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.
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:
The registration fee ($46), California Highway Patrol (CHP) fee ($23), vehicle license fee (VLF), and county/district fees are due for most vehicles registered for on-highway use. Registration and CHP fees are used by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and CHP to offset costs. Commercial Vehicle Registration Act (CVRA) and/or weight fees may be due for commercial vehicles.
- 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.
This is from the DMV CA website:
Fees are due upon original registration/renewal based on:
The registration fee ($46), California Highway Patrol (CHP) fee ($23), vehicle license fee (VLF), and county/district fees are due for most vehicles registered for on-highway use. Registration and CHP fees are used by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and CHP to offset costs. Commercial Vehicle Registration Act (CVRA) and/or weight fees may be due for commercial vehicles.
- 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.
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 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.
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.
Look up the fee table thats going into effect later this year with the new taxes.
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.
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.