How much is my rust-bucket really worth?, Robbed at the MA DMV today Options

[flippa]

I went to get the title for my car today at the registry. I will admit that it has been years since I have been there to register and/or get a title for an older car.

The woman at the counter told me that Massachusetts no longer assess the sales tax on the sales price of the car as too many people were cheating the system. The sales tax would be based on the car's book value. She left to go & look up my car's value. I thought to myself, "it's 37 years old, how much could the assessed value really be?"

I was shocked when she returned & told me that the car had a value of $8,900, and the tax would be 5 percent of that value, or $445. WTF????? I told her that I was surprized, stating that it is a 37 year old restoration project.

I asked nicely if she was sure about the value. I explained that I had the bare bones 1970 4 cylinder car, not the 6 (no need to piss her off, she is going to have a part in deciding how much I will be paying).

After looking up the value again, she came back & asked if $5,400 was better. What could I say? I was "saving" $175. Walked out with my new title and several hundred dollars less in my checking account.

How do the Department of Motor Vehicles / Registrys determine the value of the cars? Is it the same value that an insurance company would be using? Who determines these values? I know the 914's are increasing in value, but $8,900????

What is my 914 really worth?

[jasons]

Thats a total rip off. In AZ they use a pro-rated formula based on the original MSRP to calculate registration. Every year the taxable portion of the registration goes down until its $0. Sales tax is assessed at the dealers, not the MVD. Private party car deals == no sales tax. My old cars cost about $25 annually for registration, my newer cars (5 and 7 years old) cost a couple hundred. Title transfers are like $10.

[mskala]

This is interesting stuff. I don't remember getting reamed on mine, but the last times I bought a car in mass were '92 and '99 when this type of thing was not in place.

Still, if you buy a junker or something obviously not a 'good condition' vehicle, there is probably a way around that.

What is even more screwed up is the excise tax system, where every year you'll get a bill for I believe $25/1000 of their 'valuation' of the car. They have my '6 valued at $750. Also it looks like new or newer cars go down in value over 5 years but then seem to stop (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)