Registration Fees - State

[Nunyadamn]

Wow, I just got back from the AZ DMV registering my new trailer. I thought I was able to get a permanent plate like on all of the boat trailers I have ever owned. Apparently not, because I just had to pay $433.00 to register it.

That was after the lady kept telling me it was $795.00 for one year. She was clearly incompetent and possibly a liar. She asked me if I wanted to register it for one or two years. I asked what was the cost difference. She said for one year it was $795.00. I said that was crazy and could she check that again. I said that was more than anything I have ever registered including the RV I recently sold or my truck and car. She looked at her computer and said yes, that is the price. Then I said can she tell me why it is so high. She said yes and took the paperwork away to ask her supervisor about the fee. Then she comes back and says yes, that is the price. I couldn't believe it - $795.00 for one year. Ridiculous right? Then she hands me the plate, hits a few more buttons on the computer and says oh, wait, it is $433.00 for one year. The $795.00 was for two years. Both numbers sound crazy to me - remember, I thought I was going to get a permanent plate when I walked in. She gives me the paperwork showing what I paid and tells me I am all set. I walk out, get in my truck, get to the first stop light and realize she didn't give me a registration sticker. So I go back, park, go in and walk straight to her desk. I ask if I was supposed to get a sticker for the plate, she says yes, looks around like it was just supposed to be laying somewhere. She gets on her computer and prints out my registration with the sticker attached to the paper - something about it didn't print before.

So, I say she was incompetent because of all of the issues - more than what I listed, but that was enough. She does this everyday, how can she screw up or give such bad info? I say liar because I don't really know if she went to check with her supervisor or went to get a drink of water. She was back pretty quick and it is possible she got bad info from her boss too. I got the feeling like she thought she was right about the cost from the get go and pretended like she was going to go check with someone, only to tell me she was right - when she was clearly not.

With all of that drama out of the way, I still feel like I got robbed at the DMV on the travel trailer registration cost. I am wondering if others are paying similar.

Details - 2014 Jayco Jay Flight 32BHDS in Arizona = $433.00 for 1 year.

[kknowlton]

When my parents lived in AZ, their car registration fees/taxes were also quite high. I guess that's just Arizona's way of getting its pound of flesh from you. Sorry about that.

We just titled & registered a new TT we bought in Utah. Interesting - Utah collected no sales tax, so we had to pay it in Idaho (same rate, so it didn't matter). Added to our relatively high annual RV tax, it made for quite a bill! Fortunately we won't have to pay the sales tax more than once!

Idaho is much more expensive, due to that annual RV tax, to register campers in than Illinois was. Such is life.

[Andymon]

I guess I feel pretty lucky. No sales tax in Oregon and my registration fee is for two years and runs about $225.

[lbrjet]

Sounds about right to me. The fees go down some every year. Many states have a personal property tax like AZ does. This has nothing to do with sales tax. Real estate taxes are low and vehicle registration is high. Every state is different.

[crabbin_cabin]

Yes registration is every year. The only break here in AZ - if you buy from a private party - no sales tax. Buy from a dealer (in or out-of state) you pay sales tax.

[Huntindog]

MackinawMan wrote:

Huntindog wrote:
I'm from AZ, and it is less than I paid.
Our registration tax is very high.

Is your sales tax part of the registration tax? Do you have to pay the registration tax every year?

In Ohio you pay a sales tax ONE time, and that's when you title the trailer in your own name.

We then have to pay a registration fee on top of the sales tax. The sales tax only happens one time...when you buy it. The registration fee is yearly to get the registration renewed.. It's around $30 or so a year for a travel trailer IIRC.

Sales tax is in addition.
Yes, registration is paid every year.

[MackinawMan]

Huntindog wrote:
I'm from AZ, and it is less than I paid.
Our registration tax is very high.

Is your sales tax part of the registration tax? Do you have to pay the registration tax every year?

In Ohio you pay a sales tax ONE time, and that's when you title the trailer in your own name.

We then have to pay a registration fee on top of the sales tax. The sales tax only happens one time...when you buy it. The registration fee is yearly to get the registration renewed.. It's around $30 or so a year for a travel trailer IIRC.

[Huntindog]

I'm from AZ, and it is less than I paid.
Our registration tax is very high. The taxes on a MH will make a grown man cry.
Pickup bed campers are the best deal here. No registration and no tires to buy.. The campers themselves are expensive though.
Property tax on real estate is less than many other state though. Sales tax has been reasonable until lately, and they keep proposing more of it...Some of which the voters approve.

When I retire and can live anywhere, I will be state shopping HARD for the best possible deal.

As of now, I'm pretty much stuck.

[dadmomh]

Seems to me that CA should not have charged you sales tax since you're not a CA resident, but considering it's CA...... So have you figured out if the $433 is right or wrong. Either way, seems crazy. Guess I should be extra happy that ours is so inexpensive. With a new car/truck, you pay the sales tax at the dealer, then at the License Branch you only pay the yearly, ours is $24 for my car and another $24 for the truck. Yearly renewal, doesn't matter about the value. Guess this is just another example of our tax dollars at work.

[Old-Biscuit]

bob213 wrote:

gmw photos wrote:
Looks to me like the "registration fee" would be $125, assuming your are under 10K pounds, which according to the jayco site, you are.

http://www.azdot.gov/mvd/VehicleServices/Registration/trailer-registration

Are you sure you were just paying registration only, or were you paying that and sales tax both ?

That site says Travel Trailers are not eligible for permanent plates.

Correct..that link is for 'Permanent Tags'

OPs trailer was registered as follows:

$1.50 Air Quality Fee
$4 Title Fee (1st yr. new vehicle)
$8 Registration Fee
AND the Vehicle License Tax (VLT)

VLT......
A Vehicle License Tax is included as part of the annual fee to register your vehicle.
It is based on the accessed value of 60% of MFG. Base Retail price reduced by 16.25% for
each year since the vehicle was first registered in AZ.
From there, the rate is calculated based on the accessed value.
$2.80 per $100 accessed value fornew vehicles and $2.89 per $100 for used vehicles.


I went thru this last year...truck and 5vr.
Got a bit of a break due to age of both.

[Nunyadamn]

gmw photos wrote:
Looks to me like the "registration fee" would be $125, assuming your are under 10K pounds, which according to the jayco site, you are.

http://www.azdot.gov/mvd/VehicleServices/Registration/trailer-registration

Are you sure you were just paying registration only, or were you paying that and sales tax both ?

I pulled up that exact same webpage and showed it to her. I asked why their webpage showed such different numbers. She said that travel trailers are different. I did pay the taxes to CA and had the paperwork to show it to her as well as I specifically showed her that I payed it there. The fees that I paid today was the VLT - Vehicle License Tax. I feel like I paid a new car VLT, which it might turn out is how AZ works.

[gmw_photos]

edited

[bob213]

gmw photos wrote:
Looks to me like the "registration fee" would be $125, assuming your are under 10K pounds, which according to the jayco site, you are.

http://www.azdot.gov/mvd/VehicleServices/Registration/trailer-registration

Are you sure you were just paying registration only, or were you paying that and sales tax both ?

That site says Travel Trailers are not eligible for permanent plates.

[Bucky_Badger]

For once I feel good about living in WI

[gmw_photos]

Looks to me like the "registration fee" would be $125, assuming your are under 10K pounds, which according to the jayco site, you are.

http://www.azdot.gov/mvd/VehicleServices/Registration/trailer-registration

Are you sure you were just paying registration only, or were you paying that and sales tax both ?