Vehicle tax value (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 26, 2010
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Location
Raleigh, NC
Just got my registration renewal for my 1977 FJ55 from wake county, and its about 3 times what it was last year. So I called them and they said it's been discovered that it's been 'undervalued' for years and they brought it up to the NADA value. I looked it up, and sure enough, avg retail is now at $20,600. Ain't no way. Maybe on Bring a Trailer.
First, these taxes every year are bogus.....but I digress.
They are saying its worth $20k. Ain't no way. Not for my mileage unknown, hacked together, rusty 55.
The lady said I need to document everything, including an appraisal, and send it to them to contest the value. Has anyone done this recently? Who did you use for the appraisal?

I've already paid the taxes on this thing. Why pay every. single. year? I hate the government more and more every day.
 
What's the "fair" value on Nada? You might argue that with just pictures of any rust spots and maybe some pics from when you had it in pieces for an install. Doesn't take much to get them to change the value. They just need something on paper. I was able to argue down the price of my boat by not including the trailer or outboard motor on the nada value assessment.
 
You could argue that the retail is inflated lately with some low auction results.... I would target a value of $6000 with paperwork that "proves" it. Worst they can do is say no. They might try to split the difference between the two. Just print some 'proof' and write an official letter with lots of big fancy words in it.
 
ONSC letterhead, with appraised value listed at



tree-fiddy. unless it's a certain person in the triad who values everything around 1500, tops
 
I hate the NC DMV system. It is one of the most difficult ones to deal with. I had to repay taxes on all my vehicles again when I moved down to Georgia and it sucked, but down here if a vehicle is 25 years or older they give it a flat value of $100 for tax purposes. I paid a whopping $7 in taxes on my 1995 80 Series.
 
Get the vehicle tagged as an Antique Vehicle. I did and the property taxes on it is a little more than $15 each year with the Antique Value set at $500. I'm in Guilford county and their tax rates are, I believe, third behind Wake and Mecklenberg.
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me with an FJ40 (Crockpot) in Union County. For years the tax value was under $500, then suddenly the tax value went up to $16,500. I called the tax office and raised Hell. They said that they had contracted with a company who was re-assessing values on what they considered to be collector cars. When I told them the truck was painted with rattle cans and that it was not worth $16,500 (it probably is though...wink wink), they said they needed proof. I took some pictures to document what a POS it is and they lowered the value to $10,500. Better, but still not great.

I ultimately did what David says to do. I re-registered the truck as an antique. The tax value is now $500 and my tax bill is much improved. I am not a fan of the look of the antique tag itself, so I keep it under the driver seat and I display a year-of-manufacture (1978) farm truck tag on the vehicle. NC allows us to do that.
 
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For years no one complains about undervaluing, but then gets bent out of shape when it's corrected? Love it, lol.

Don't get me wrong, less property tax the better, but come on. It's been coming.
 
For years no one complains about undervaluing, but then gets bent out of shape when it's OVER-corrected? Love it, lol.

Don't get me wrong, less property tax the better, but come on. It's been coming.

FIFY!

What I find interesting about @onemanarmy 's thread here is that he is talking about an FJ55 which we all know is a four door wagon. When I freaked out on my local tax assessor about the Crockpot's value skyrocketing, I explained that I also had three other cruisers that were tagged and insured and that if those all increased in value by 500 percent too, I would have to pull the tags and the county wouldn't get a dime. The tax assessor looked at my records and saw that those three were four door wagons. He told me that as far as Union County is concerned, those are not considered collectible and in his estimation, would not be in the future. He said that what they go by is the two door, sport-utility designation on the title. If it is a two door, price goes up. Wagons are cheaper in Union County. I will keep a close eye on the tax value on my wagons going forward and if they go up by more than 10 percent in a year, I will swap over to antique tags on all but the 80 series.
 
Interesting about the wagons tidbit. Will have to keep that in my back pocket in case Durham does the same thing. :cheers:
 
The issue is that it was never 'undervalued'. They have no clue what my truck is worth. Frankly it's none of the governments business. My old wagon does no more or less harm to the road than a new range Rover. That's just the reason they gave for the sudden increase. It's for sure over valued now. They just change the values Willy nilly knowing most won't fight it. That's why they drop it down so quick when someone actually does call. It's 100% bogus and they know it, but they have gotten away with it so long that they are now drunk on the power.
 
They've "gotten away" with valuing vehicles at $500 or $1000, some of which can sell for $50,000+ at barret-jackson? You're right, they're villains. We should stage a coup. Take advantage of the turmoil, start a new world order!
 
The fix for this is simple enough. Just do it.

IMG_3224[1].JPG
 
Yes. I'll be doing that. Thanks for the info.
Still doesn't change the fact that A) Imposing taxes and fees on private property every year is baffling. You never really own the things you paid for with (after tax) money, paid taxes and fees (again, with after tax money) when you first bought it, and if you stop paying the man, they take it from you......and B) If they want to quadruple the perceived 'value' of something I 'own' that I most likely will never sell (so never realize the 'value'), they need to come appraise it and justify why they want 4 times more money from me all of a sudden. Don't make it an issue for me. Even though its minor, now I've got to make a visit to the under staffed and incompitent DMV duing my working hours.....and they might be closed.

Again, they know they are not legit, they'll cave with a phone call. Yes, they are weak spined villans.

I know its a rant, but you think the governement will ever reduce rates...on anything? How are so many people OK with what they do?
 
I know its a rant, but you think the governement will ever reduce rates...on anything?
I received a 2020 property tax reassessment yesterday for my mothers' house. It decreased 5.2%. That's a pretty big number on an expensive property in a massively growing location.
 
Dang cruiser prices are so out of control even the tax man is getting in on it.

I'm surprised they didn't tell you "don't low ball me, I know what YOU have" ;)
 
If you want to register your vehicle to my Montana LLC, just let me know ;)

Once your vehicle is more than 10 years old, you're eligible for permanent registration and for ~$100 you never deal with yearly fees and taxes again!

Ahh, one can dream.
 

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