I guess I got off lucky on my titling and registration
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 1:42 pm
I guess I got off lucky.
I bought my Eagle in Florida last month, paid the sales tax to the dealer there after he assured me that Texas and Florida had reciprocity and would not try to hit me for the sales tax again, paid around $10 for a 30 day "in transit" permit, and drove the bus home almost uneventfully (almost . . . that's another thread
).
Once back at home in Texas, I called the local county tax assessor's office (they handle titling, registration, and sales tax on vehicles here in Texas). I asked specifically what I needed to bring in. The clerk said:
- The existing out-of-state title document
- Proof of a TEXAS safety inspection (not a Florida one, no matter how good it was)
- Proof of isurance
- Check book (how much? Depends sir, on a number of things . . . )
So, I went and got a Texas safety inspection. Miraculously, everything that had worked in Florida continued to do so. I thought I was all set.
I carefully scouted the tax assessor's office parking lot, and determined IN ADVANCE that if I had been stupid enough to enter it without the scouting, I would likely never have returned from its tight confines and multiple grass islands, none of which was designed to accept 40 foot vehicles with marginal rearward vision. I parked on the street.
I entered, introduced myself, and prayed.
Things went fairly swimmingly until the clerk asked me for proof of the weight of the bus. I politely mentioned that that requirement appeared to have been overlooked by the clerk on the phone. If she HAD mentioned it, I would have brought it, since I DID have it weighed on a certified CAT scale on the trip home from Florida. This in-person clark said that it was unfortunate I had not been told to bring the weight slip in, as the weight was needed since Texas registration fees are based upon vehicle weight! I was about to resignedly drive the bus home and back again to the assessor's office, when it occurred to me to ask: WHICH weight was needed: actual or GVWR. She said GVWR (since they don't care what a dump truck for example weighs EMPTY, they want the potential MAXIMUM weight.
That's when I said, no problemo! I happen to have the GVWR metal tag for the bus in its dash glove compartment, since it had been detached from a wall during the conversion of the bus and had not ever been reinstalled. She said "Great!".
Things went swimmingly again for a couple of minutes, until we got to the personalized license plate part of the procedure. I am not vain, but I simply have trouble remembering my license plate number, so I wanted something I could remember. She said "Fire away with your preferred ones, and I can tell you right now which ones are taken and which one are not, as our system is live and realtime."
Well, after we determined that all "the good ones" like Eagle1, Eagle3, Eagle5, etc were all taken, and after she re-emphasized that a TOTAL of 6 characters (including any speaces) were the maximum, I had to settle for something far less lofty and romantic than "Eagle1", namely "JimBus". And, they even produced the plate as "JIMBUS", since the legacy computer system used by the clerk does NOT recognize upper versus lower case fonts. Sigh . . .
Well, she added up all the charges for titling, registration, and customized license plate, and it came to something over $300! She DID assure me that "next year" and every year after, it would be "only" about $250 since the titling and personalized plate charges would not repeat.
So, like I said, I think I got off lucky.
I bought my Eagle in Florida last month, paid the sales tax to the dealer there after he assured me that Texas and Florida had reciprocity and would not try to hit me for the sales tax again, paid around $10 for a 30 day "in transit" permit, and drove the bus home almost uneventfully (almost . . . that's another thread
).Once back at home in Texas, I called the local county tax assessor's office (they handle titling, registration, and sales tax on vehicles here in Texas). I asked specifically what I needed to bring in. The clerk said:
- The existing out-of-state title document
- Proof of a TEXAS safety inspection (not a Florida one, no matter how good it was)
- Proof of isurance
- Check book (how much? Depends sir, on a number of things . . . )
So, I went and got a Texas safety inspection. Miraculously, everything that had worked in Florida continued to do so. I thought I was all set.
I carefully scouted the tax assessor's office parking lot, and determined IN ADVANCE that if I had been stupid enough to enter it without the scouting, I would likely never have returned from its tight confines and multiple grass islands, none of which was designed to accept 40 foot vehicles with marginal rearward vision. I parked on the street.
I entered, introduced myself, and prayed.
Things went fairly swimmingly until the clerk asked me for proof of the weight of the bus. I politely mentioned that that requirement appeared to have been overlooked by the clerk on the phone. If she HAD mentioned it, I would have brought it, since I DID have it weighed on a certified CAT scale on the trip home from Florida. This in-person clark said that it was unfortunate I had not been told to bring the weight slip in, as the weight was needed since Texas registration fees are based upon vehicle weight! I was about to resignedly drive the bus home and back again to the assessor's office, when it occurred to me to ask: WHICH weight was needed: actual or GVWR. She said GVWR (since they don't care what a dump truck for example weighs EMPTY, they want the potential MAXIMUM weight.
That's when I said, no problemo! I happen to have the GVWR metal tag for the bus in its dash glove compartment, since it had been detached from a wall during the conversion of the bus and had not ever been reinstalled. She said "Great!".
Things went swimmingly again for a couple of minutes, until we got to the personalized license plate part of the procedure. I am not vain, but I simply have trouble remembering my license plate number, so I wanted something I could remember. She said "Fire away with your preferred ones, and I can tell you right now which ones are taken and which one are not, as our system is live and realtime."
Well, after we determined that all "the good ones" like Eagle1, Eagle3, Eagle5, etc were all taken, and after she re-emphasized that a TOTAL of 6 characters (including any speaces) were the maximum, I had to settle for something far less lofty and romantic than "Eagle1", namely "JimBus". And, they even produced the plate as "JIMBUS", since the legacy computer system used by the clerk does NOT recognize upper versus lower case fonts. Sigh . . .
Well, she added up all the charges for titling, registration, and customized license plate, and it came to something over $300! She DID assure me that "next year" and every year after, it would be "only" about $250 since the titling and personalized plate charges would not repeat.
So, like I said, I think I got off lucky.
Plus yearly 14.50 for the inspection sticker.
