my father gave me a car

[Anonymous]

My 85 year old father in Virginia gave me his car for use by my college age son (who goes to school in Michigan). (My father's driver's license is suspended.) The car is 2017 and low mileage but has been a major accident. We live in DC. I requested the title as he lost it. When i check out DC DMV it seems to say I have to pay $1000 in excise tax. Ugh! Anyway to avoid this? It looks like there is an exemption possibility but it would have to be registered in DC by my father first I suppose as a resident.

I barely want the car honestly - I just want him to stop driving - and giving it to my son takes care of that. But I wasn't expecting to pay more in tax in addition to the usual expenses of having a car.

[Anonymous]

Paying the tax sucks but you want your dad to not have a car. Think of it as saving his life and other drivers'.
The money isn't that much in the bigger picture.

[Anonymous]

Do you have to pay $1000 in Michigan or dc?

[Anonymous]

There is usually an exemptoin if the title is transferred between family members. I "gave" our car to my parents and the title transfer was no charge. They also "gave" money to our kids' college fund.

Anyway, he doesn't need the title. Just find the registration from the state it was registered in, then have it transferred. You and he will need to go in person to his state's DMV to do this.

[Anonymous]

You are getting a free car! The least you could do is pay 1k for it. Geez. Make the kid pay for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have to pay $1000 in Michigan or dc?

What’s the difference. It’s not like you could pay Canadian dollars in Michigan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have to pay $1000 in Michigan or dc?

What’s the difference. It’s not like you could pay Canadian dollars in Michigan.

Tax, title and registration vary by state. If he’s in Michigan I suspect it would be cheaper than DC

[Anonymous]

Just to be clear, we would title the car in DC. Since we have 2 other kids I was not thinking to give him the car per sec. He does not have income to pay for it since he is a college student. It was just to use while in college.

[Anonymous]

Michigan doesn’t have those idiotic property taxes for vehicles, nor do they require periodic inspections of any kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have to pay $1000 in Michigan or dc?

What’s the difference. It’s not like you could pay Canadian dollars in Michigan.

Tax, title and registration vary by state. If he’s in Michigan I suspect it would be cheaper than DC

Insurance could be higher though because it would have to be titled in MI under kid’s name so expensive insurance.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know about DC, but in Maryland you can transfer title between immediate family members without charge. I transferred my mom’s car title to my name and my daughter has been driving the car under my insurance for the last five years.

[Anonymous]

What requires you to change ownership of the car? Cant you just use the car as borrowed (and be sure to keep up required registration and inspection fees, etc)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know about DC, but in Maryland you can transfer title between immediate family members without charge. I transferred my mom’s car title to my name and my daughter has been driving the car under my insurance for the last five years.

I think this is same for DC too. But both parties must be DC residents. (We looked into this but we’re VA and kid live in DC—he had to pay).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan doesn’t have those idiotic property taxes for vehicles, nor do they require periodic inspections of any kid.

It may be harder to register in MI since Ji only has a school
Address and prob no MI license.

my in-laws just gave my grown DD their car. Same situation, as MIL has stopped driving because of medical issues and they only need one car. It’s a late model Mercedes but has warranty and maintenance included, so we are keeping it in MIL name for now. It’s paid off and they do have the title. DD Is working out a payment plan, but it won’t be close to the true cost of it. Good news for us, DD will be driving in
the same state so that is a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know about DC, but in Maryland you can transfer title between immediate family members without charge. I transferred my mom’s car title to my name and my daughter has been driving the car under my insurance for the last five years.

I think this is same for DC too. But both parties must be DC residents. (We looked into this but we’re VA and kid live in DC—he had to pay).

This. OP will have to pay the tax.