Holy Crap, can someone please tell me this is a mistake

[Raineyrocks]

My husband went to register our cars at the town clerks today and they told him it would cost over or about $800 for our 2 cars.  Is that a one time fee or every year?  Is  there any way to get out of paying all of that money?  We are almost broke already after the move and Rick still hasn't found a job.
We have about another month before we have to register them, but I just can't believe it costs that much to register cars here!
I have a 2003 minivan and I was thinking about trading it in and getting a smaller car because of gas $$, would it be cheaper to do that or would I still have to pay the same amount to register it even though I would've bought it in New Hampshire and not change-over from a different state?
If anybody knows anything about this, please help me.

[Lex]

I don't remember exactly but I think we paid something like $90 for a '97 Ford Windstar and $70 for a '98 Subaru Forester when we registered our cars this year. The Ford came from Illinois when we moved and the Subaru we bought here if that makes a difference but I don't think that affects the price, I believe only the year and model of the car affect how much you have to pay.

[Russell Kanning]

Places like MT are cheaper.

[Raineyrocks]

Hi Russell, what is MT?
Hi Lex, would you have any idea why they want to charge us so much more than you had to pay? I mean, you transfered 1 of your cars from a different state and it was only $90 to do so, I just don't see where they can charge us hundreds more just because our Ford Windstar is a 2003, and my husband's truck is a 97 Ford Ranger.
We live in Grafton county, do you think it varies with each county? Yikes, if it does I wish we would've moved to a different county. 
I know when the Sears guys came out to deliver our appliances, he asked us if this was our vacation home and I laughed and said, "yeah right, we've never owned a vacation home".  Then he was telling us about all of the rich people in this area that own 4 or 5 houses as vacation homes and we were one of the few "real people" he has ever delivered to in this area. So I don't know, maybe we are out of our league up here.
I mean we didn't pay tons for our house and it is nice but the house we sold in Maryland, the floors were ready to fall in because of foundation problems.
Rick and I laugh sometimes because this is the nicest house we have ever lived in, even as kids, I just hope he finds a job or we won't be in this house for very long.  But the houses in Maryland costs over $300,000 easy and you didn't even get a couple of acres so we thought this was a great deal.  My mind is just blown about these car registration prices. Do you pay every year for registration up here?
Anyhow, I talk (write) too much so I'll just stop and try to stay on the subject, I swear I have ADD or something, I can't even work on upacking the same rooms for over an hour and then I have to switch to something else. My kids always say , "Mom you ramble so much I think people stop following what you are talking about".
Thanks for the info and if anyone else has anymore please let me know and I promise not to write this much in all my replys.

[Spencer]

"At first blush, New Hampshire looks like the most-tax-friendly place in the U.S. to buy a vehicle. In fact, it is one of the least tax-friendly states (five-year total: $2,045) because fees assessed statewide by towns add several hundred dollars each year to what you pay."

"A couple of surprises: New York ($891) is only the 12th most expensive state, and 'Taxachusetts' ($1,104) is only 17th most expensive."

"As you might guess, California ($2,212) shows up on the highest-tax list. Also among the ten most taxed are Arizona ($2,378), New Hampshire ($2,045), Iowa ($2,043), Minnesota ($1,931), Utah ($1,889), Colorado ($1,790) and Washington, D.C. ($1,651)."

http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/features/archives/2006/04/cartax.html

[Kat Kanning]

MT = Montana.  He wasn't actually being very helpful 

[mvpel]

Part of the fee is what's essentially a personal property tax on the value of the vehicle.  They look at the market price of the vehicle in the year it was sold, then they do a sliding scale of percentages of that number for the tax.  It's deductable on your Schedule D as a personal property tax.  And there's additional town-assessed fees that vary from town to town.

If you inquire with the town, they can explain the forumla to you.  The state formula is covered in RSA 261:153, and 154 is what the town is authorized -

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXI/261/261-153.htm

The state scale goes 18 mills for a new car, 15 for 1 year old, 12 for 2, 9, 6, and 3.  The town is allowed another 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 mill.

Our 2000 Acura 3.2TL now costs 3 mills per dollar of the 2000 list price, which was about $27,000, coming to about $80.  The first year under this formula would have been nearly $500 for one year.

With a 2003 vehicle you're at the 9 mill rate, I think - so for my own car that'd be around $250, and if the town is collecting another 3, that adds another $80 to the tab, totalling a bit over $300.

I presume your other car is newer, or higher value to get you up to the $800 mark?  Or are they collecting the remainder of this year as well as all of next year?

You may talk to the clerk too about working out some sort of payment arrangement, I'm sure you're not the first people to have had trouble getting hit with a big bill.  They might not be able to do anything, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[BobCollins]

As I am considering a move to NH, this subject was of interest to me.

This was what I was able to find: The the motor vehicle registration fees include a weight-based state fee ($37.20 for 3001-5000 GVW), a state-designated city fee based on initial list price which, as a millage, decreases over the first 5 years and then stays constant (18, 12, 9, 6, 3, 3, ...) and various other fees each of a few dollars.

The other millage that mvpel referred to is the new (2003) public parking facilities fee which only applies to towns with populations greater than 50,000. That certainly would not apply to Grafton.
Info here : http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXI/261/261-154.htm

In addition, they will collect more or less than a years fees your first year to align the registration to the owner's birth month.

For those of you already paying these fees in NH, do I have it correct? If so, I'm not sure how Kiplinger came up with their $2045 for the first 5 years on an '06 Camry. Sounds high.

[tracysaboe]

Hi Russell, what is MT?

I think he means Montana

TRacy

[tracysaboe]

MT = Montana.  He wasn't actually being very helpful 

Didn't you say your car was registered in a different state by an insurence company in that state? And they know you're in NH and they're rating you for it accordingly? But since it's not registered in NH, you don't need to pay the fees right?

Tracy

[KBCraig]

*pssst*... hey you... yeah, you, over there, being a NH resident an' all... Wanna save some taxes and fees? I've got a solution fer yous. Incorporate. Pick a tax free state like Nevada, or a cheap vehicle state like Montana. Register yer vehicles there, in your corporate name.

And, vee-oh-lah. No worries about paying 18 mills to yer Noo Hampshah town. Yous veehickles is registurd to yers coipitations in annudder state, sohs ya pays whuddever that state sez you pay.

Simple, hey?

[aries]

*pssst*... hey you... yeah, you, over there, being a NH resident an' all... Wanna save some taxes and fees? I've got a solution fer yous. Incorporate. Pick a tax free state like Nevada, or a cheap vehicle state like Montana. Register yer vehicles there, in your corporate name.

And, vee-oh-lah. No worries about paying 18 mills to yer Noo Hampshah town. Yous veehickles is registurd to yers coipitations in annudder state, sohs ya pays whuddever that state sez you pay.

Simple, hey?

Incorporating comes with many other legal benefits. For instance you don't need permission from local police chiefs to buy NFA weapons like machine guns and sawed off shotguns.

[Dave Ridley]

i only pay a forgettable amount for my 98 coup , which was worth 15 grand new....  It's around 60 bucks a year.   And since I forgot what I paid for it in 2004 when I moved here, it must not have been that much...

[FTL_Ian]

Incorporation is playing the government's game.  It makes you subject to more of their rules.  Corporations are legal fictions.  I don't think Liberty minded people should be encouraging people to bow down to the state in that way.

[d_goddard]

Incorporation is playing the government's game.  It makes you subject to more of their rules.  Corporations are legal fictions.  I don't think Liberty minded people should be encouraging people to bow down to the state in that way.

I respectfully disagree.
This is the same mistaken line of reasoning as "voting is just playing their game."

Incorporating can save you lots of money. It does "support them" insamuch as one is "buying into their system", but at the same time, if the end result is a at least a few hundred bucks a year you can spend on pro-Freedom causes, it seems to me like an easy calculation. Well-chosen, those few hundred bucks can have a HUGE impact in effecting real change. Like, maybe becoming an FTL AMPlifier, or donating to FSP or NHLA, or just getting yourself to NH a few months quicker!