State is Washington.

Purchased a vehicle at an abandoned vehicle auction. Paid a bit more than we wanted to, because someone else was bidding against us, but still thought we got a decent price ($3500 cash).

Went in to the DMV today to transfer title and license the car, and was told we will need to pay 10.6% sales tax on $11,000, not the $3500 we paid for the car. The person told us this was because the auction company did not charge us sales tax on the purchase.

This car is not worth $11k, and no way would be pay that much for it. In fact the $1200 in sales tax brings the cost up above what we would realistically pay for it. Any ideas as to how to lower this?