Mugged by California DMV?

[CoachPotato]

Pardon me if I'm covering plowed ground here, but I couldn't find any threads on this topic...

My annual registration renewal is to be $880! I've owned a couple of gas rigs in the past, the last was newer than our "new" diesel, and paid about half or less than the fees of this diesel!

Would some diesel owners from Kalifornistan please chime in here and let me know it this sounds similar to what you're paying?

Our coach is a 2004 (12 years old!) Winnebago Diesel 32T. It seems to me I'm being mugged and I'd like to know if our $880 mugging sounds similar to your experience.

Thanks for any info.

-Dale

Update 8-16:

Wow! What a blizzard of responses! I appreciate all who came back with helpful advice, especially to msmith1199 who nailed it! Thank you, sir!

He stated I must have paid around $120,000, which I didn't but which I just learned via phone call to DMV they showed to be the sale price. Again, as msmith said, it should have sold mid $50k and I did pay (and did report) $57k. The coach had 31K miles on it and I bought it from the original owner. It was in great shape and had all the good options.

The DMV call revealed that, somehow, they showed the sale price to be $121K. What the...?! I registered it in person at my local DMV office and showed my purchase price to be $57k. To register it they charged me the use (sales) tax and other fees totaling $4860. How they came up with $121K value for my renewal next month nobody knows.

So... that's the story. Instead of paying $880 I'll be paying $464 once I visit my local DMV a week from tomorrow and show them my sale documents. Again. Gotta wonder about CA DMV! But they do have a handy system when I called that let me leave my number and they called back in about 10 minutes. I wish the phone company, etc. had such a system!

Thanks again.

-Dale

[msmith1199]

To the OP, contrary to a lot of the info you have seen on here, California registration fees have actually mostly gone down. In 2011 the VLF was decreased to .65 percent of the value. I see you bought your motorhome this year which may explain why the fees are so high, but in order to get to where you're at you would have had to pay more than $100k for your motorhome. For a non-commercial vehicle (including a motorhome) your registration consists of some fixed fees of about $90 depending on your county and any added on fees and then .65 percent of the value, which decreases each year. So since you just bought your used motorhome this year, if you paid $100k for it, your registration should be $90 plus .65 percent of $100k which is $650. So that would be $740 total. So for what you're reporting your purchase price was over $100k?

I'm looking at my reg form right now and my VLF fee is $172. So at .65 percent that means I'm being billed on an assessed value of about $27,000. Now I paid well over $100k for mine, but I bought it new and per the DMV website your assessed value goes down for 11 years after purchase and then becomes fixed. That's why my 2015 Reg was the same as 2016. I have no idea what you paid for your motorhome, but I see DP's about the age of our motorhomes all the time in the under $50k range. I doubt I could get $50k is I tried to sell mine now, and it only has about 35000 miles on it.

[PCarnathan]

Our 2009 Mandalay 43A DP cost $1090 in November of 2015. We bought it used in early 2015, so that number is the 2016 registration fee. Yes, it's derivative of the vehicle's value. Yes, it's a lot. California is run by a bunch of people with no concept of how to work within a budget. As a result, they simply increase taxes whenever they fall short. We can't leave California - Our business is here.

Pat in Menifee, CA

[Kayteg1]

toedtoes wrote:
Book value is not what the registration is based on, it's how much you paid for the vehicle - .

Not quite.
DMV is not charity >>> they work for the money.
Few years ago I got classic 1969 Ford LTD from my neighbour. She put $1 selling price on old believe that things given free are not appreciated.
DMV clerk (she look Philipino talking with strong accent) did not like the low base price and nagged me for about 20 minutes what was wrong with the car, how much I paid for the repairs and putting it back on the road.
Since I DIY, I said I spend $150 for new fuel pump and starter.
So she put base value at $151.
That makes 15,000 % more than purchase price.

[toedtoes]

msmith1199 wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
No you're not being mugged. Everyone is paying similar rates for their RVs - according to value and age. If you don't like paying that much in registration, then you have two options:

1. buy a less expensive and/or older RV;
2. move to another state

I'm guessing you missed my post to the OP about what I pay for registration? I think the OP is getting mugged. Don't know all of his circumstances, but he's paying three times as much as I do for a motorhome with a lower book value than mine.

And how much did you pay for yours versus how much he paid for his? Book value is not what the registration is based on, it's how much you paid for the vehicle - if he's paying too much on registration, then he paid too much for the RV.

[Kayteg1]

The annual registration for my Prevost was $112.
CA registration fees are 1% of the vehicle value + some junk fees for schools, homeless and who knows what.
The asses value goes down over the years as my 1972 Prevost sample show.
$2mil new Prevost would have well over $20,000 first year registration.
There is reason why so many Californian establish Montana corporations.
But guess what, my neighbors pay $20,000 property taxes and those ain't going down.

[msmith1199]

toedtoes wrote:
No you're not being mugged. Everyone is paying similar rates for their RVs - according to value and age. If you don't like paying that much in registration, then you have two options:

1. buy a less expensive and/or older RV;
2. move to another state

I'm guessing you missed my post to the OP about what I pay for registration? I think the OP is getting mugged. Don't know all of his circumstances, but he's paying three times as much as I do for a motorhome with a lower book value than mine.

[toedtoes]

No you're not being mugged. Everyone is paying similar rates for their RVs - according to value and age. If you don't like paying that much in registration, then you have two options:

1. buy a less expensive and/or older RV;
2. move to another state

[bobcatcharlie]

If it makes you feel better, my Michigan reg. for an 04 Dutch Star is about $958. This year decided to just get 30 or 60 day temps when using the MH.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

I always filled out about 10 percent of what I paid for vehicles in CA. Did it for all the 17 years I lived there. Even with that, my registration fees were about double what they are in AZ for the same vehicles. AZ's method is fair.

[msmith1199]

I would just point out that before you "fib" on your California DMV forms on what you paid for a vehicle, just keep in mind you are committing several prosecutable felonies when you do that. And what I mean by prosecutable, is if you are caught they WILL prosecute you. Just keep in mind that the person you bought it from will submit a Release of Liability form to DMV and they are required to report the price they sold it for. There is no motivation for them to fib as you're the one who will be paying the taxes. So even if you can convince them to fib, when the DMV Investigator (Fully trained detectives that work just for DMV) comes knocking on their door and asked them to provide a statement under oath about how much they sold the RV to you for, they are going to squeal like a pig on you and cut a deal to keep themselves out of trouble.

I once save a relative of mine who got a vehicle from a family member out of state and did not change the registration on it. One day he got a letter in the mail from DMV saying he needed to come change the registration and put California plates on the car. So he had the form and the form said either pay a penalty for not changing the registration in 10 days, or sign this form under penalty of perjury saying the vehicle first came into the state less than 30 days prior. Luckily he called me. I asked him how did DMV know he had the car at his house. He said he didn't know. So I told him how they knew. A CHP Officer had spotted the car and made note of the plate and location. They then checked on the car over a period of several months and knew good and well it was still in the state. So if he signed that form and sent it in they would prosecute him for perjury. So he didn't do it and confessed to how long the car had been in the state and paid his penalty.

[mikim]

When Arnie was the Governator, he ran on the platform that we were overtaxed and the auto registration fee was one that he specifically targeted. Since he left office, our legislature has worked diligently to increase the registration back up.

The highest taxed state and it still is not enough.

[azdryheat]

My cousin fulltimes and just dropped their Cali citizenship in favor of Oregon. Registration on their 2007 Allegro Bus went from $1300 a year to about $400.

[MarkTwain]

CoachPotato wrote:
Pardon me if I'm covering plowed ground here, but I couldn't find any threads on this topic...

My annual registration renewal is to be $880! I've owned a couple of gas rigs in the past, the last was newer than our "new" diesel, and paid about half or less than the fees of this diesel!

Would some diesel owners from Kalifornistan please chime in here and let me know it this sounds similar to what you're paying?

Our coach is a 2004 (12 years old!) Winnebago Diesel 32T. It seems to me I'm being mugged and I'd like to know if our $880 mugging sounds similar to your experience.

Thanks for any info.

-Dale

Just out curiosity, ask DMV what the cost would be for a new Winnebago similar to yours???

[FIRE_UP]

CoachPotato wrote:
Pardon me if I'm covering plowed ground here, but I couldn't find any threads on this topic...

My annual registration renewal is to be $880! I've owned a couple of gas rigs in the past, the last was newer than our "new" diesel, and paid about half or less than the fees of this diesel!

Would some diesel owners from Kalifornistan please chime in here and let me know it this sounds similar to what you're paying?

Our coach is a 2004 (12 years old!) Winnebago Diesel 32T. It seems to me I'm being mugged and I'd like to know if our $880 mugging sounds similar to your experience.

Thanks for any info.

-Dale

Dale,
California's registration fees, are primarily based on what the DMV was told, the price of the vehicle and year. That is, in all "new" car/truck/motorhome/motorcycle vehicles, when a transaction between a dealership and purchasing customer is finished, the total selling price is sent to the DMV and, the tax (and subsequent fees) are based on that price. So, if you buy new, any vehicle/motorhome etc. you will be paying the highest possible licensing fees applicable, for quite some time.

But, if you buy a USED vehicle/coach/motorcycle etc. from a private party, and, dare I say this, "fib" on the reported price to the CAL DMV, you will be paying lower taxes and, subsequent licensing fees, from that point on. Now, is this practice wide spread, well, if I were to guess, I'd say probably about 30%-40% of Californian's do it.

But, you rest assured, your "California" registration fees, are on par with many other states. When we moved from CA to AZ just over two years ago, of course we brought with us, all the motoring fleet. That included a 2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT. A 2011 GMC 1500 4x4 Extended Cab and, a 2008 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing.

The registration fees for the motor home were due when we left CA. They were going to be $350.00. But, Arizona calculates things a bit differently than CA. What they do is:

Take the MSRP of the vehicle when it was new. In our case, the MSRP of our coach was, $217,000.00. Then, they subtract 60% from that figure and multiply it by a constant factor. Now, for every year following, it drops by 16.25%. IN this fashion, there is no chance for "fibbing" like there is in CA.

In AZ, I don't care if you paid $200 for a $50,000 dollar motor home, the MVD over here is going to charge you, the same exact amount, that they would charge a person who paid $50,000.00 FOR THE SAME COACH, IN THE SAME YEAR!! Our registration fees were $687.00 for the first year we were here.


And, not only that but, in places like UT, you HAVE to obtain an ANNUAL safety inspection and, your billed by the DMV according to engine size and weight. So, even CA is less then other states.
Scott

[msmith1199]

CoachPotato wrote:
Pardon me if I'm covering plowed ground here, but I couldn't find any threads on this topic...

My annual registration renewal is to be $880! I've owned a couple of gas rigs in the past, the last was newer than our "new" diesel, and paid about half or less than the fees of this diesel!

Would some diesel owners from Kalifornistan please chime in here and let me know it this sounds similar to what you're paying?

Our coach is a 2004 (12 years old!) Winnebago Diesel 32T. It seems to me I'm being mugged and I'd like to know if our $880 mugging sounds similar to your experience.

Thanks for any info.

-Dale

Paid my registration last March on my 2004 National Tropical 35 foot DP and it was $264. What was your bill in 2015? I just checked that one too and mine was $264 in 2015 too.