AZDOT - can this be true? (living, legal, title)

[wit-nit]

License plate renewal annual fees are based on the value of the car that year. So her high plate fee would be correct.

[Rhaethe]

Well, yes. Due to the calculated tax. I looked it up, just to make sure. The actual registration fee by itself is $8, but you are also required to pay a yearly tax as part of the fee.

How are my AZ vehicle registration fees calculated?

My state does the same thing, but they very clearly itemize and maintain the separateness of it all, even though in the end you pay one lump sum. So when I hear "registration fee" I think of just the registration fee itself, not the required vehicle tax. Arizona appears to call it all one "fee", as opposed to Georgia that says "fee+ad valorem".

Toe-may-toe ... toe-mah-toe I guess

Anywho, out of curiosity, is the date you are required to renew your tags based upon the purchase/first registration date in AZ? Or is it based on your birthdate?

[Bummer]

Over the years due to my career . . . I have lived in lots of states and I am convinced they get you one way or the other when it comes to taxes / vehicle registrations. California is an exception as their rates are about 4 times higher than Arizona.

Arizona's total registration fee for a vehicle drops each year as the value of that vehicle declines. My almost 30 year old Jeep CJ-7 is less than $25 a year, however, my 2005 Chevy SSR is still running about $300 each year, hopefully less this year.

Some states refer to it as a Registration Fee while others call it a Personal Property, Use Tax or some other clever handle to disguise the fact it is a tax.

Bottom line . . . in order to receive license plates or renewals and operate the vehicle legally, you gotta pay the fees.

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by Rhaethe

Huh. GA won't refund, except in very specific situations, and moving out of state before they are due "for unused months" is not one of them. I pay $20 a year though, not $300. I also have to pay a yearly ad valorem tax along with the registration, but the car registration fee itself is $20.

I looked up AZ's registration cost and it says its $8, are you sure the hundreds of dollars you are referencing aren't the actual vehicle tax and not the cost to register? If so, that is mighty nice of AZ to refund taxes paid.

In AZ it's based on the value of your car each year and it's steep if your car is anywhere near new. If it was $20, nobody would care, the fee for doing it is more than half of that.

[adventuregurl]

Apparently the people at DMV have no idea what they're talking about .

I used the link Curly gave me, despite what the clerk (and the website told me), and filled it out online anyhow, and they're mailing me a check for well over half what I paid (my unused portion minus the fee)!

[GraceKrispy]

I've never even heard of nor thought about trying to get a refund for a partial years registration fees whenever I moved. I always just figured it was part of the cost of the move. It is not the state of origins fault that you decided to move away in the midst of your 'year' after all.

That's always been my experience. I never knew states even might offer a refund. I did try for one state because we left a month after getting new tags, and they basically laughed in my face.

Glad you got some money back!

[johnp292]

Having just returned from a cross country road trip up through Utah, then eastward through Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, DC, and Virginia...and a separate trip to CA a week before that, I will say that while I had a severe case of sticker shock when we first registered our vehicles in AZ two years ago, the roads around here are worlds better than most other places.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by observer53

Which, depending on the laws of the new place and the aggressiveness of law enforcement, can cost you money for failing to register the car once you become a legal resident of the "new place".

That is a very valid point, especially if you live in a very transient area (like a hospital or university). When I worked at a major university hospital in Virginia, I received two warnings for not registering the car in VA.

[like-2-hike]

Originally Posted by johnp292

Having just returned from a cross country road trip up through Utah, then eastward through Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, DC, and Virginia...and a separate trip to CA a week before that, I will say that while I had a severe case of sticker shock when we first registered our vehicles in AZ two years ago, the roads around here are worlds better than most other places.

That could be due more to the milder climate and lack of precipitation than any efforts by ADOT to maintain roads...

But in general, I've been pleased with maintenance of state roads/highways (city roads where I live are a completely different story )

[adventuregurl]

Update, my refund check arrived!

It never hurts to try, everywhere in Canada refunds you for the unused portion of your tags/plate