We pick on California a lot, and there may be more than a tiny grain of truth to that statement. But let’s be serious: California brings much of it on itself. California abounds with unparalleled natural beauty but gets yoked by horrible politics. This has crushed the state; what was once eutopia is now ravaged by violence. Drug use stains the streets. But outside of that, it's alright! But seriously, though, it can do better
We are about to find out why the state chooses to be so bad on car registration. California DMV fees, penalties, and the general way it all works have long been known to be the most complicated of all the 50 states - and in many cases, unnecessarily so. Let’s walk through California’s car registration situation and see what alternatives you might have to avoid all this nonsense.
California: A Primer
California was once the intersection of culture and industry; it was home to more auto plants than anywhere else. Lockheed Corporation, which became Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, was born there. Skunk Works, heroes of the Cold War, was a fixture in Palmdale. California, was the home to much of the aerospace and aviation manufacturing in the U.S. at the time.
And it wasn’t just aerospace and automotive; California was a legitimate, booming blue-collar state where the average family could work, attend school, and live comfortably. Why wouldn’t you? With immediate access to some of the most excellent weather in the world, hundreds of miles of beaches, mountain ranges, and ski resorts? It’s paradise.
But it has slowly eroded to a state where people are leaving so fast that you can’t even find moving a truck to leave it in. You know that if Snopes is admitting it, then it is true. It was even worse in 2020 than in 2021. So why bring up these painful truths? I’m painting a picture of the harsh realities everyone knows to be true, even if they won’t admit it.
The Insane Cost of Living
According to CNBC, California is the third most expensive state in the U.S., predictably only behind New York and Hawaii, earning them a big, fat F in the cost of living category. So yes, we know some parts of the state are tolerably priced, but they are remote at best.
The median home price in California cracked $800,000 back in October. The median price of a home in the U.S. is $374,900. That puts the median in California at about 113% over the U.S. median. It literally costs an average of over twice as much just to buy a house in California, let alone to do anything else, and as you might expect from the title of this article, that includes registering a car in California.
Environmentalists
The Pacific Northwest is stunning, an excellent reminder that we all must keep our planet cleaner than we found it. But at what cost to rationality and common sense? What California does often seems, well, unhinged. We have discussed CARB and how their approach seems misdirected at best. So it is telling when The Economist admits that California’s environmentalism is good for the earth but isn’t very good for Californians; you know that it’s a problem.
This begs the question: what difference does it make for the environment when all Californians leave and go elsewhere? Because they are. But we’ll get into the specifics of the California smog program in just a little bit. For here, it is enough to know that the insane environmental demands of the state on its constituents are choking the economy. For example, the environmental standards to build a house in 2019 are 50% more strict than just three years prior. By the way, stricter regulations always equal higher costs. Always.
We’re not against saving the environment at all, but asking the average person to pay over twice the national average for a new house due in large part to extremely strict building standards is certainly a factor in people looking elsewhere and taking their cars with them.
Out of Control Crime
We’ve all seen the pictures. Human waste and used needles litter the streets of San Francisco (a city in which the average home price is a staggering $1.36 million). Train tracks in Los Angeles were so littered with stolen boxes that they may have caused a train to derail.
With the passing of Proposition 47, theft of anything valued under $950 goes mainly unpunished, ushering in veritable crime waves across the major cities. In LA county alone, homicides increased by 94% in 2021 over 2019 numbers.
This isn’t a political blog; we are here to talk about your car registration. But we must be honest when hard truths are before us: roving bands of looters sound like something out of ‘Escape From L.A.’ instead of the New York Post, yet here we are. But we get it: not all of California is like L.A. or San Francisco. But the housing prices are awful around the whole state, and the whole state is subject to the same draconian regulations imposed by the California DMV when it comes to registering your vehicle.
The California DMV
This brings us to the crux of the issue: the California DMV. Ok, here’s a paradox for you to consider: you might be in hotter water with the authorities for illegally running a red sticker dirt bike at a state park than you would be for robbing a CVS.
But assuming you have made it through all of this madness and are in for the long haul, you are undoubtedly familiar with the California DMV and the California DMV registration process. I am personally convinced that the sole purpose of the DMV in every state is to ruin your day, but California is particularly soul-crushing. So let’s dig into how.
Titling Your Car Through the California DMV
Unless your vehicle is in one of the exempt categories, you must provide proof of passing a smog check. And before you go thinking that you’re getting an exemption, you probably aren’t. You must return to 1976 to earn an exemption for a gas-powered car or truck. Fortunately, there is no requirement for a motorcycle to have a smog check for a title service, so that’s something at least.
If certain aspects of your car are changed from stock, like the engine or exhaust for example, you may not be able to pass an inspection or smog check until you change them back.
None of these are liable to make your day better. You will need to make an appointment with one of the following for a VIN check to get the process started:
Your friendly California DMV location
A licensed vehicle verifier
A certified auto club employee
The local police
Or, you could title your car out of state and avoid this nonsense. We have several options for out-of-state titles and complimentary registrations and plates. If you think a state that wilfully allows rampant criminal behavior has no rights to your wallet, take your business to another state. Take all of your assets to Montana with our Montana LLC, for example: it is not just for cars, as you can feel free to stash your boats, RVs, and even airplanes there as well.
Car Registration in California
The tax rates in California are devastating for car buyers, a fact we have discussed at length. But when you live in one of the top three most expensive states in America, you think your money will work for something more than watching crime devour the cities.
When you purchase a car or truck, you will get tagged for sales tax on the vehicles for your initial registration. Tax rates vary throughout the state, but the minimum baseline tax rate is 7.5%. The rates increase as local municipalities take their pounds of flesh from here. The highest rate I have personally found was over 10% in the L.A. metro.
The average new car price is around $48,000, so you are obligated to pay up to $4,800 in taxes depending on your locale. But the fees don’t stop at taxes.
Like getting a title, you also must provide proof of smog check for car registration in California. Not a big deal to some, maybe $50 or so. Unless your car isn’t brand new, that is. Look, parts wear out, especially parts exposed to hot, highly corrosive gasses constantly. If you fail the smog check, your car is dead in the water until you pass it. Of course, this isn’t an arbitrary pass or fail. If you fail, you have to repair or replace the faulty components. It might be a cheap sensor, or it might be a complete exhaust system replacement. At any point, registering your car in California could mean spending thousands to leave the emissions shop with a passing test in the same car you arrived in.
Is There A Better Way?
Tunnel vision is a real thing, and we all get it. Unfortunately, we get stuck in where we are at. But you don’t have to be stuck working with the California DMV because there is a better way.
Montana LLC
The Montana LLC is our marquee program for Californians wishing to exit the DMV asylum. In Montana, there are no sales taxes at all.
What does the savings look like for you? For example, registering a pickup that costs $50,000 in California will be at least $3,750 in sales tax. By registering with a Montana LLC, you save almost $2,200 in taxes alone, not to mention there are no inspections or emissions tests in Montana. In addition, once registered, there is just a $150 annual fee to keep the LLC open and then annual auto registration.
The beauty of Montana LLC is that it isn’t just for one car. You can park as many assets under it as you want. If you want to put a boat there, we can do that. Got a big RV? That too.
Register Out of State
We know it is hard to leave, even if your home is in dysfunctional California. Maybe you live in a more reasonable area of the state but are tired of getting torched at the California DMV. We know the feeling, and we have the solutions to get you squared away. Maybe you want to register a dirt bike to never see the red and green sticker program again, or you have a daily driver you need to register for road use immediately, or you want to protect your high-dollar motorhome.
Whatever you need to title or register, Dirt Legal has the solutions to save you money, forgo mandatory inspections, and get on the road now!
John McCoy is a lifelong car and truck enthusiast and has a strong mechanical background off the road. He spent over 13 years in the U.S. Air Force as a crew chief, assigned to the B-1B Lancer, affectionately known as the Bone to those in the community, and the KC-135R Stratotanker. He resides on a small farm in Eastern Kansas where he (sometimes) enjoys fixing ancient farm equipment.