Quick question for North Carolina residents, please...

[Shagbark Hickory]

Can someone please clear up my confusion about the costs of owning/registering a vehicle in North Carolina? After an exhaustive search, I still did not find my answers online.



1.) My understanding is that in addition to registration fees, there are property taxes (aka ad velorum) based on the value of the vehicle. The millage rate varies by county and some counties have extra fees.

My question is, what are the registration renewal fees for just a ordinary car?
And can you give me an example of how much the property taxes are on a car each year. (if you wouldn't mind also telling me the appraised value of the car in your example)

2.) Each year vehicle owners must get their cars appraised by a car dealer and get them to fill out a form.


My question here is REALLY?!? Is this for real? You have to go get to a dealership each year to get them to appraise the value of your car? Huh?! Do they charge for this and if so, how much?

3.) Non diesel cars model years 1996 and newer must get an emissions and safety inspection each year.


I don't really have any specific question about this, just want to confirm that it's annually and they basically just plug into your cars ODB port and the whole thing doesn't take too long. Or does it? And that the fees for these inspections runs approximately $45 for the both of them.

Are there any other fees or taxes that I'm overlooking?

Any other information to help me understand it better is appreciated.
Thanks for your input.

[Lance_Boyle]

1. OK

This link: http://www.ncdot.org/dmv/vehicle/registration/ answers #1.

No, there is no requirement to have your vehicle appraised every year. I just paid property taxes on my 2001 Jetta TDI - $32. The county of residence bills this every year.

Link above also covers inspection requirements and costs.

Hope that helps!

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. So, you paid a total of $103.60?

IS that accurate?

And if you don't have the car appraised each year then how often do you do it and why do you do it and how do you know if you have to do it and what does it cost to do it?

[Lance_Boyle]

3. I drive a diesel, so my inspection is cheaper (no emissions testing).

But the other costs are as listed. Newer/nicer cars probably have higher property tax assessments than my piddling $32.

edited 'cuz I skipped the appraisal question. I've never heard of anyone having to get their cars appraised. The county does it based on year/make/model. If you want to dispute their valuation you probably can, and that's where the appraisal would come in. It is *not* an annual requirement.

[Shagbark Hickory]

4. So you paid $73.70? And about the appraisels???

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. bump

[zabet]

6. There is NO requirement

stating you must have your vehicle appraised. Your county of residence will handle this via the property taxes that you must pay every year before you can renew your plate. They use the make/model/year of your care to calculate the property taxes on it. You also must have a recent inspection to receive your tags.....if you do not have one, they will give you a 10 to 15 day permit to drive without your tags to enable you to get it inspected at the license plate office(DMV).

You also will not be mailed a tag renewal slip in a year unless your property tax on the vehicle has been paid.

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. It seems the taxes can be pretty high then.

Based on what the first reply said about what they paid and according to what the Kelly Blue Book values a 2001 VW jetta tdi at, then a new car around $32k would end up costing about $200 a year to start out in addition to the other fees and inspections.

[Lance_Boyle]

8. new car value diminishes substantially once it's off the lot

A car that sells for $32K new is worth maybe $28K once it leave the dealer lot, and then $25K once it gets to the new owner's house.

If you get a property tax bill on your car that you believe to be based on an incorrect valuation of the car, challenge it by submitting your own appraisal.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. Ok then about $190 a year. n/t

[zabet]

9. The only time it has been

what I considered overtly high was when I have registered a brand new vehicle. The last new vehicle I registered cost me almost 500 dollars in taxes....it dropped down to a reasonable amount the 2nd year, and has been a little less every year since.

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. What was the original value or sales price if you don't mind my asking?

[struggle4progress]

10. You'll get mailed a car property tax notice annually. The cost depends on the car,

including age. My auto is about a decade old now; it was originally worth about $12K new, and the tax has been declining; I currently pay about $50/yr, and you can probably scale up or down from that, based on current value. Taxrates include local components authorized by the state legislature; I think I'm in one of the more expensive locales, but not certain

The penalty for not paying: your local government will have a hold on your annual registration with DMV, and DMV won't let you renew your tags if you haven't paid the auto property tax. The cost of the state tag registration renewal is (I forget exactly) something like $25/yr

You'll have to be insured to get/renew tags, so that's part of the budget too

You should get your auto inspected about six weeks (or less) prior to tag renewal. IIRC, the garages have a bit of leeway in what they are allowed to charge: something like (I forget exactly) $10-$25 for the basic inspect, on top of which there will be parts and labor for what corrections are necessary. It may be worth doing some basic stuff, like replacing wipers if necessary, before you go for the inspection. I think the whole cost of the inspection visit to me is usually around $100/yr, but I generally have them do a tune-up and oil change while I'm there

No windshield sticker for inspection anymore: your inspection goes into a state computer database directly from the garage. For some reason, this can be slow: last spring, I had my inspection done in the AM and then drove to the DMV office for tag renewal; DMV claimed I hadn't passed my inspection yet; it took two or three hours to show up in the system

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. Helpful, thanks!

[struggle4progress]

11. DMV Fee Listing

http://www.ncdot.org/dmv/fees/default.html?s=VF

Many counties have a webpage like this:
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/revenue/registered_motor_vehicles.asp