BELGRADE, Montana — When it comes time to back a $3 million Ferrari sports car into its holding cell at Auto Concierge’s “tax jail” for luxury vehicles, Operations Manager Jordan Hendon takes a deep breath, familiarizes himself with the controls and proceeds with caution.
“The newer stuff has cameras, and you can see pretty well,” Hendon told Cowboy State Daily on Friday, while taking a break from washing an electric purple Lamborghini.
“But like one of these Porsches that's from the 1950s,” said Hendon, motioning to a white vintage two-seater, “There's one little mirror.”
Whatever the vehicle — which range from restored Alfa Romeos to early 2000s Ford GTs to brand new Ferrari SUVs — Hendon is responsible for not scratching as many as 75 luxury vehicles. Most of those currently in storage near Belgrade are in “tax jail.”
Under Montana law, it’s possible for car buyers to register as an LLC, purchase a vehicle anywhere in the U.S. and avoid paying sales tax — if they store the car in Montana for a set amount of time established by law in different states.
The modern warehouse facility Hendon oversees is part of a nationwide network of services Auto Concierge provides to luxury car owners and investors.
The company operates two “tax jails” in Montana because the state’s vehicle registration laws have turned it into the Cayman Islands of luxury vehicles.
As recently reported by Bloomberg Law, Montana was home to more than 2.3 million registered vehicles in 2023, but only 879,000 licensed drivers. That stat reveals a niche Montana has carved out as a tax haven for luxury vehicle buyers and collectors.
When high net worth car lovers decide they want to go car shopping, some turn to Auto Concierge, which offers start to finish services. The company works with attorneys based in Missoula to set up an LLC, it then purchases and registers the vehicle in Montana.
This helps buyers avoid paying more than $100,000 in sales tax and other fees on a $1 million vehicle bought in places like California. Auto Concierge then transports the vehicle to “tax jail” in Montana, where Hendon and staff at the company’s facility in Missoula tuck it into parking spaces stacked in triple-decker car storage lifts.
The owner of the purple Lamborghini recently asked Hendon to take the car out for a drive and visit a shop for an upgrade to the exterior.
“I stopped at a gas station,” said Hendon. “There was a school bus of kids driving by hanging out the window. It’s a purple Lamborghini. It gets a lot of attention.”
Head tax jailer and a man who knows how to handle luxury cars with care, Auto Concierge's Jordan Hendon. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
Welcome to “Tax Jail” for luxury cars purchased through an LLC in Montana and stored in Montana until a certain amount of time, depending on the state where the owner of the vehicle actually lives. Once the proper amount of time has elapsed, these luxury vehicles are set free and available to owners in other states who want to avoid paying sales tax. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
Welcome to “Tax Jail” for luxury cars purchased through an LLC in Montana and stored in Montana until a certain amount of time, depending on the state where the owner of the vehicle actually lives. Once the proper amount of time has elapsed, these luxury vehicles are set free and available to owners in other states who want to avoid paying sales tax. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
Welcome to “Tax Jail” for luxury cars purchased through an LLC in Montana and stored in Montana until a certain amount of time, depending on the state where the owner of the vehicle actually lives. Once the proper amount of time has elapsed, these luxury vehicles are set free and available to owners in other states who want to avoid paying sales tax. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily)
Montana Plates
Other states are growing increasingly unhappy about losing out on sales tax revenue from luxury cars, with Utah recently passing a law that aspires to yield up to $100 million in back taxes, penalties and registration fees, according to the Utah Motor Vehicle Division.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles, meanwhile, believes that since 2022 it has lost out on sales tax for 10,000 vehicles worth nearly $2 billion that were sold by California dealers to Montana LLCs.
Scott Elrod, owner of Auto Concierge, said his company stands out from others because it offers the full spectrum of services from setting up LLCs to purchasing to vehicle transport to catering to the needs of luxury car collectors.
“I own the transport company,” said Elrod, a former actor known for his roles on network series like “Chicago Fire” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” “And then I also own the storage facilities. So I have seven facilities between California and Montana, where we manage and maintain these cars for our clients.”
Some owners travel to Montana for conjugal visits with their vehicles during the time they spend in tax jail.
California residents can legally avoid paying sales tax on vehicles if those vehicles are delivered outside of the state and kept outside California for at least 12 months.
Similarly, Florida residents benefit from a six-month exemption rule, while Arizona offers a 90-day exemption policy.
Residents of states with strict tax regulations, including Iowa and New York, have the option to legally register vehicles with Montana plates and avoid local taxes by establishing residential connections to Montana or maintaining their vehicles in another state.
Beyond providing a tax shelter, Auto Concierge also caters to the unique needs of car collectors. In fact, business at his storage facilities picks up around events like Monterey Car Week in August, when lots of luxury vehicles change hands.
Sometimes clients want to experience their car collections all at once, so they call Elrod.
“It’s like, ‘Hey Scott. I'd like to rent COTA International Raceway in Texas next June. Can you send your semi down there with seven of my cars?” said Elrod. “My buddies are going to fly in there. We're going to drive the shit out of the cars and then, you know, you can reload them.”
At Elrod’s facility in Belgrade, there are two $1 million Ford EarthRoamer SUV-campers one client used for a trip to the Arctic Circle, where he went to experience what it was like to speed across icy roads and frozen rivers in his prized Porsche.
Welcome to “Tax Jail” for luxury cars purchased through an LLC in Montana and stored in Montana until a certain amount of time, depending on the state where the owner of the vehicle actually lives. Once the proper amount of time has elapsed, these luxury vehicles are set free and available to owners in other states who want to avoid paying sales tax. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
Welcome to “Tax Jail” for luxury cars purchased through an LLC in Montana and stored in Montana until a certain amount of time, depending on the state where the owner of the vehicle actually lives. Once the proper amount of time has elapsed, these luxury vehicles are set free and available to owners in other states who want to avoid paying sales tax. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily)
Jackson Market
Elrod said he’d like to offer more services to potential clients in Jackson, where there’s a high concentration of high-net-worth individuals.
In summer, Elrod could deliver sports cars perfect for cornering on Wyoming’s twisting mountain roads. And come winter, his company can help residents upgrade to the ultimate winter driving machines.
How about a new Ferrari Purosangue SUV? This sleek machine looks like something Batman would drive with its V12, 715 horsepower engine. They run around $1 million and with studded tires, appear to be a fine choice for navigating Jackson in the winter.
Auto Concierge can offer Wyoming residents all of its services except one: Tax jail in Montana.
Wyoming law specifically closes the Montana LLC loophole for avoiding sales tax when purchasing luxury vehicles.
“If you’re a Wyoming resident and you drive your vehicle in the state of Wyoming, you are required to have Wyoming plates,” Debbie Lopez, Motor Vehicle Services Manager at WYDOT, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
If you’re a Wyoming resident tooling around Jackson in your Purosangue with Montana plates and the vehicle is registered to an LLC in Montana, a routine traffic stop could turn into a financial headache.
“You’ll get cited for improper registration,” said Lopez. “When it is found that you are a Wyoming resident and in control of a vehicle, then the letters start coming saying you need to get Wyoming registration and pay your Wyoming sales tax.”
Sometimes vehicle owners have tried to fight back, but, “We have taken some people to hearing and we’ve won every hearing.”
As stated in Wyoming law, “The only way to avoid the registration would be to never bring the vehicle into the state of Wyoming.”
In response to questions about Wyoming law, Auto Concierge attorney Duncan McMullin of Missoula remained hopeful that car jail might be an option for Wyoming second-home owners.
"If a Wyoming individual had an expensive car that we registered in a Montana LLC, we’d advise him to store it outside of Wyoming, say, in one of Scott’s Montana facilities," wrote McMullin in a follow-up email on Saturday. "We’d never advise a Wyoming resident to store their vehicle in Wyoming."
"Now, if a non-Wyoming resident had an expensive car titled and registered in a Montana LLC, and they had a second home in Wyoming, they could ship it to Wyoming for use in the summer," added McMullin.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
