Q for Washington State residents

[Gerard]

Black California plates (first issued 1963) are now eligible (last year or so) for YOM (Year of Manufacture) assignment. Blue plates will be next, but it may be a while. ... and yes, I do keep them for wall decore...

 

[OopsClunkThud]

Blue plates (as well as black or any other California plate) can always be reassigned back to the car if you have a copy of the title or registration showing that they were once assigned. This is separate from the YOM program and doesn't cost anything.

Even if the car is leaving California it's often worth keeping them in case it comes back.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Which is why I said to "lose" them, along with the registration to prove attachment.

I've got both black plates for my 1950 Tudor, purchased in Oakland in January of 1970. And the registration.

 

[RaserX]

Well see if e eBay survives the nexus. Only a matter of time before the greedy politicians take
More Money out of our pockets.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

The whole purpose of NEXUS is to nab evilbait, internet sales, out-of-state sales. PayUp has already been assimilated.
Why do you think the big push was to mandate PayUp only?
As of 01JAN this year, all credit card sales are reported to the IRS, and will be matched to the business's returns.
That includes PayUp.
I have been out of business a little over a year now, and was well versed in what NEXUS is going to mean. Last I heard 47 states had signed on.

Cost of doing business will go up. Join the NEXUS net, buy another terminal, key in A) invoice number, B) amount, and C) ZIP code, and it tells you how much to collect. End of the month you get a bill, how much sales tax you get the privilege to send in, PLUS monthly membership, PLUS fees.

Bezos has been allegedly fighting collecting sales taxes with Amazon, but not really. He's all for it, as soon as they make it everybody and not just him.
Unless you hadn't guessed, we have all been had.

Look at magazines.
We had a convention here 2 years ago. 1/4 of the dealers dropped out after they read what NEXUS was all about.
Magazine publishers, under the rules in force then, could not hand out free magazine samples, as that set a sales "presence" in the state.
Once implemented, not only do the publishers need to pay cost of doing business in their state/county/city, but now they get to collect sales taxes on magazines sold not only inside their state but outside.

Not going to be pretty, but that's okay. We didn't build our businesses...somebody else did.

 

[nomad]

Well IMHO state sales tax should be done away with in lew of higher property taxes. But then the rich would have to pay a larger share and we couldn't have that. When you are talking about something that is so sensitive to state borders, state sales taxes have always been a can of worms that waste huge numbers of man hours just to police.
When you are talking something as mobile as an auto just look at the potential of the amount of tax that a car could be hit with in its life.

My .02

Kurt.

 

[BillW103]

Rumor has it Wash state is looking at a yearly fee on collector cars.
I’m not rich and raising my property tax would heart. Do rich people not pay sales tax?

 

[Gerard]

Blue plates (as well as black or any other California plate) can always be reassigned back to the car if you have a copy of the title or registration showing that they were once assigned. This is separate from the YOM program and doesn't cost anything.

Even if the car is leaving California it's often worth keeping them in case it comes back.

Good point and true for the most part.

I have a 1946 Austin 10 that came with original issue 1951 California license plates. I managed to prove to DMV that the plates were original to the car, but after waiting 6 months for the paperwork to come back approved, it was instead all returned (rejected) and I was informed the number could not be used on a car because is was a number sequence designated for motorcycles. I was instructed to return to a DMV field office and start again! (Do Not Pass Go...) WTF?... I clearly have automobile plates in my hands that match the 1951 California registration paperwork!!

I have a friend who is a former DMV attorney and he gave me some insights on how to get someone's attention. To make a long story short, I managed to make direct contact with the department head of YOM. When I explained to her the situation, she immediately went to work to review my documents and make it happen. She explained that the number sequence of this plate was the number/letter combination common to the motorcycle sequence and that their computers were not up to date enough to understand this sequence as a car without a manual entry. I had the reg stickers in less than a week. However, my renewal has an additional "Special Plate Fee" attached, even tough it is NOT YOM, but an original issue plate. Once again, I was informed that it's the ancient computer system that doesn't know what to do with my plate number. I send my payment directly to this manager and she does a manual override for the correct fees, but I'm sure I'd be stuck paying them otherwise.

It's sort of a moot point now though as CA DMV has in recent years raised reg fees for these vintage cars from ~$30 a year to ~$100, so I have resorted to reg-ing several of the my cars as non-op. SO now they get nothing instead of the $30. It's not an option for most situations, but the projects and little driven cars that I used to keep current is just now too expensive to keep them all current. It adds up when you have 5 or 6 cars! Getting historic vehicle plates here doesn't help because they still want registration renewal fees every year.

 

[nomad]

Rumor has it Wash state is looking at a yearly fee on collector cars.
I’m not rich and raising my property tax would heart. Do rich people not pay sales tax?

What I'm saying is that everyone consumes about the same whether rich or poor and therefore pays about the same sales tax annually but people with a lot more property would be hit harder.
If your sales tax was offset by property tax would that be so bad, Bill?
I live right on the border between Ia and So Dak and get audited regularly by the state to make sure I am paying the correct sales tax. The state of Iowa does not charge sales tax on farm equipment or supplies. South Dakota does and that, of course, includes items bought out of state.
Until recently all vehicles in South Dakots that were 20yrs old or older payed around $20 a yr. Unfortunatly those days are done.

Kurt

 

[Deleted member 8987]

I have a 1946 Austin 10 that came with original issue 1951 California license plates. I managed to prove to DMV that the plates were original to the car, but after waiting 6 months for the paperwork to come back approved, it was instead all returned (rejected) and I was informed the number could not be used on a car because is was a number sequence designated for motorcycles. I was instructed to return to a DMV field office and start again! (Do Not Pass Go...) WTF?... I clearly have automobile plates in my hands that match the 1951 California registration paperwork!!

I have a friend who is a former DMV attorney and he gave me some insights on how to get someone's attention. To make a long story short, I managed to make direct contact with the department head of YOM. When I explained to her the situation, she immediately went to work to review my documents and make it happen. She explained that the number sequence of this plate was the number/letter combination common to the motorcycle sequence and that their computers were not up to date enough to understand this sequence as a car without a manual entry. I had the reg stickers in less than a week. However, my renewal has an additional "Special Plate Fee" attached, even tough it is NOT YOM, but an original issue plate. Once again, I was informed that it's the ancient computer system that doesn't know what to do with my plate number. I send my payment directly to this manager and she does a manual override for the correct fees, but I'm sure I'd be stuck paying them otherwise.

Funny bit on computers (or idiot clerks) and license numbers.
15-16 years ago I got a letter in the mail from some town in Pennsylvania, threatening me with legal action and to have my license pulled by MY state over unpaid tickets.
I asked one of the local cops who hung out at our shop about it....he took the letter, ran the plates, and came up with.....me. "Do you own a 1970 Honda CL-175 motorcycle?"

I had to go pull it out of the shed where it resided for the prior ten years.

I wrote the town in question a nice letter....explaining that this motorcycle is an on-off road bike, hadn't been licensed in 10 years or on the road, no way could it drive cross country.....and that possible retaining on the part of law enforcement might just be in order if the plates were "VA", or even "MA" instead of "WA"....that the number/letter combination given for WA was for a motorcycle, not an automobile, and should they decide to threaten legal action again, please be advised copies of this original letter and current response filed with local police department.

Never heard another word.

 

[Boink]

Speaking of goofy fines. I received a fine (or bill) for driving across the I-520 (Evergreen Pt. bridge) last winter. I called them up and said "um, I wasn't there." They didn't care!

I finally figured out that my son (age 28) was the culprit. I'd co-signed the loan on his car and the darn dealership down here in Portland put my name on it too! Because, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I'm FIRST on the title, the Washington State people looked me up and send me the bill. Again, they didn't care if it was me or not. "Pay up." While my first reaction was "come and get it you suckers" I realized that I do occasionally go up there and I suppose they'll eventually get me.

Needless to say, I forwarded it to me son. But, gads, you could be visiting up there with out-of-state plates and they want their, was it, $3 for zipping by their cameras on the bridge. [BTW, I remember the toll booths there so long ago and the book of tickets we used to keep in the car.]