All vehicles with a registration date of Tuesday and beyond will see the license fee increase from 0.65 percent to 1.15 percent of value of the vehicle.
Based on the purchase price of a $20,000 vehicle, the vehicle licese fee will go from $131 to $231. The increase is part of the state's effort to close its budget deficit.
The fee was established by the Legislature in 1935 in lieu of a property tax on motor vehicles, according the Department of Motor Vehicles. The fee decreases with each renewal for the first 11 years.
Katina Rapton, president and general manager of the Mel Rapton Honda dealership that opened Feb. 2 along Capital City Freeway, said that her sales staff has not noticed an uptick in sales to people trying to beat the pending fee increase.
The savings to people buying a car before Tuesday could be significant over the course of several years.
"Clearly, people spend hours on the internet to save $100," Rapton said. "You know what? Today versus tomorrow gives you that $100 advantage."
Call The Bee's Bill Lindeof, (916) 321-1079.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.