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

[hanko]

look into the Montana LLC thing

[YC_1]

I am a business owner from Calif. When Arnold was in office he doubled the DMV fees. This killed me since I owned a fleet of vehicles and new personal vehicles and an RV. The RV registration was $1800 a year.
As a business owner and native Californian I left the pick pocket state and moved to Florida. My registration on the RV is now less than $90 a year. And I do not pay State income tax.
When the State was making a higher profit than me on sales tax alone I just gave up,.

[barmcd]

We pay by weight in Texas, not value.

[ferndaleflyer]

I think mine in MD is $140 every 2 years for a 40ft DP. No inspection, no emissions, and no personal property tax.

[JumboJet]

Our honorable Governor that left Arkansas to get BJs in Washington DC had the State Legislature pass a bill to tax USED vehicle transactions. My 2003 Expedition cost me $2,500 in sales tax when I purchased it and registered the first time.

Annual license fee now is only $27.50.

[rgatijnet1]

sonora wrote:
The change from calling it a tax to calling it a "Fee" over the years grates on me. Some call them "Fees" but a tax is still a tax no mater what you call it. Unchecked out of control spending by governmental bodies has everybody arguing about what they pay which is just the symptom of the problem.

If they call it a tax, it probably needs approval from the citizens or the State legislature to increase it. By calling it a fee, they can increase it any time they want to.

[sonora]

The change from calling it a tax to calling it a "Fee" over the years grates on me. Some call them "Fees" but a tax is still a tax no mater what you call it. Unchecked out of control spending by governmental bodies has everybody arguing about what they pay which is just the symptom of the problem.

[Bumpyroad]

bobcatcharlie wrote:
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.

interesting, how much less would be a 30 day temp tag, a couple of times a year.? but for 2 vacation trips a year, why not just rent a RV?
bumpy

[SolidAxleDurang]

One time I posted about "Komifornia" in a similar thread and some thin skinned moderator deleted my post and admonished me LOL

hiney-hurt... LOL

[Mr_Mark1]

Oh boy! I'm glad my main home is in TN where all the vehicles are tagged.... Less than $100 for tag renewal whether you have a new Prevost or a 1995 Winnebago.

MM.

[Kayteg1]

This is one of the topics, where not having too many facts, we speculate our lungs out 😉

[msmith1199]

He wrote, "My annual registration renewal is to be $880!" He bought the RV last March. I'm assuming he transferred the registration back then and paid his sales tax, and is now talking about his annual fee. But maybe he's confused?

To the OP, did you transfer the RV and pay the sales tax in March? This is just your annual registration fee you are talking about, correct?

I did just check the NADA value on his RV. I don't know all the options so I put in all the expensive options. I get a MSRP of $154k but a current average retail of $54k and low retail of $48k.

[Kayteg1]

I wonder if OP did not read sale tax fee with registration fee.
Sale tax depends on the county/city is over 9%, so $10,000 purchase will generate over $800 DMV fees at the time of new registration.

[Old-Biscuit]

Was this MH previously registered in California or did you purchase out of state and this is first time being CA Registered?

[msmith1199]

toedtoes wrote:

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.

And hence the reason for my saying I don't know all of his circumstances. Now I see he bought his motorhome this year. Looks like it was in really good shape. But for him to be paying the registration fee that he reported on here, then he had to have paid close to $120,000 for a 12 year old DP. If that's what he paid then his reg fee is correct. But if he paid much less, then there is some type of mistake here.

I should add, if he did pay $120k for his motorhome and if that's what a 12 year old 32 foot DP is selling for, then my motorhome is for sale as of tomorrow!!!! I could even go put a $20k custom paint job on it to spiff it up and sell for $120k and make out like a bandit.