[Karyllynne]

When I bought my ‘18 Volt, the dealership put standard Virginia tags on it. I have personalized tags on my RAV4 - they could have transferred them to the Volt if I’d traded it in but since I kept it they couldn’t. No problem, I figured I’d just wait until I got the permanent registration for the Volt, then go to DMV and swap the tags. We had a mobile DMV set up at work today, so I went to see about doing that. The lady put in the information, and the system responded that the Volt is subject to the electric vehicle fee so it would cost over $100 to transfer my tags to the Volt.

According to DMV’s site, that fee applies only to vehicles solely powered by electricity. All hybrids are exempt.

I’m going to to the main DMV soon to see if they can sort it out. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Dutch]

They are wrong. The Volt is a PHEV, we use gas and pay a tax.

From the VA DMV site....

Electric Vehicles
An annual license tax of $64 is assessed on each electric motor vehicle registered for highway use in Virginia. This tax is included with vehicle registration fees and must be paid at the time of original registration and each year at renewal.

The annual license tax applies only to vehicles solely powered by electric and is not refundable upon cancellation of registration. If the vehicle is registered for a period other than one year, the license tax is multiplied by the number of years or fraction thereof that the vehicle will be registered. For example, if renewing registration for a two-year period, the annual license tax will be $100 in addition to registration fees.

NOTE: Effective July 1, 2014, hybrid vehicles are no longer subject to the $64 annual license tax. For more information about the repeal, see the 2014 legislative news release.

 

[mattph76]

I actually received an unexpected refund from Virginia several months ago. The letter stated that I had incorrectly been assessed the EV fee for my Volt.

 

[Karyllynne]

Yeah, DMV’s site is pretty clear so I’m not sure why she was getting that notice. I’m going to go to one of the offices next chance I get to see about getting it done - it should only cost the transfer fee. I went through the “purchase a plate” option online just selecting different tags and it came up correctly, but I can’t transfer my personalized plates online since they’re active on my other car.

Worst case seems to be that I’d pay the extra then probably get a refund eventually!

 

[voganni]

Be glad you're not in Washington! The Volt is the ONLY current hybrid being penalized with the $150 EV fee. The criteria is 30 or miles of electric range. There will be more hybrids being singled out for "special cruelty" soon, but so far only the Volt qualifies for this nefarious distinction. Thank you Washington.

 

[Karyllynne]

Update

I went to a DMV office yesterday to see about about getting the tags switched. At first, the clerk got the same $116 cost, but knew enough to confirm that my Volt is not subject to the fee. The other lady there commented that the dealership probably selected “electric” on the original registration - said it happens all the time. Sure enough, that was the problem. She updated it to gas hybrid, said “$4 please”, and printed off new registrations for both vehicles. I came home and swapped the tags - all done!

 

[Dutch]

I went to a DMV office yesterday to see about about getting the tags switched. At first, the clerk got the same $116 cost, but knew enough to confirm that my Volt is not subject to the fee. The other lady there commented that the dealership probably selected “electric” on the original registration - said it happens all the time. Sure enough, that was the problem. She updated it to gas hybrid, said “$4 please”, and printed off new registrations for both vehicles. I came home and swapped the tags - all done!

Good. That is how it is supposed to happen.