Moving to California
- Thread starter judgementday03
- Start date
Someone here from California please explain how this new vehicle statute below from the DMV works. I have known about this because I sold a Cobra to guy outside of LA years ago but how does it work? Is the car only considered a new vehicle for emissions reasons or do you have to pay higher fees and taxes to register it as a new vehicle.
This is from the California DMV website:
What Is Considered a New Vehicle?
California considers any vehicle with less than 7,500 miles on the odometer at the time of purchase or trade by a California resident or business, to be a new vehicle. This is true whether or not the vehicle has been registered in another state.
This is from the California DMV website:
What Is Considered a New Vehicle?
California considers any vehicle with less than 7,500 miles on the odometer at the time of purchase or trade by a California resident or business, to be a new vehicle. This is true whether or not the vehicle has been registered in another state.
It has to do both with emissions and registration costs. Vehicle registration in CA is based off the purchase price of the car and tapers off over time.
edit: and so you don't skip out on sales tax.
Got it. So you still only pay Cal. sales tax on what you paid for the car or does Cali check the value like they do here in NJ. Also read on the DMV site that registrations were $46. Is that only for certain cars and their age?
I don't know who is only paying 46. My '01 mustang is $100. My 2010 focus is a little more. '13 explorer is a lot more.
This is from the DMV CA website:
Fees are due upon original registration/renewal based on:
- Vehicle type (auto, motorcycle, etc.).
- Purchase price or declared value.
- Dates (date purchased, date vehicle entered California, etc.).
- Owner's residence county/city or business address, if business.
- Unladen or declared gross vehicle weight (GVW)/number of axles.
- Special license plates.
- Unpaid parking violation/toll evasion bail.
So it looks like the $46 is just one of a few fees that make up the the total cost.
ya. Right around $100 is probably the floor for pricing. Will only go up from there, especially once the new gas tax and registration hike goes into effect.
^^^Yes I was talking to my brother in law earlier today about that. He lives in Orange. Higher fees for DMV and more gas tax hike coming. No different than here in NJ. It was just raised .23 cents a gallon recently. The dems really love the working people in these blue states.....lol.
correct. the VLF is the fee that is based off the value of the vehicle. not only that, pick up trucks are registered as commercial vehicles and get hit with higher fees. ALL pick up trucks. my dads 94 chevy truck is still a few hundred for reg due to this. only way around it (for trucks) is to get a bed cover or a shell and take it to the dmv and have it changed to a passenger vehicle.
there's always a shop somewhere that will pass it but it can range anywhere from $150 to $500! and then you get to go through it every two years. its a pita. my mustang is mostly smog legal but thanks to the new way smog is checked it has issues. all the monitors have to be "ready" except for the evap. before it was easier. i dont have any CELs but my EGR and CAT monitors never turn on. i have to swap out my H pipe, put the stock filter back on and reload the stock tune.
^^^^Thanks Steve. So you do pay a fee based off the value of the vehicle. I know there are some states that do the registrations like that but did not know California did that. I would think it gets pretty expensive for a 50-75K dollar value car and up when doing the registration every year among the other fees. We don't have that here in NJ just a flat cost for registration based on the class of the vehicle.
I've always done that. Its a PITA, especially in July when its 110 outside, but you gotta "pay" to play. Definitely high up on the list of reasons to leave the state.
Look up the fee table thats going into effect later this year with the new taxes.
Passenger vehicles arent that bad for tag fees.
Trucks, yeah... bend over and take it.
My 2016 Ram 2500 is almost $700 per year to register. Believe it was $686 to be exact. Weight fee was over $200 of that $686. Ridiculous.
Trucks, yeah... bend over and take it.
My 2016 Ram 2500 is almost $700 per year to register. Believe it was $686 to be exact. Weight fee was over $200 of that $686. Ridiculous.
i guess the silver lining about this is that if they consider it a new vehicle, regardless of age or previous registration in the other state, is that it should be exempt from smog for the first 6 years
Where I'm located you only need to pass emissions once. IE: Upon initial registration in CA, or if you are selling/transferring ownership.
When I arrived my 01 Cobra was registered in AZ and had never been smogged. It was mostly stock with a patched together N2O kit.
I called around to several SMOG certified shops and explained that the car had an N20 kit, aftermarket mufflers, and an intake. However it had no emissions altering equipment.
All but one shop insisted that so long as the bottle was removed and the car would pass an OBD2 scan then they had no issue.
It passed easily, and registration was just over $100 for the year, which in my experience, is about normal (I've lived in CT, DE, MD, CA, HI, and FL, over the past 8 years)
Since then I've removed the cats and done other minor work but have never been bothered by CHP or the Sheriffs. The general vibe up here in NorCal is they have bigger fish to fry and generally don't waste their time on emissions enforcement.
When I arrived my 01 Cobra was registered in AZ and had never been smogged. It was mostly stock with a patched together N2O kit.
I called around to several SMOG certified shops and explained that the car had an N20 kit, aftermarket mufflers, and an intake. However it had no emissions altering equipment.
All but one shop insisted that so long as the bottle was removed and the car would pass an OBD2 scan then they had no issue.
It passed easily, and registration was just over $100 for the year, which in my experience, is about normal (I've lived in CT, DE, MD, CA, HI, and FL, over the past 8 years)
Since then I've removed the cats and done other minor work but have never been bothered by CHP or the Sheriffs. The general vibe up here in NorCal is they have bigger fish to fry and generally don't waste their time on emissions enforcement.
So let me get this straight. Based on the old tables if you buy a new Mustang for 50K there you have to pay 7.5% sales tax which is $3750 and the 50K for the new car X .065% for the VLF which is $3250 among all the other fees. Or does the VLF only start after the new car is 1 year old. Just trying to see how this works.
yes that is also what i was going to write - the fact that a cop can pull you over, look under the hood and decide whether to write you a ticket, even though he probably does not have a very good knowledge of what is carb legal or not.
then, for the court to clear the ticket, it has to have passed the inspection of a state referee from the bureau of automotive repair. ask me how i know all this lol
so, sometimes having "a smog guy" is not enough.
^^ exception to every rule.
9/10 times a smog guy is enough, but youre right... could get ugly if you run into some bad luck.
9/10 times a smog guy is enough, but youre right... could get ugly if you run into some bad luck.
depends on which county you live in. in LA its 9%, and going up iirc.
i believe vehicle's weight also comes into play as well. i remember my uncle said he was paying $1k a year for his S class back in the day. and it really sucks when you have multiple vehicles but hardly drive them.
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