[tmctguer]

you owe the tax, sorry ! the same thing happened to me when i bought an '89 speedster. i paid a whopping tax bill that still pisses me off.

not that i would recommend this, or anything...........your sales tax is based on the sales price of the car. if the sales prices is lowered on the claim forms to the DMV, your tax will be lowered. you will be asked for a sales receipt, so unless the seller is in cahoots with you, you will be screwed paying the tax based upon the sales receipt price.

not that i would recommend this either, but if you were skilled with photoshop, or similar graphics design programs, it would be possible to scan the reciepts, and alter the sales price yourself. i'm not sure what the DMV does with the paperwork, but unless it went back to the dealer, the dealer would never know you submitted an altered copy.

again, there is no way to avoid paying the CA sales tax.