KY DMV Over Values Cruisers?

[Coolerman]

Due to a weird set of circumstances I am being forced to register my FJ40 way before I will be able to drive it.

Current state of affairs: Truck is still in my brothers name though I have the signed over title. My plan was to wait until I was ready to tag it, then register it.

So I call the DMV to see what the property taxes, and registration fees will be. Lady says, well the the truck has not been registered since 2004 but for some reason the computer only shows 2 years of taxes on it that are about $100. (More on this later) Fees total about $40, and lets see a 2/71 land Cruiser is worth about $7000 so sales tax will be about $86 dollars. So I say uh... are you sure that's not $700? Oh no sir, it's $7000 for one in fair condition, $8500 for good condition low miles, and $10000 for one in fine condition low miles!

THEN she tells me that I have to go to the PVA office with pictures of the truck so they can evaluate its value for the other 3 years of taxes... So I ask, well surely it's not going to be valued at $7000 for 5 years of back taxes? She says, yes, usually if value cannot be determined we use the lowest figure on our computers which is $7000 for your truck.

So I have gathered all the rust bucket pictures of my truck and have a meeting with the PVA office at 10:00AM.

Even if they value it at the low end, I'll have more in my registration than the damn thing is worth!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Move to KY if you want a truck worth a lot as far as the state is concerned. I'm also going to see if I can find some ads from KY showing actual value for non-drivable trucks...

 

[Tyler Durden]

That's how they make money. They overvalue everything (I live in VA). My Jeep Cherokee was worth about $1,500 on KBB and elsewhere. They showed it at ~$3,500 for tax purposes. That was more than I paid for it four years earlier. There's also a local/city property tax that didn't take into account condition or mileage. My vehicle was a beat to $hit trail rig with 190k miles.

 

[nodaksn3]

Ditto for Taxachusetts, only we have a wonderful "excise tax". I could never get what the state thinks my 80 is worth. Of course, it ain't for sale anyway Ned

 

[inkpot]

Howdy! In Arizona I was able to sign a waiver for the months/years that it was not drivable. John

 

[Coolerman]

Well headed there now so we will see what the final deal is. I'll ask about the non-drivable for the past 8 years part, but I doubt it will do any good...

 

[apeterson]

haha.. good luck.... hope you did not got my bad luck... but hope it is off me by now...

 

[mooker82]

In SC my taxes are $7.15 a year for my 72 FJ40. It cost me $5 to pay the bill online though. The idiot at the DMV could not figure out how to put Land Cruiser or FJ40 on the registration so it is registered as a "72 Toyota Jeep"

 

[ken_79-fj40]

That sucks. I have antique plates on mine and it's under $30 a year total between the town and state. We get raked over the coals pretty good on anything new though.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Im subscribing to this thread, with teeth grit and fingers crossed, so I can see what Im going to experience once my truck is finally done.

A friend of mine who has a '75 Bronco had warned me about this.

Apparently the Kentucky DMV caught on to all these "Classic Car" owners who were paying next to nothing in property tax on their rides.

 

[pappy]

Howdy! In Arizona I was able to sign a waiver for the months/years that it was not drivable. John

I bought my FJ40 6 years ago and haven't paid a dime except for the fees/taxes to transfer title. It's titled in my name, but not registered so I can't drive it. It was a total basketcase so I didn't bother with registration. I know here in NM, and in CA, you can report to the MVD/DMV that the vehicle isn't running and you can stop registering the vehicle.

 

[shelfboy1]

all those people willing to pay big money for cruisers is catching up to everyone.7000 for a 71 in fair cond seems a little steep where did they get there values from.i geuss 71s on ebay will be going up after people read this post. good luck coolerman hope they dont hurt you to bad.would it save money if you sold it to someone out of state in you bros name then bought it back in your name works here again good luck

 

[lone gunman]

man that sucks! as far a they know here i paid $2000.00 (paid $5000.00) for mine about 7 years ago. and 2 years ago registered it as collector for about $60.00 and dont have buy tabs or pay tax agian unless they change the rules. but it hasnt ran in almost 2 years while i do the injection and some other upgrades (should be up and running this weekend) good luck with it i hope you get a break on it!

 

[3doghouse]

In SC my taxes are $7.15 a year for my 72 FJ40. It cost me $5 to pay the bill online though. The idiot at the DMV could not figure out how to put Land Cruiser or FJ40 on the registration so it is registered as a "72 Toyota Jeep"

Can you pay double to get that straightened out?

 

[Melloj123]

I just registered my 40 in KY, after driving with expired tags for over a year. I had the same thing happen. Told me my 78 40 was worth $8K. Taxes were ridiculous. I ended up registering it as an antique vechicle. Only cost me $75 and don't have to ever renew again.
I know there are some stipulations for driving with antique tags, but the ticket is only $80 if they decide to pull you over and there are tons of gray areas to BS your way out of it.

Good Luck

 

[fieldsken1]

it helps if you take some pictures of other ones for sale in the same condition to show what they are going for then you will have proof that helps

 

[Coolerman]

OK good news and bad news !

First the lady at the PVA office was a very informed battle axe of a woman. I could tell the minute I sat down that she was a no nonsense person. I figured I was screwed royally....

The first thing she asked for were the photos. I had chosen the worst pics from when I originally got it. She looked at those, looked at me, and said, "I thought you were restoring it?" I said, "I am, but, those pics represent how the truck has been for the last eight years. It's not right to value it on the way it looks now. She agreed...

I then directed her to Craigslist where there were two FJ40's for sale in this area. One was a total hack job of a 1978. F engine with a cracked block, Ford 9" axles 4" lift and 33's basically a trail rig. He wanted $2200 for it and claimed it was a steal.

The other was a 1971 for $3950 with a good 1F, a supposed rust free body, new brakes but needed unspecified 4WD work.

She sat back and asked how long before you are ready to DRIVE it. I guessed 18 months. She then said OK, as far as I'm concerned it's a parts rig and is worth nothing currently, however I'm going to charge you for property taxes for one year at the value it was the last year it was tagged. You will owe $100.75 plus all title registration fees, sales tax and other recording fees. You will do a title transfer only no registration until you are road worthy. That's the good news...

The bad news... I have to bring the truck itself to the PVA once it's done so they can re-evaluate it's tax basis. What ever value they come up with will be the value I pay taxes on from then on.

She also mentioned about the Historic plates deal. One time $59 fee then no fees ever again. No mileage limit but only supposed to be driven to parades and to car shows or other related events. She said they enforce this through the insurance companies who WILL put mileage limits on a Historical plate vehicle...

So there you have it. I guess I'm lucky on the front end but may get burned in the butt later...

 

[mikeob1]

That is horrible!

Man, I'd register that thing out of state if I lived in a state like that.

 

[joeyg1973]

Wow finally the NJ DMV actually has an advantage over all the other states. I have to pay the same registration fee for any vehicle per year and that is it. I got a sales tax based on the 1 dollar sale price.

But then again my property tax is about 4k for a 100 x 100 lot with a tiny house on it. Believe it or not that is really low for this area. Most towns around here charge 10k+ for the same thing. Hell I was paying close to 5k on a 1000 sq ft condo I had in another town.

 

[Coolerman]

Yeah I always thought The Republic of California was the worst state. Well at least it doesn't have to meet smog specs...

 

[KY Longhunter]

Wow finally the NJ DMV actually has an advantage over all the other states. I have to pay the same registration fee for any vehicle per year and that is it. I got a sales tax based on the 1 dollar sale price.

But then again my property tax is about 4k for a 100 x 100 lot with a tiny house on it. Believe it or not that is really low for this area. Most towns around here charge 10k+ for the same thing. Hell I was paying close to 5k on a 1000 sq ft condo I had in another town.

My property taxes on my home on 5 acres in KY is approx. $1900 per year.