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

[CoachPotato]

The first check is in the mail!

Yes, it was good to see those posts that reported their DMV fees as some were similar coaches as yours, and paid a lot less. I certainly appreciate your info!

-Dale

msmith1199 wrote:

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

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

Now that I see your update, contrary to some of the other advice you got on here, isn't it a darn good thing you asked the question here? Now since I save you over $400 the first year, my fee will only be 1/3rd of your savings for the first five years payable in advance!

[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

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

Now that I see your update, contrary to some of the other advice you got on here, isn't it a darn good thing you asked the question here? Now since I save you over $400 the first year, my fee will only be 1/3rd of your savings for the first five years payable in advance!

Funny that you have to go back to DMV and prove the purchase price as their own records have to show the real purchase price. If you had paid $121k your Use Tax would have been more than double the $4860 you did pay. So someplace in their files they already have the real price. Not to mention the $57k is right in line with the NADA value of your RV.

[msmith1199]

mabynack wrote:
I was stationed in California about 25 years ago and they charged me about $800 a year for registration on my F-250 as a non-resident. That's almost 10 times what it costs me in Florida.

Stationed in California? As in the Military? If so you could have keep the registration of your home state.

[mabynack]

I was stationed in California about 25 years ago and they charged me about $800 a year for registration on my F-250 as a non-resident. That's almost 10 times what it costs me in Florida.

[Bumpyroad]

msmith1199 wrote:

Really? Arnold did that to you? You sure Gray Davis didn't do that to you? Remember Governor Davis who got recalled in part for raising the VLF fee from .65 percent to 2.0 percent? And I'm sure you simply forgot that the very first thing Arnold did on his very first day in office on a Monday morning was to sign a bill repealing the new tax rate and returning it back to .65 percent where it still is today. Not only did Arnold repeal it on his first day in office, he made that repeal retroactive back to the day the new rate had taken effect under Davis and issued refunds to everybody who paid the higher rate.

those noises you hear are Liberals heads exploding.
bumpy

[CoachPotato]

From the OP:

Hello all,

I posted an update to my original post so new readers will see the problem has been resolved by a phone call to DMV this morning.

If interested please read the update there. Thanks.

-Dale

[msmith1199]

I just had the earthquake discussion a few weeks ago with a friend on Facebook who lives back in tornado alley. I've lived in California almost all my life with the exception of a few years when my dad was still in the Air Force and we got transferred around a few times. So in all those years living in California, the worst earthquake I ever remember feeling was in 1968 when dad was stationed at Scott AFB, Illinois. Not only did we have a pretty big earthquake, but we also had to run hide in the basement there when the tornadoes came.

[Mr_Mark1]

msmith1199 wrote:
No doubt California has it's problems, but the weather tends to make it worth it. I may leave California soon, but if I do leave I probably won't go further than Nevada. That leaves easy access to come back, but no state income tax, and the property tax there works out to be about the same. I have quite a few friends who have left California for Tennessee and other places back there. Most really like the move, but they sure do post a lot of photos of severe storms on their Facebook pages. Whenever I see one of those I snap a photo of the clear blue skies here in California and put it on the comment section to their storm photos.

I always tell my friends, I would much rather be in an earthquake than a tornado. At least your stuff is not thrown all over the place.

The largest earthquake I've been in was a 5.2, it wasn't that bad, just a jiggle and rumble. Luckily, I've never experienced a tornado and never want to.

MM.

[msmith1199]

No doubt California has it's problems, but the weather tends to make it worth it. I may leave California soon, but if I do leave I probably won't go further than Nevada. That leaves easy access to come back, but no state income tax, and the property tax there works out to be about the same. I have quite a few friends who have left California for Tennessee and other places back there. Most really like the move, but they sure do post a lot of photos of severe storms on their Facebook pages. Whenever I see one of those I snap a photo of the clear blue skies here in California and put it on the comment section to their storm photos.

[Mr_Mark1]

I know a lot of people bash California but I absolutely enjoy living there part time. Yes, it's not good for people who are on lower incomes as everything is more expensive.... Real Estate, fuel, groceries, car tags, electric (unless you have solar), water, etc.

One thing that IS good, is proposition 13 that slows the home-property tax rate. Once you purchase a home, the tax rate grows slower as the years pass, hopefully, not to tax you out of your home.

It is amazing to me to see what houses sell for in California. In TN, they are 1/4th price for the same size home depending on location, etc. We happened to buy in California at the slump in '96 not realizing that was the bottom of the market at that time. We lucked out as our investment value is very secure and has grown quite nice.

MM.

[msmith1199]

From the San Diego Tribune, Nov 2003:

"Arnold Schwarzenegger wasted little time Monday getting down to his first order of business: Repealing the immensely unpopular tripling of the car tax.

News of his first action as California governor was greeted by cheers from car dealers, who have seen business dip sharply under higher rates, but by jeers from city officials who viewed the loss of tax revenue with trepidation.

"During the campaign, I promised on Day One to repeal the car tax increase," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "Today, I am making good on that promise."

Minutes after his inauguration, the Republican actor used his pen to restore the lower vehicle registration fee, also known as the car tax, effective immediately.

For most of the last five years, the registration fee was set at 0.65 percent of a car's value. On Oct. 1, it was raised to 2 percent of value. Now it reverts to the lower rate, meaning that the owner of a $15,000 car will save $210 a year."

[msmith1199]

YC 1 wrote:
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,.

Really? Arnold did that to you? You sure Gray Davis didn't do that to you? Remember Governor Davis who got recalled in part for raising the VLF fee from .65 percent to 2.0 percent? And I'm sure you simply forgot that the very first thing Arnold did on his very first day in office on a Monday morning was to sign a bill repealing the new tax rate and returning it back to .65 percent where it still is today. Not only did Arnold repeal it on his first day in office, he made that repeal retroactive back to the day the new rate had taken effect under Davis and issued refunds to everybody who paid the higher rate.

[msmith1199]

hanko wrote:
look into the Montana LLC thing

Not for a vehicle based in California. Good way to become a convicted felon. CHP and DMV both actively seek out people doing this here.

[strudeau]

Don't worry, I'm sure all of your fees are going towards the finest roads in the lower 48! If I could convince DW to leave the state, I'd be a happy camper! I paid over $1100 this year on registration.

[msmith1199]

SolidAxleDurango wrote:
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

There is no doubt that California has massive taxes, but there are other places just as bad. And when it comes to vehicle registration, there are places that are a lot worse. I think when you look at the overall tax picture for everything from income tax, to sales tax, to property taxes, California isn't yet number 1 on the list, but we are trying to be. I think we were in about 8th place until the governor raised the income taxes a few years ago. I think that put us in second place behind Connecticut.