Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Fiesta registration renewal - $139
Mustang registration renewal - $159

Politician promises to make driving more affordable - ∞
Politician promises to make driving more affordable kept - 0

No, I lied, the last government did one thing that saves a very small number of people (myself included) a whopping $10/year. In Michigan, your registration renewal is due on your birthday. If your vehicle does not have road-worthy insurance, you cannot renew it. If you miss your renewal date, you have to pay a $10 late fee. Well, since my birthday is in February, and my Mustang is in storage for the winter, I always had to pay the $10 extra when I brought it back out in the spring. The last governor added a provision for car guys in my situation saying that if they could prove that the car was in storage when the registration lapsed, the late fee would be waived on renewal. So hooray for that at least.
 
Stupid question - why do you have to renew your reg in the US (/some US states)?

‘Registration’ in most states basically means roughly the same thing as what is called ‘road tax’ over there.
 
In Michigan, your registration renewal is due on your birthday.

This is retarded in so many ways. “Happy birthday to you, give me money.”

In more rational states, you get a year (or two) from whenever the vehicle was first registered.
 
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This is retarded in so many ways. “Happy birthday to you, give me money.”

In more rational states, you get a year (or two) from whenever the vehicle was first registered.
Yeah that makes no sense at all... in NY it's every two years on day of registration.
 
Wait, isn't road tax poportional to the car's value like here? I feel robbed.

Here it is around 3%,every year.
 
Wait, isn't road tax poportional to the car's value like here? I feel robbed.

Here it is around 3%,every year.

That varies by state. Also, what your ‘registration fee’ goes to varies by state too. I’ll post more when I get back to my desk (I am out and about and soon to destroy a Mitsu Mighty Max) but I’ll give you one example.

In Texas, all vehicles of a class pay the same registration fees/road tax; all passenger cars pay the same as each other, all light pickups pay the same, all motorcycles pay the same - regardless of value. As mentioned above, I just did my 2000 4Runner’s renewal earlier in the week, but I also just helped an elderly friend renew her registration online for her 2017 Lexus RX. Her car is far more valuable than mine but we both paid the same $75.

California, though, has an add-on tax based on the value of the vehicle, charged every time you renew, which I think is just plain evil. I can see taxing based on the damage a vehicle could do to the roads, but value should not be part of it. Then California wonders why so many people go register their vehicles in another state.
 
Some states also calculate registration fees based on vehicle weight.
 
Wait, isn't road tax poportional to the car's value like here? I feel robbed.

Here it is around 3%,every year.
We have the annual excise tax that's based on the value and age of your car. The excise tax on our Jeep when we first got it was around $900.
 
Some states also calculate registration fees based on vehicle weight.
That makes more sense since this could be argued heavier means more damage to roads.
 
Some states also calculate registration fees based on vehicle weight.

Or here in Missouri, taxable horsepower based on some archaic ancient tablet.

Unless it's a truck, then it's how much it weighs loaded, with a trailer if you plan to tow, plus weather is farm use our you plan to take it out of a certain zone around your home (local or beyond local). I have a 12k lb plate on my truck, anything 18k or over and you only get one plate for the front. There is a duplicate rear plate available for $7, but almost no one buys it. Seems to be a strange badge of honor to drive around without a rear plate amongst the rednecks. I've heard going out of state is particularly fun...
 
In Texas, all vehicles of a class pay the same registration fees/road tax; all passenger cars pay the same as each other, all light pickups pay the same, all motorcycles pay the same - regardless of value
NY is similar you pay a sales tax when you buy the car and then it’s a flat registration fee based on the type. In fact I think they don’t even differentiate stuff like SUV vs sedan, just passenger cars vs for hire vs commercial (as in tractor trailers and box trucks)
 
Illinois has passenger (little hatchbacks up to big SUV’s), and pickup truck plates (B-plate). There’s also any vehicle like a 1 ton van or truck that they say requires to be under a D-Plate (a weight rating I can’t be bothered to look up) due to max gross vehicle weight which includes the trailer. The D-Plate requires yearly inspection of the vehicle only. I’m not sure what the requirements are to get a D-Plate because a guy i worked with had a 1ton cargo van on a passenger plate. You can also register a vehicle as farm use but thats limited to only short trips and in state. I’ve seen some also register their pickup trucks as an RV when there’s a cap on the back which is a loophole because the registration is half the price. For Passenger vehicles they charge $110 a year. If you want a Antique Extended plate (you can drive the car more than to repair shops and car shows and for any vehicle 25 years or older) that registration is $90 a year and is typically valid only between April-October. The regular Antique plate that limits where you can drive to (though the enforcement of this is almost non-existent) is $35 every 5 years.
 
My cars are mostly free, because old. The Dolomites are registered as "historic" so MOT (mildly terrifying) and road tax (woo hoo!) exempt with no limitations as to use, yet.

The Acclaim is too new to be properly old in the eyes of the government so still requires an MOT and taxing but still benefits from cheap specialist insurance (£200 a year vs £600) and cheap tax because pre-2001 and under 1549cc = a flat rate of £155 a year. On the flipside it will be banned from most city centres by 2022 because air pollutants...

In the UK car tax actually doesn't fund any maintenance/expansion of the road infrastructure and hasn't since 1937, it's just a tax on car ownership initially priced by engine size and latterly based on the emissions level/age/fuel type of the vehicle.
 
Ok so... this rarely happens to me but - what the heck did I just spot? GT86 four door? Tesla Model 3 but it's a kit car?

3555472
 
That's the TagAZ Aquila, a horrible Russian compact car which I've also seen in Croatia once or twice. Apparently they were built under licence in France as MPM Erelis, which is the reason you can see them even in the EU. Its glasshouse is criminal, I seriously can't imagine how didthat thing even get allowed to be produced in Europe. Just look at those C-pillars. I can't imagine the visibility is any good in those.
 
Oh what the hell. Thank you for this; good work, detective.

So a rare random car close to my apartment is not an uncommon classic or an expensive sports car, but some shitty russian-french plastic mobile.
 
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