Q. I have a 2011 Ford F-150 pickup truck. It is not for commercial use but only for local driving and pleasure that also has a permanent attached shell on it. I pay a commercial registration fee every year even though it is not used in that manner. However, my question is concerning the Department of Motor Vehicle registration fees. I always thought that as a vehicle ages, the registration fee goes down. Last year, in 2022, I paid $318 for registration and now in 2023 it is $323. What is the deal with increased registration as vehicles gets older? Is this just another California rip-off or what? I am sure others would like to understand this as well.
– John E. Hamilton, Lake Forest
A. There are a few notable things about getting older that are quite dandy — smarter decisions about eating, drinking, sleeping and credit cards, for example.
Honk, like you, John, thought aging vehicles had an upside, too — lowered registration fees.
Kind of.
“Only the Vehicle License Fee is reduced each year based on a depreciation table and for this specific vehicle, the current Vehicle License Fee of $31 is the minimum that will be charged annually,” Angelica De La Pena, a DMV spokeswoman, told Honk in an email.
In the truck’s case, John, the $5 bump was the result of fees tied to the Consumer Price Index rising: $3 for the specific registration fee, and a buck each for the California Highway Patrol and the transportation improvement fees.
De La Pena did suggest a way to win a nice windfall, though — proving to the DMV that the truck isn’t used for commercial purposes.
That camper shell is a piece of evidence that Perry Mason would have licked his chops over.
“A pickup truck with a permanently attached camper shell may be eligible to be registered as an auto, which would eliminate the annual commercial-weight fee that is assessed on commercially plated vehicles,” she said. “For this specific vehicle, the annual $154 weight fee would no longer be assessed…
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