DMV Help?

[Ryan Wright]

Keith,

Can't speak for California but this is typical of government agencies.
The DMV here in Washington will usually go by what you say you paid,
but not always. Sometimes they randomly decide what you paid was too
low and try to charge you sales tax based on what they decide the
vehicle is worth.

Case in point, I was given, for free, a junked car. I took it because
I wanted the motor. It was only running on 3 cylinders and needed a
rebuild but otherwise everything was there. The rest of the car was
trashed and the transmission was blown, so it was basically worthless.
DMV refused to let me transfer title, claimed the car was worth
several thousand dollars and tried to make me pay sales tax on that
amount.

Here's how I "fought" it: Since they refused to tell me what an
"acceptable" price to pay for the car was, I had to guess. With
cooperation from the person who gave it to me, we made up several
bills of sale listing sale prices starting at $50 and going up from
there. The first DMV office refused to transfer at $50. I went back
later and got a different "customer service" person with a $100 bill
of sale; they refused transfer. I took a $200 bill of sale to a second
DMV and they transferred it.

Sometimes you just have to beat them with persistence. My suggestion
is to go back to the DMV office and insist that you didn't pay that
much for the vehicle and you aren't going to pay that much in taxes.
If they fight you, take your documents, leave, and go to another DMV
office. Do NOT explain the situation to the next DMV office! Just
start from scratch with, "I want to register my vehicle." Play dumb.
When they come up with the high price, protest gently and do not bring
up your previous incidents, just pretend this is your first time. I
can't stress "play dumb" enough. Ask basic, honest, simple minded
questions like, "Why is it so high?" and "But I didn't pay that much.
Why are you charging me for that?"

If you don't get anywhere, thank the agent for his time and move on to
another DMV office. After 3 or 4 tries you should run into someone
with half a brain who will say, "You're right, something is wrong
here. Let me fix this for you."

It's called "social engineering" ... Play the game with them and you will win.

-Ryan


On 7/13/07, Keith Strehle wrote:
>
> When I called to ask why the license fee was so high the DMV wouldn't
> tell me the value they had listed for the Bird. But they did say it
> was much higher than the sale price. The license fee is over $1k.
>
> If they came up with their own idea of what the bird is worth how did
> they do it? They had no idea what kind of condition it was in when I
> bought it. For all they know it could be sitting on blocks. And why
> would they see the bird as different from SOB?
>
> How do I go about contesting this perceived value?
>
> Thanks, Keith
> 84FC35