License Transfer Fee?

No you can't do it yourself. The state kind of wants to know what car the plates are on so they can get you when they want to. The title is the paper that proves who owns the car. In my case the bank. They hold the title and will give it to me when I pay the car off. The state charges for this thus the title charge. The Licence fee is separate and varies from state to state. In Washington you can not move the plates from one car to another except vanity plates so when you get a new car you get new plates at least as far as I know. Every few years you have to get new plates and that costs extra in Washington. Every state has different rules. In Washington if you get a car out of state you have to pay the difference from out of state sales tax and Washington in my case 2k+ as Montana has no sales tax. Milage varies from state to state but it is all spelled out in state law.

 

If you switch plates yourself between cars, when you get pulled over, they might think you've stolen the car because their records don't match with what they see. The plate is more than just the numbers, because those numbers carry meaning in the form of information on the make and model and so forth.

 

In any case, the fee, as most government fees, especially DMV fees, seems stupidly high. Does it really cost that much to plug number into a computer? It's like how you have to pay 25 bucks here to renew your license...25 bucks for one line in a computer and a tiny little sticker to stick on your license.

Then again, at the speed the DMV works, we're propably paying that much because they charge for the hour. :mrgreen:

This does reinforce my belief that if we need to do an anti-trust case, the government makes a good target, since there are never any alternatives to the price-gouging of services that the same entity requires us to use.

 

I don't know about your state but I think around here it takes one person to do the work and 3 or 4 to supervise it. All are getting paid. Probably does cost 80 bucks and in Chicago there are probably kick backs and other stuff I don't want to know about.

 

Welcome to the world of user fees. Doesn't that sound so much better than taxes? There are many ways to charge vehicle owners for the use of the road. Clearly the plate fees are not based on the cost of the raw materials. Illinois has a budget gap and we are paying through the nose or any other convenient access point.

Fortunately, Illinois does not issue new plates (front and back in this state) very often. Unfortunately, a change in the plate fees took effect Jan. 1 of 2004. IF you received a random plate number AND the next time you need a plate (not just the annual sticker) for your car, the fee for keeping that random number will include the charge for a personalized plate.

That was enough to help me convince family members that it was not too expensive to get the personalized plate we wanted now (that is, as soon as the car gets here... now? ... now? ...)

 

Happily, we have no annual property taxes on vehicles in Illinois. Now, keep quiet before the governor hears you. They need money, you know.

--Dan.