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[Crissa]

For our 2018 Ducati Icon that we paid about $8k for, registration this year is $201.  For our 2014 Zero S that we paid $6K for, registration was $192.

Not a very wide distribution of prices.  What did everyone else get charged?

-Crissa

[TheRan]

I don't get the point of having to register a bike every year. Here in the UK it's a one time £55 fee. We do have a yearly tax though, do you guys have that? Our's is quite simple being based on capacity (0-150 is £20, 151-400 is £44, 401-600 is £67, and 600+ is £93). Electric bikes are free to tax (an oxymoron I know).

[Richard230]

Last year I paid $255 USD for one year of the California vehicle registration fee for my 2018 Zero S.  Our registration fees here consist of mostly taxes and random fees for things that don't always have much relationship to the vehicle.  As an example: I recently paid my vehicle registration for my 22-year old Saturn station wagon (which cost about the same as my Zero) and the price was $155.      I was provided a breakdown of the fees, but they were in some sort of code like you get from a hospital and I can't figure out what they were for.

I believe that our basic registration fee is calculated at 2% of the original purchase price, less 10% each year as the vehicle ages. It apparently bottoms out at $155.

[Crissa]

It's called registration whether it's the annual fee or the initial registration.  We pay the tax up front and the annual fee second.

The California fee chart is ridiculous and the DMV has not released a working tool that actually explains the black box of it in several years.  It's 'coming soon' and has been for awhile.  We'll probably have to pass another state bill to fix it.  Again.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

It's called registration whether it's the annual fee or the initial registration.  We pay the tax up front and the annual fee second.

The California fee chart is ridiculous and the DMV has not released a working tool that actually explains the black box of it in several years.  It's 'coming soon' and has been for awhile.  We'll probably have to pass another state bill to fix it.  Again.

-Crissa

The state recently increased the registration fee by a certain percentage over its previous amount depending upon how much your vehicle cost when new. That additional amount was to augment the gasoline tax that you pay at the pump. So I call that a "tax".

[Crissa]

I know, Richard, but the state calls it an EV 'fee' just like the rest of the 'fees' in the annual registration.



I was answering the Brit, tho!

-Crissa

[TheRan]

So the registration fee is in addition to tax? What is it even paying for? The registration fee here makes some sense as there is some work that needs to be done, someone has to copy the data from paper to the computer and they have a wage. The tax payment then goes into the general tax fund and part of that goes towards things like road maintenance and improvements.

[Crissa]

The tax goes to the general fund.  It's a one-time sales tax, basically.

The registration goes to the transportation fund.  It pays for roads and stuff.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

The tax goes to the general fund.  It's a one-time sales tax, basically.

The registration goes to the transportation fund.  It pays for roads and stuff.

-Crissa

And other miscellaneous things. Check out the attached list on my auto registration and tell me what these fees are for.   

[Crissa]

Apparently their calculator is working again.

But if you want to know what the 'and stuff' is, it varies by municipality and county, but they have a page about it.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/registration-fees/

I'm more interested in the end point.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

Apparently their calculator is working again.

But if you want to know what the 'and stuff' is, it varies by municipality and county, but they have a page about it.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/registration-fees/

I'm more interested in the end point.

-Crissa

Could they make it any more complicated?   

BTW, I have a friend who owns an airplane and he says he pays a $5 registration fee for a state license to register the plane every 5 years.  A dollar a year to register an airplane! What a deal.

[MikeL]

One thing California does impressively well is tax the hell out of its citizens. Fees and taxes on top of fees and taxes. I think I just paid $700 to register my Chevy Colorado for year 2.

[Crissa]

Studies have shown that overall, after transfers, many of the so-called tax have states (like TX) don't actually tax their citizens less.  But that's getting off topic.

I prefer taxes to fees, but we've had decades of fees instead because Republicans prefer them.  *shrug*

My car only cost $260 to register, tho, which makes the bikes seem way outsize.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

I found out that I made a mistake when I posted that my friend who owns an airplane paid $1 a year to the state. He pays $1 a year to maintain his registration to the FAA.  He told me this weekend that he pays $800 a year to California as a "personal property tax", which is based upon the value of his aircraft.

[cloroxbb]

My tag fee is $104, but it's for two years at a time.