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Only the VLF portion is deductible, so it depends on the value of your car. If you have expensive new car, maybe you are charged a $300 VLF and can get a $100 b

by junar 4y ago

Only the VLF portion is deductible, so it depends on the value of your car. If you have expensive new car, maybe you are charged a $300 VLF and can get a $100 benefit from the deduction. If you drive an old beater, you benefit might be more like $10. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalculatorWeb/vlfForm.do https://www.dmv.ca.gov/wasapp/FeeCalculatorWeb/vlfForm.do If you're a high-income taxpayer, you might also just hit the $10k SALT cap from other taxes alone, making the effective benefit 0. Also, this is probably dwarfed by amount you actually paid for the car (amortized over its lifetime), plus the amount you pay for insurance.

hparadiz 4y ago
Yea you're right. My PA state car registration was like $35. Insurance is a lot more too but more is covered by CA state law. Quality of the roads is better though and there are no tolls. I also saved money buying my car in Hawaii and shipping it over. But that's only possible if you can live there for a year to avoid the California penalty. Hawaii car sales tax is only 4% and Cali is 10%. If you buy a car from out of state and try to register it in less than 1 year from purchase Cali will ding you on the difference. But there are ton of other ways I'm saving money. Weed is so much less expensive that I've already saved hundreds on that alone. I used to travel to escape the cold in the winter and now I no longer do that. Heating and cooling a home on the east coast uses a lot more energy year round than what my bill has been here thus far here in Ventura county. When I lived in Philadelphia no matter how hard I tried to avoid it every once in a while I'd still get dinged by a parking ticket or even once got towed just cause the sign that was up didn't make sense. Although I know that's an LA problem too. Being able to not live in a city anymore is also saving me some cash over all.

by junar 4y ago

hparadiz 4y ago

Yea you're right. My PA state car registration was like $35. Insurance is a lot more too but more is covered by CA state law. Quality of the roads is better though and there are no tolls. I also saved money buying my car in Hawaii and shipping it over. But that's only possible if you can live there for a year to avoid the California penalty. Hawaii car sales tax is only 4% and Cali is 10%. If you buy a car from out of state and try to register it in less than 1 year from purchase Cali will ding you on the difference. But there are ton of other ways I'm saving money. Weed is so much less expensive that I've already saved hundreds on that alone. I used to travel to escape the cold in the winter and now I no longer do that. Heating and cooling a home on the east coast uses a lot more energy year round than what my bill has been here thus far here in Ventura county. When I lived in Philadelphia no matter how hard I tried to avoid it every once in a while I'd still get dinged by a parking ticket or even once got towed just cause the sign that was up didn't make sense. Although I know that's an LA problem too. Being able to not live in a city anymore is also saving me some cash over all.