Owning a Car in North Carolina (Part 3)
So, now you’ve obtained your North Carolina driver’s license and you’ve gotten everything squared away with your registration. Once you get your vehicle registered, you will receive one license plate, which in North Carolina, must be displayed on the rear of your vehicle. Once you receive your brand new license plate, you will then have ten days to get your vehicle inspected. It doesn’t matter if you just had your vehicle inspected prior to you moving to North Carolina, it will still need to be inspected according to North Carolina standards so that you can get that inspection sticker placed on your windshield.
Additional Fees You May Not Know About
When I bought my very first car (which was in North Carolina), I was ecstatic…until I received a vehicle tax bill in the mail in addition to my regular monthly car payment. That’s right; in the state of North Carolina, vehicle owners are charged a vehicle tax. This tax is broken down into the Regional Transportation Authority Registration Tax (RTAR) as well as highway use tax.
If you live in certain areas of North Carolina, specifically Wake, Durham, or Orange County, there is an additional $5 RTAR Tax that is applied to any of the following vehicles (*information quoted from NC DMV web site):
- private passenger vehicles
- private motorcycles
- U-drive it passenger vehicles
- Limousine vehicles
- common carriers, contract carriers
- exempt for-hire passenger carrier vehicles
- farm vehicles
- manufacturer and motor vehicle dealers
Additionally, North Carolina collects highway use tax instead of state sales tax every time a title is transferred. For regular passenger vehicles, the fee is 3% of the vehicle’s value. If you purchased your vehicle from a licensed dealership, then it is 3% of the purchase price, less any trade-in credit, and if you purchased your car from a private seller, it is 3% of what the DMV assesses it to be based on a value table.
So, as you can see, buying a car can be a great experience. However, it can also be a stressful one if you are uninformed. Make sure you are aware of the kind of responsibility that owning a vehicle entails; and remember, driving is a privilege-not a right.
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[...] a car April 19, 2008 1:15 pm admin Autos Owning a car in North Carolina can be a real pain if you don’t know what you’re doing. Actually, owning a car is [...]
[...] Owning a car in North Carolina doesn’t have to a pain in the butt. In fact, things can go quite smoothly as long as you know what you’re doing. If you are thinking of buying a vehicle once you move to North Carolina, it will probably be a little easier than bringing your own vehicle. This is especially applicable if you are planning on buying your vehicle from an authorized dealership because then most of the leg work is done by them in terms of getting the title and tags for you as well as registering your vehicle. If you are bringing your own vehicle, however, you’ll need to find the nearest DMV office and take a test to get your North Carolina driver’s license. You’ll need a North Carolina driver’s license regardless as to whether or not you are bringing your own car or buying one from NC. Once you have your NC driver’s license in hand, you will then have 30 days in which to get your vehicle registered. After your vehicle is registered, you will then have 10 days to get it inspected. [...]