"there's some loophole that lets the dealer resell" Exactly. The way the law was written, the exact wording, it would never be expected that someone would not

"there's some loophole that lets the dealer resell" Exactly. The way the law was written, the exact wording, it would never be expected that someone would not want to do something like put on a license plate and go to the added expense that Jobs did. The law probably reads "x" time period from the date of title. Even if that time period was only 30 days there is nothing to prevent someone from selling the car to their wife, buying it back, and re-titling. And a transfer to a family member in many states including California is exempt from sales/use tax: http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr1.htm http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr1.htm