Actually it has more to do with use. Big heavy trucks will do more damage to a road than a lighter weight car. Ironically you could have a hybrid truck that would cost more than a gas hogging sports car.
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Actually it has more to do with use. Big heavy trucks will do more damage to a road than a lighter weight car. Ironically you could have a hybrid truck that would cost more than a gas hogging sports car.
There's a $300 charge for getting a plate for the first time. This has been on the books for about 15 years, but there have been good budget years when the state has waived this charge. I don't remember paying this for vehicle #1 in 1998 when we moved down here, (only brought one car down) but we definitely paid it when we went to having a second vehicle at the same time in 2001.
And that's before you pay for the plate itself, which as SWGB has said, is based on size/weight of the vehicle.
The nice thing for long-time residents is that once you get the plate, you don't have to pay the $300 again if you sell a car and then move the old plate to a new vehicle; you just keep paying the annual renewal fee (adjusted for different vehicle size as need be)
Most people don't realize it either because they get it with a new car. The dealership conveniently rolls it into the total price, unless you are trading in. They do mention turning in the old plate, but I've always kept mine, I paid for it after all.
The dealers we've bought from have actually asked if we had an old plate we were bringing with us or if we needed a new one. And even pulled it off the trade-in and put on the new car as part of the 'drive it off the lot all sparkly' service.
That's true, I've never believed in trading in a car to the dealership as they usually make the trade in amount sound great, when in actuality it barely makes up the mark up they work onto the sticker. I've always bought the new car and then sold the old car independently, then paying off a nice chuck of principle with the proceeds.
We usually do the drive it til it's dead and then let whoever wants to haul it off route, but when I wanted to go from the Corolla to something a little more substantial, neither of us wanted to deal with going the private seller route when I still owed money on the car when they was a lot of other crud we were dealing with at that point in our lives. (I love my current car and plan to get 200K miles out of it, but realize there were a series of less than financially smart moves we made involving that purchase. At least we got really good loan terms on it.)
Wow, this really is a busy forum, Im glad I found it!
Thanks for the replies, everyone. So far, were loving it. Im teaching the martial arts classes at The Studio in Seaside now and have been able to meet a few people but its still slow going.
The license plates and registration for 2 cars came to about $800 total. A hefty bill we were *not* expecting when we moved. =\
However, the lifestyle here is more than worth it. I think one of my favorites thus far (besides walking the beach with a mocha) is grabbing a box of oysters at Shrimpers and just shucking, eating, and drinking the evening away. Does anyone here ever have oyster eating get-togethers...?
Thanks for the replies, everyone. So far, were loving it. Im teaching the martial arts classes at The Studio in Seaside now and have been able to meet a few people but its still slow going.
The license plates and registration for 2 cars came to about $800 total. A hefty bill we were *not* expecting when we moved. =\
However, the lifestyle here is more than worth it. I think one of my favorites thus far (besides walking the beach with a mocha) is grabbing a box of oysters at Shrimpers and just shucking, eating, and drinking the evening away. Does anyone here ever have oyster eating get-togethers...?
Yes. On the beach.
