Hi,
Any E-Type owners in Maryland? I’m moving across the country and am about to renew my CA tags. It’s just a plane old car here. I know Maryland has an historic registration, and a tax rate for cars coming in, but the DMV web page is not clear on the BEST way to do this. Keep my CA license for a year. (gunna be hard to give up my black plates) or bite the bullet on MD registration.
Help please,
Brian
Brian,
I have kept my CA plates while I moved around the country for over 30 years. As long as they don’t need smog, it’s no big deal, just change your mailing address with the DMV. And with their new online registration and automatic reminders, it’s even easier.
VA and MD seem to be in some kind of peeing contest with each other’s out of state plates, but thankfully DC seems to be keeping out of it. And they totally ignore old cars like ours. There’s too many military, diplomats, and transitory politicos for them to worry about it.
I say keep your black plates. As I’m sure you know, once you give them up, your only option is YOM.
Wait, so you’re saying CA DMV will mail my tags to MD if I just change my address (even out of state) and keep paying them?
I don’t see any incentive for CA to stop taking your money. The aggrieved party is the state that you move to. CA periodically gets tough on folks who live there but register their vehicles out of state to avoid the high CA taxes.
I’m surprised they would mail tags out of state.
Maybe I’m a cynic, but my point was why wouldn’t they? It’s a source of revenue to them with the only expense being the cost of a stamp. Of course, any car built since 1975 will require periodic smog testing by a CA License Smog Station, so the number of affected vehicles is pretty small.
Yup, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Most states require you to transfer registrations within 90 days once you move.
One exception used to be if one was in the military. Most, if not all, states allowed active duty military to keep their home state registration, plates and driver’s licenses while they were stationed in a different state.
I see there is no uniformity across states today.
According to the Maryland DOT website:
As a new resident of Maryland how long do I have to register my vehicle?
As a new resident of Maryland you must register your vehicle within 60 days of moving to Maryland. If you delay beyond 60 days, you will not be eligible for a tax credit for any titling tax paid in another state, and you may be subject to a citation for an out of state registration. You’ll need to present your title certificate at one of the MVA’s full service offices.
More information for new Maryland residents…
That seems pretty clear.
As for California, this may help.
Yes, I believe in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) it’s 60 days. But because so many people live in one state but work in one of the others, not to mention all the military and foreign diplomats, it’s impossible to enforce that.
As I stated, VA and MD have announced plans to target each other’s out-of-state plates, but I can’t see how that’s even possible. In NW DC, just on Connecticut Ave, 85,000 cars come in from MD every day.
And unlike CA, the DMV actually tolerates classic cars !
The biggest worry here is speed cameras.
So if I register in MD how, as a car, as an historical vehicle? Is there a price difference? The web site says there is a discount to reg early. Is there a tax to bringi n the car? based on what? Price paid 10 years ago, estimated value? The web site seems to be set up for new cars.
Sorry Brian, I have no idea. I don’t live in MD nor do I have any cars registered there.
I think they’ll charge you 6% of the cars fair market value, much like they do in VA.
I look at it as a property tax-like fee.
I suggest you start with John’s New Resident link above.
Brian,
You have my sympathy - titling and registering cars, particularly historic/classic cars in the US can be a stressful thing and each state has its own rules, many of which are not immediately obvious by trawling the web sites of the state DMVs. I think the link found by John, or this one: Titling – Out-of-State Vehicle Moved to MD by Owner - Pages (which has a different title, but appears to contain very similar text - maybe one link is current, and the other not?) seem to be the best starting point. As I read it, the risk of not titling/registering (different things, by the way) the car in MD within 60 days is that if they find out (all it probably takes is a police stop for an unrelated matter) you will be cited and may have to pay the 6% sales tax that you would otherwise be exempt from - this could be a big chunk of change if it is based on current value. States differ widely on this issue. For example, the annual registration cost of a car in Arizona is based on the original list price of the car depreciated over time, whereas in California is it based on your purchase price depreciated since the time you bought it. So, if you purchase an E-Type for $100K, the annual registration cost starts out at around $720/year (of which around $70 is fixed, and $650 is based on the depreciated value). If, instead you register the car in Arizona the original list price (around $6000) is depreciated to almost nothing due to the 50+ year age of the car, and registration is around $20/year. In Arizona, private sales are also exempt from car sales tax (which you pay when you title the car), whereas in California they are around 10% of the purchase price. No politics allowed here, so remember that in all responses - suffice to say, it makes a difference where you live in the US, and it’s wise to do the research if you want to avoid surprises when you move… Good luck in sorting this out, and all the best for your move.
That seems to be a pretty comprehensive answer. More so as it appears David has no “skin in the game”.
Around these parts the local PD has been known to stake out the school drop offs. Pretty good chance if your kids are in school here, you live here.
Cheer, Alan
Brian,
If Virginia is an option for you, you can get the antique vehicle registration details here: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. It was pretty inexpensive to title my car in VA because I was exempt from the Sales and Use tax as a result of having an out-of-state title that I was transferring. I chose to register my car as an antique, which carried a $50 one-time registration and plate fee. After that, no annual registration fees, no annual state safety inspection and no annual emission inspection. And in my county (Fairfax), the personal property tax rate on antique vehicles is so low it appears that they don’t bother to bill for it.
Regardless of where you end up, keep in touch. There is a pretty sizeable E-type community in the National Capital Area and we’re always happy to welcome more members.
Bob
Alan, I’m not sure how you come by that assumption. I own a car I bought in MD and currently have it titled and registered in VA. Wife has her car registered in DC.
No offense to any MD natives, but there is no way we would ever consider living in MD.
Brian, if you want to contact me via PM, I’ll give you more details.
My ‘65 Mustang lived in Texas for a few years, while still being registered in CA, on its original black plates.
The CA pink slip had a Dallas mailing address on it, and when I brought it back to CA, that process was totally seamless.
That has not been my experience.
While CA charges you an initial tax based on your stated purchase price, it seems to have no bearing on annual registration fees. All of my classic car seem to hover around $100/year, regardless of their value. I seriously doubt there’s anyone out there paying $720/year to register their E-type.
New cars are a different story…the initial annual fee is based on the value, and then drops over time as the car depreciates. There must be an vehicle age where they stop following the value-based algorithm.
Same deal here: both the Jaguar and the Rover cost approximately the same, per annum, as each other.