Taxes and older Rangers

[ekrampitzjr]

The crazy prices of used vehicles are affecting more than you think. Carvana wants $20K for old Rangers. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Virginia, like some other states, has a personal property tax on vehicles. It is paid annually to the locality (city or county) and is based on vehicle value. It's in addition to the annual fee to renew tags paid to the state DMV, but that fee isn't too bad.

Yesterday a letter arrived from the city commissioner of the revenue with a warning that residents will be paying more personal property tax on vehicles when the next bills are sent near the end of the year.

The reason is that state law requires localities to use Kelley Blue Book values for assessments, and those values have shot up because of demand for used vehicles. The letter warned that some assessments will go up 25% and even as much as 50%. There is a "car tax relief" that applies in Virginia for private vehicles that offsets some of the tax.

My rough number crunching based on Hopewell's 3.5% tax less the car tax relief means I'll probably be out of pocket about $100 more on my Ranger. The city phrases it as "$3.50 per $100 of assessed value", but that's just another way of saying 3.5%.

Those of you who have to deal with such taxes need to be aware that this is coming. Virginia's taxes are actually less than some other states impose, and Hopewell has a lower rate than some other localities. When I lived in Portsmouth years ago the rate there was 5%.

Also keep in mind that some states without a personal property tax charge all car owners big bucks to renew tags annually.

 

[Blmpkn]

I paid a hair over 700 bucks to register my truck yesterday better than last year though.. 940.

Should "only" cost me 600ish next year lol.

 

[19Walt93]

Until my daughter- who lives in Va.- told me about it, I had never heard of property taxes on vehicles. Canaan is far from a high tech kind of place but we can renew registrations online, and I did this week. My Mustang runs antique plates because it's old enough and they're cheaper. The price is highest on new vehicles and declines over time. In 2011 I bought a new Escape in the spring and a new Ranger after Ford announced they were being discontinued, when I renewed in 2012 it cost me just over $900 for both plus the Mustang.
You guys realize, when there's a (D) after a politician's name, it means you'll be destitute, right?

Order 1 of 1 Canaan, NH Questions about your order?

Log# 2934846 Reference Amount 7177 $23.50 Renew Reg 1977 FORD MUSTANG (MV) 485232 $134.70 Renew Reg 2016 FORD ESCAPE (MV) 4735827 $76.70 Renew Reg 1993 FORD RANGER (MV) EB2Gov Fee $4.50 Service Fee $0.35 Total $239.75 Bank Statement Charges Town of Canaan Auth: Pending $234.90 Town of Canaan/EB2Gov (Service and Transaction Fees) Auth: 94993745 $4.85 Please Note: Your bank statement will show fees to EB2Gov, the provider of these services, separate from the charges to the Town.

 

[09fx4guy]

Holy Cow! I will never move to Virginia. That is insane that you can be taxed on a vehicle AFTER you buy it. Don't get me wrong, I know in NJ we pay between 60-75 per year for registration, but that is at least manageable. I could not imagine being told that I would have to pay roughly $700 PER YEAR to use my truck. At that point I would only drive beaters worth $1000, maybe.

 

[sgtsandman]

I pay $83 a year for registration on each truck. That’s better than paying a property tax and what someone says they are worth.

 

[black_demon69]

$130 approx for 5 years on my ranger here in AZ

 

[sgtsandman]

We have the option of doing every 2 years but it doesn’t save you anything.

Trailers, we can do every 5. Again, it doesn’t save you anything except time in completing the registration process.

When the county first came out with their added $5 fee add on, it used to be that you would save on the multiple year registration until someone caught on that the county was losing out. That maybe lasted a couple years and then you got hit either way.

 

[superj]

ours is like 72 a year to register our vehicles here in texas. no vehicle tax though.

i think we make up for it with really high property tax though.

 

[Shran]

Nebraska does that personal property tax crap too. It is really shocking that any American would stand for that type of tax... would have been the basis for a revolution in the good old days.

 

[Uncle Gump]

My Bronco II got registered under the expanded antique program here... $50 a year. The Ranger and my wife's escape both cost $151 a year. Illinois has many other was to swindle money from us.

 

[09fx4guy]

Superj- VERY true, property tax here in NJ is pretty high.

 

[fastpakr]

Property tax here in VA isn't a big deal for older vehicles. I don't remember the backstory, but the original value that was assessed originally isn't the rate we get charged anymore. At some point (2000's?), a revision to the car tax was passed that 'forgives' a percentage of it. It's kind of a mess because you see the original assessed amount followed by the amount that's reversed from that. Anyway - the takeaway is that for vehicles like I drive ('99 Ranger, '94 Camry, and an old motorcycle) - the property tax is completely zeroed out. I think there's a $28/year registration fee for each, but no property tax at all.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

PA still offers Antique and Classic plates, but they changed the rules on them and if I remember right, Antique is restricted daylight only and like 1k miles a year and Classic has higher mileage restrictions but they added the state inspection to it, so there’s really no benefit. No property tax on the vehicles, but the registration changes based on vehicle. My Bronco II was $36 a year (or used to be), Ranger was $80 something, F-150 was $90 something, think the dump is close to $200…

 

[sgtsandman]

PA still offers Antique and Classic plates, but they changed the rules on them and if I remember right, Antique is restricted daylight only and like 1k miles a year and Classic has higher mileage restrictions but they added the state inspection to it, so there’s really no benefit. No property tax on the vehicles, but the registration changes based on vehicle. My Bronco II was $36 a year (or used to be), Ranger was $80 something, F-150 was $90 something, think the dump is close to $200…

It depends on the vehicle and it’s load class. A van with windows or and SUV is considered a passenger vehicle.

Remove the windows on the van and it’s now a truck. I had the opportunity to have a lower registration cost on the 2011 since it is only rated 50 pounds more than the next lower class. My luck, I’d be loaded to maximum capacity and get busted for it. So I opted for the Class 2 registration.

The 2019 is a big enough gap from Class 1 to Class 2 that I wasn’t given the option.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It depends on the vehicle and it’s load class. A van with windows or and SUV is considered a passenger vehicle.

Remove the windows on the van and it’s now a truck. I had the opportunity to have a lower registration cost on the 2011 since it is only rated 50 pounds more than the next lower class. My luck, I’d be loaded to maximum capacity and get busted for it. So I opted for the Class 2 registration.

The 2019 is a big enough gap from Class 1 to Class 2 that I wasn’t given the option.

When I bought my F-150, the previous owner had it registered at 1,500# and the title place asked if I wanted to keep it at that or change it. Since the truck weighs well over that empty and I planned on using it I demanded it be raised to the GVWR of 6,250. They set it at 6,200.