I’m pretty sure you would pay tax on what you paid for the car not the book value.

no not really as long as you have a sales receipt,,unless you get a bad dmv person,,just be nice to them and they will treat you good,,

That varies from state to state. Some will accept the purchase price — even free — if the transaction appears legit. TX does a flat fee on free or very low priced cars.

If it looks like something funny is going on, they’ll usually assess the use tax on book value. For example if you buy a car from a non-relative for half the book value, that would be suspicious. If you bought it at auction they’d probably accept the price on the bill of sale as legit and tax it that way.

dont know about cali. call the DMV they can tell u. Illinois taxes based on the age of the vehicle, under a specific sales price, then the state sales tax applies on the newer or higher priced vehicles.