A fully-loaded Prius will never be cost-effective in SC

Or so I believe after seeing my "car tax" bill today.

$613.20, up from the $130.53 I paid last year on a 1999 Kia Sephia. And I only paid $300 in sales tax to buy the darn Prius due to a cap.

I expected double (new car versus old), but this bill is 4.7 times as much.

I'll make a token attempt to find out why this car is so high, but now any savings I get on gas are lost forever. In order to cut my tax bill, when the Prius is dying I'll have to buy an Echo or something, and hope the lower value doesn't mean a piece-of-crap car. I bet when I look at my Total Cost of Ownership, the Prius is now a loser and an Echo would be cheaper to *run* when taxes are included.

Typical: things were going waaaaay too good, so I should have guessed this would happen...

At least in Massachusetts towns, the excise tax rate drops each year. Switching from any five-year-old car to any new car will bring a large tax increase. Perhaps SC has something similar.

No, in Massachusetts the excise tax rate is fixed at 2 1/2% (Remember Proposition 2 1/2%), but the valuation of the car typically drops each year.

Was just trying to keep it simple.. I meant "the excise tax drops each year." Yes, they decrease the valuation each year. It drops pretty quickly, really.

If your only consideration is cheap transportation, the Prius was always a loser. The savings in gas will never make up for the cost difference compared to a low-end Toyota or Honda.

But the Prius is much more car than those are, and in terms of value (cost vs features & quality) it is a bargain. You'll pay tax on any car. If you cannot afford the taxes, stick with a used car. A five-year-old Honda Civic will be a great and economical car, with lower taxes than a brand-new Prius. But you won't be driving the most technologically-advanced geek-mobile in the universe.

I love my Prius. But I didn't buy it to save money. I bought it because I was willing to spend money to get the best. And the taxes are all part of that.

Or hey, buy an older Prius from someone who upgraded

Even if it didn't have all the advanced features, I'm happier with the 2004 Prius than I've been with any other car. It feels very roomy, handles well, etc. My previous car was a Focus, and I'm just so much more *relaxed* in the Prius.

I can *afford* the taxes. I just wrote and mailed the check. What I don't like is finding out that my previous car was considered crap by the people who evaluate cars for tax purposes, which lulled me into thinking the taxes were reasonable. I paid $14,000+ for my 1999 Kia Sephia, and the tax bill for that was never even half what I'm paying now. Last year it cost me $130 which seemed fair. The repair bills (brakes, muffler, engine trouble...) were well over $1,000, hence the new car. Talking to people today, "good" cars, which sell for not a lot more than what the Kia sold for, seem to me to be unfairly taxed. Perhaps I'm just cheap.

I *was* supposed to save money on gas, and that will happen, but now the extra money on taxes completely spoils that. It will get better, since SC is in the third year of a six-year tax reduction plan, so by 2007 I'll be paying taxes on a car valued at 6% of something rather than 8.25% of $19,880 like I am this year. Any appeal would require a dealer to value the car at less, and that *isn't* going to happen.

It *is* a cool car I love driving. Spending money on the best is nice, but some of us expected more. Hence the MPG complaints you see...

Move to Texas.

Good idea, if I find a good job first. Programmers tend to be located in India lately...

Consider the math. I don't know which package Prius you got but the Kia cost at most 66% of the price you just paid for the Prius. Current value maybe $5000 or $6000. It isn't at all surprising that the current tax is 4X the old.

You must compare apples and apples.

Compare the cost of a new Prius to a new alternative vehicle. For example, I compare the new Prius to a new Accord (my alternative vehicle). I figure a new Accord would cost about $23K loaded. the Prius costs about $26K loaded. I ignore taxes in both cases. The tax difference is abaout 0.67% of $3000, or $20 (please check my math) per year.

Then figure how long you will own the car in miles (say 100,000 miles, but that is me). If gas prices are $2 per gallon, the difference in fuel costs are about $2500. Again, my math may be off since I did this math on a spreadsheet at home.

So, the Accord loaded and the Prius loaded are about the same cost.

The reason I am getting the Prius is to promote the technology, which is high efficiency and low pollution. I did not consider the diesel VW, because of increased emissions.

My old car is cheap on the taxes, only $131, because it is a 1995 Ford Escort .

The good news is I am actually getting a Prius in about two weeks (unfortunately it is loaded - I do not yet understand why I would want NAV - but I do want a Prius).

Whereever I am, I can ask the NAV for a route home. Or to work. Or to some places I decided were a good target for a trip to a certain area. like Myrtle Beach.

Beats maps...

Ha. That's why I didn't get the NAV: Fargo is so small that wherever I am I can just about see home. And if I drive in any direction from anywhere in town, within a minute or two I'll get to a street I know.

NAV might be nice for that once-a-year car trip, but from what I've read here, it's not as reliable as some stand-alone units, and it costs more.

If you paid $14k for the Kia brand new, the $26k you paid for the Prius is about double that. So Prius tax would be twice as much starting out. Most cars lose more than half their value before 5 years. So double the Prius tax again. Now the Prius tax is 4x as much. Seems like they are in the right ballpark with their taxes.

Don't get me wrong... I identify with you. I was paying many times more much on tax for my $15k Corbin Sparrow electric that I only drove a few thousand wonderful miles per year and that I bought to save the environment, relative to the tax on my 1992 Civic that I drive most of the time and which was much more capable in many ways.

Just to update the cost of taxes in California, since I got my Prius Yesterday:

Vehicle registration fee came to $225. This includes $47 for a registration fee, and $7 for Ventura County fees. Thus, the vehicle license fee (VLF) for this new car is $178. This is 0.67 % of the cars value, and can be used as a tax deduction if you itemize your taxes. This part of the vehicle registration drops each year, as the car's estimated value drops.

For comparison, VLF for a 2000 Grand Caravan this year was $102, and for a 1995 Ford Escort $14.

The controversy you may have heard relating to car registration refers to the VLF fees; these had gone back up to historical levels until they were reduced again by our new Governer. These were calculated as 2 % of the car's value, or $534 for the Prius, $313 for the Caravan and $52 for the Ford.

The big tax is sales tax, for me $1909.29, since I live in Ventura County with a 7.35 % tax.

So, compared to other cars, the tax on a Prius is not a significant factor in 'total cost' of ownership. Except, of course, for the obvious that if you buy a much cheaper car, you will pay much less in taxes.

The car is very quiet, compared to a 1995 Ford Escort!

Write your state legislator. States ought to give tax breaks for cars that pollute less, because reduced air pollution benefits the community. (In contrast, fuel economy by itself is less deserving of a tax reduction because it already gives the owner a direct and immediate benefit.)

Is MD the only state that is tax free? The Prius will be my first car in MD (used to live in jersey), but hybrid vehicles are tax free here (not the civic).

I bought my Prius in MD, but I live in DC.

It would have been Tax Free had I been a MD resident, but I got nicked for 6% of sale price.

I've already pestered my Councilman about how the District should waive the tax as a clean air incentive. We are on the verge of getting fined millions by the EPA if we have too many "Code Red" days this year.

Actually, when I bought my car in WV (but registered it in Maryland where I live) it wasn't "tax free" but the state waives up to $1,500 in taxes if you buy a hybrid so the $1,300 that I would have owed on my $26,000 Prius made it look like it was tax free. If the law stays static, as the price of the prius rises, some folks will eventually find themselves owing some sales tax in Maryland, but not until the sales price goes over $30,000.

Rick
04 Salsa Red BC
Mount Airy