California Smog Check

California DMV renewal notices cause due date confusion

If you get a vehicle registration renewal notice that says your payment is due almost immediately -- or already past due -- don't panic.

You really have 30 days from the due date to make your payment and avoid penalties.

Thanks to our state's tortured budget process, millions of California car owners are getting such notices this month.

Donald Poznanovich of El Cerrito got a notice from the Department of Motor Vehicles on Saturday that said his renewal payment was due the previous Saturday, July 2. Normally car owners get their renewal notice about 60 days notice before the due date.

An insert that comes with the notice tries to explain why the situation has changed temporarily, but really confuses the matter. The DMV provides a slightly better explanation here .

The important thing to know is that for the rest of this year, no late penalties will be assessed if you make your payment within 30 days of the due date printed on your statement.

If you need a smog check and have not gotten one, you can still pay your renewal fees to avoid late penalties, but you will not get your new registration card or plate sticker until DMV gets your smog clearance.

The police will not ticket vehicles for expired registration or tags until the first day of the second month after the vehicle registration expires. For example: A vehicle with a registration expiration date of July 10th would not be cited for delinquent registration before September 1, according to DMV.

Poznanovich knew there was a problem because he usually pays his renewal fees in May and had not received a bill. He called DMV and was told to sit tight until the state decided what the fees would be. "The part of the story I wasn't sure about was why our Legislature did this. It seems kind of dumb to me," he says.

The background: In early May, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that required DMV to stop sending out renewal notices until it knew what the vehicle license fee would be for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

A temporary surcharge was set to expire June 30. That would reduce the license fee to 0.65 percent from 1.15 percent of the vehicle's value, starting July 1. But some lawmakers wanted to extend the surcharge for five years.

That effort was unsuccessful and the budget package Brown signed June 30 allowed the fee to drop back to 0.65 percent. However, it also increased the vehicle registration fee -- a different charge -- by $12 per vehicle.

Moving from CO, to CA. Sell car before the move?? - evolutionm.net

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