edited to take out a typo
Agree with recent posters- there are both tax and insurance issues here. And liability issues.
Sell him the car for $1 and be done with it.
It is quite common to report neighbors cars with out of state license plates that have been parking for more than 30 days. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta_taxevaders/ Most VA residents are very well aware of it.
" Vehicles garaged in Fairfax County are required to register with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and display Virginia license plates within 30 days of purchase or move in to Virginia. Vehicles are also required to register with Fairfax County within 60 days."
"There may be instances when vehicles are not required to register and display Virginia license plate. Some of these include:
1. Active military or active military spouses temporarily living in Fairfax due to military order.
2. Non-resident students enrolled as full-time students in an accredited institution of learning in Virginia. (Full-time college students are also subject to the Personal Property (Car) tax based on the domicile of the owner; see www.fairfaxcounty.gov/taxes/vehicles/full-time-college-students for more information.)
3. People visiting family members residing in Fairfax County. "
Too many people try to get away with not paying the taxes. Your son has been residing in VA since 2016 so he should have changed the tags and registered the vehicle here.
I remember this happening way back when I was a 20-something and working in DC for a think tank. Many of the support staff (research assistants, admin assistants, etc) were working on their masters or PhD and not planning necessarily to stay permanently in the DC area as they were from all over the country. I was a MD resident so did not encounter this but many of my young friends lived in group houses in northern VA. I remember often hearing complaints that not only did they have to register their cars in VA (some got reported as your son), but also complaints about having to get the car to pass VA inspection every year with little things like a small crack in the windshield causing them to fail inspection, having to shell out even more money (not making much at our non-profit!) to get these little things fixed. They were envious there was no similar law for car inspections in MD, where as I’m sure the OP knows, we only have to pass inspection when there is a change in ownership. Good luck fighting the fees!
Most states have laws like that. Son in Colorado went to change his drivers license and was told if he had a vehicle it needed to be registered in Colorado or he would be ticketed if ever stopped or caught. To make it easy since we weren’t living there we sold it to him for a buck and he took care of it. Worked for us because the insurance decreased almost a grand a year because Michigan’s cat insurance is sky high. You might be able to fight it If he was attending college but not if he was living and working there.
We owned the car DD used when she went to school in Cleveland for 2 years. It was licensed in VA but she registered it with the city and paid her taxes. I am not sure how she knew to do this, but it could have been a ticket on the windshield.
Don’t forget that Virginians pay twice per year for personal property tax- June and December…
Every state has a right to make their own rules. Any time my sons have moved after college (and we took them off our car insurance and transferred old cars after college), I reminded them to check what they needed to do to make sure they were in compliance. Surprised that the OP’s son did not catch wind of the requirements from friends or co-workers after residing in Virginia since 2016. Too bad it wasn’t caught earlier so that penalties did not accrue over time.
Is the car insured at the VA address or your home address? My understanding is that most insurance companies want the car insured where it is located and where the primary driver (your son) has a drivers license. That would trigger the requirement to register the car in Virginia.
Our insurance agent knows our son has the car in Virginia - we have been completely honest.
We just didn’t bother changing the registration because first job - who knows how long he will be in Virginia. But I agree, my procrastination on this is now biting me in the behind.
I guess we talk to Fairfax County and see what they will waive and pay the balance, and then register the car in Virginia. This means he also has to get his own insurance. Just a lot of hassle I wanted to avoid.
It’s OK for this all to be happening. Your son has been there for two years…he has a job. He is in his mid-20’s. He hasn’t been a student since 2016.
He has the car in VA. Maybe you could offer to give him the insurance for a year as a gift…and he’s getting the car…right?
Let him deal with it…he’s a grown up now. Both of my kids figured out how to get car insurance wher they live…out of state. He can ask colleagues or friends for a recommendation for an agent.
What about during college? My daughter is going to have her car at some point but it’s our car, in our names, just recently and expensively registered in our new state. She will not have residency where she goes to college, votes and has a license where our home is located, etc… We aren’t in MD or VA but it has me wondering now!
Agreed. I’m really not disagreeing that it is time to transfer ownership of the car to him or get it registered in VA and he can get his own insurance - my broker even gave me a quote last year to show me the cost. It just seemed like a lot of hassle given that it is a 10 year old car that we might get rid of in the next year or 2. But at this point, we just need to get it all straightened out.
^^^Yes, we ran into that a few years ago when our young professional DS used our car in a high-risk area. Insurance rates went up significantly but returned to ‘normal’ after about a year when DS no longer needed the car. As far as we knew, the state didn’t require it to be registered there.
@momofsenior1 College is a different story. You will just have to let your insurer know your daughter will have the car, the location it will be, percentage of time it will be there, etc. There may be discounts for good grades.
@momofsenior1 You’re fine! We had to make sure our son was listed as the primary driver of the car he took to college. Like @sevmom said, he receives a discount for good grades - we have to provide an unofficial transcript once a year.
Thank you @chercheur and @servmom!
VA residents don’t like having to pay the car tax every year either. State inspections required every year. They are tougher than those given in Maryland. It is common for people to buy used cars from Carmax that are transferred to VA from MD. Many times those cars pass MD inspections but fail the VA Inspection so they have to be able to pass the inspection here prior to the car being sold.
I agree this is all confusing.
This applied in VA decades ago. when my college roommate graduated, took a local teaching job, and drove a car registered to her dad, out of state. At the time, she was told it was the police who saw her car parked in the high school lot every day and that there was a short period to register the car.
“Before you can legally drive in Virginia, you must register and title your car with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).” “Once you establish residency in the state, you will have 30 days to complete your vehicle registration and titling with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).” From dmv.com, a 3rd party site.
Good luck.
The car tax is also assessed in both CA and AZ. We lease a car that D uses in CA, while we live in another state. I was careful to review the CA DMV rules about whether or not cars need to be registered in CA. As the vehicle owner, honestly it’s your responsibility to check the laws of the state where the car is in use. Arguing that the car is owned by an out-of-state owner isn’t really much different than arguing that a local house shouldn’t be subject to real estate tax because the owners live in a different state. The property, car or house, is taxed based on the state where the property resides.
I don’t think it’s unfair at all for you to have been caught and taxed if you weren’t following the state laws. States that tax personal vehicles are pretty serious about enforcement, IME. Yes it does suck that you were ignorant of the law, and I understand being upset at both the tax and the fine. But I think this one goes under the “expensive lessons learned” column. And hey, you do get to deduct the tax if you itemize.