. They dyno at ~355 to the wheels NA. And you have legendary reliability of a Camry motor! Good enough for Lotus it's good enough for me. 

Edited November 28, 2025 by TBone1209

[Alex-Ks1]

14 hours ago, TBone1209 said:

Yea, I'm aware that CA will take their pound of flesh. Likely much more than a pound as the LB Stratos is much more than the Caterham...well perhaps the Caterham 620 might be getting up there but I went into it knowing it was going to cost a pretty penny.

 

After digging some more, I don't think I want to mess around with claiming the car was imported as a kit (vs fully built minus the drivetrain) and that I built it as I'd have to fake receipts for the car which I won't do for obvious reasons. I'll likely have to show DMV the import paperwork which will show the cost and the tariff amount. The kicker is this ridiculous tariff of 10% (from the UK) and then the frigging 10% sales tax from CA. That's a big chuck of change. In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes. 

 

Alex- It's just money. Don't you get tired of looking at corn fields? 

No corn around here , just wheat and airplanes 

[MV8]

2 hours ago, TBone1209 said:

@MV8 - LB no longer sell kits as of 2-3 years ago. LB only builds and sells either fully built complete cars ( to countries that will accept a fully built car) or turnkey minus which is the same fully built car minus the engine and trans. Every electrical and cooling system is complete and finished. Hence my earlier question re the statement of construction doc for the SB100 process.

 

I'm not sure that it will matter much either way to the tax man with an SB100 process, but "Turnkey minus" is a kit manufactured by Lister. https://www.lbspecialistcars.com/faq/

 

[TBone1209]

I'm well aware. I've been waiting for 5 years for the build to start which it has. They build kits but they don't SELL the kits. They are only fully assembled. The SB process requires very specific information around self built or built by someone else. It's all about revenue at the end of the day. I've figured out what approach I'll take. The safe but more expensive approach but hey.... better safe than sorry... 

 

 

[TBone1209]

This is the final assembly room with a few in the later stages of building... 

Edited November 28, 2025 by TBone1209

[Slonie]

@TBone1209 I'm sorry that I have nothing to add to the SPCN process for you as that was all done for me by the previous owner on my car. But I also want to say (despite it not being a 7) that I would love to keep up on your progress with the LB, that's basically my dream too (since the real thing is impossible). Although I have recently realized that they are considerably more expensive than I had previously imagined even before taxes and tariffs! 

 

As a side note, I think we'd all appreciate it if the truly unhelpful input in this thread was kept to a minimum.

[Alex-Ks1]

On 11/27/2025 at 2:32 PM, Alex-Ks1 said:

7300$??? I only payed 38$ for registration and 28$ for the tag . No wonder everyone is leaving California 

Like I posted , the 38$ was for taxes and a vin number ,the state police did the inspection at my shop. And gave me the vin, the DMV charged me for the vin . Took about 3 hours in all 

[TurboWood]

On 12/7/2025 at 2:42 PM, Alex-Ks1 said:

Like I posted , the 38$ was for taxes and a vin number ,the state police did the inspection at my shop. And gave me the vin, the DMV charged me for the vin . Took about 3 hours in all 

Interesting, there aren’t sales tax on cars in your state? I also paid $6k (CA), but that was almost entirely sales tax that was not collected by the seller as they operated outside CA. I would have thought every state would charge sales tax.

 

Daniel

[Alex-Ks1]

8 hours ago, TurboWood said:

Interesting, there aren’t sales tax on cars in your state? I also paid $6k (CA), but that was almost entirely sales tax that was not collected by the seller as they operated outside CA. I would have thought every state would charge sales tax.

 

Daniel

The state only wants to see the bill of sale for the engine ,with matching numbers on engine and paperwork. The state police that inspects the build for safety and all components with safety . Then he issues a VIN on the spot . I take all the paper work to the DMV .Bamm it's done fast and cheap .,a strange law in Kansas is that a windshield is not mandatory,but you must have a wiper .working or not ..how dumb is that . Again the only tax was for the engine I bought . The registration and tag was extra .

[Alex-Ks1]

5 minutes ago, Alex-Ks1 said:

The state only wants to see the bill of sale for the engine ,with matching numbers on engine and paperwork. The state police that inspects the build for safety and all components with safety . Then he issues a VIN on the spot . I take all the paper work to the DMV .Bamm it's done fast and cheap .,a strange law in Kansas is that a windshield is not mandatory,but you must have a wiper .working or not ..how dumb is that . Again the only tax was for the engine I bought . The registration and tag was extra .

This is for home built vehicles of any kind 

[TurboWood]

I wonder if Kansas is simply assuming that all the parts would be taxed already and thus no need to managed by the DMV. CA does the opposite. They assume you have not paid and charge you accordingly (unless you have paperwork showing taxes paid). It doesn’t change that Kansas is expecting you to pay sales tax on all the parts. FWIW, a quick search suggests Kansas does have a “use tax” for things bought out of state that is equivalent to the total of stat and local tax at the location of delivery/use. If true, they would expect their pound of flesh the same as CA (albeit probably a smaller pound).

 

Daniel

[Alex-Ks1]

13 hours ago, TurboWood said:

I wonder if Kansas is simply assuming that all the parts would be taxed already and thus no need to managed by the DMV. CA does the opposite. They assume you have not paid and charge you accordingly (unless you have paperwork showing taxes paid). It doesn’t change that Kansas is expecting you to pay sales tax on all the parts. FWIW, a quick search suggests Kansas does have a “use tax” for things bought out of state that is equivalent to the total of stat and local tax at the location of delivery/use. If true, they would expect their pound of flesh the same as CA (albeit probably a smaller pound).

 

Daniel

Not at all , if I buy parts , supplies I pay sales tax at the store I bought from . If I buy out of state I have to pay that states sales tax and not again in Kansas .  Then it's all over .I can't help it if your state screws every one over everything for any reason . There are many Calif license plates where I live and all over Kansas. They had the good sense to escape.  Sales tax is by county only, no state income tax , gas is under 2.80$ now .I pay 600$ a year for 2 cars on insurance a year . The Lotus is 350$ a year on a separate policy 

[TurboWood]

1 hour ago, Alex-Ks1 said:

Not at all , if I buy parts , supplies I pay sales tax at the store I bought from . If I buy out of state I have to pay that states sales tax and not again in Kansas .  Then it's all over .I can't help it if your state screws every one over everything for any reason . There are many Calif license plates where I live and all over Kansas. They had the good sense to escape.  Sales tax is by county only, no state income tax , gas is under 2.80$ now .I pay 600$ a year for 2 cars on insurance a year . The Lotus is 350$ a year on a separate policy 

I’m glad you enjoy where you live. I would suggest you talk with a tax professional about this because everything I can find suggests Kansas operates the same as CA. Namely, that you do owe use tax to your tax authority for any item purchased out of state where sales taxes were not collected (or less was collected) by the seller. There could easily be exceptions or I could have bad information, but that’s what I find. 
 

Daniel