I’m creating this topic because I don’t believe that it has been addressed much on this forum, if it has been I must have missed it. Starting July 1 in New Jersey there is a new fee charged on EV registrations. It’s $250.00 per year but on new car sales it is supposed to be collected by the dealership on a 4 year new car registration, so it would be $1,000 on top of the standard NJ registration fees. I don’t know what everyone else has experienced but I believe that the 4 year new car registration is the NJ dealership standard, regardless of how many years you are leasing a car for (if you’re leasing it).
With all of that out of the way, what’s your strategy in dealing with this? The way I see it, virtually every EV lease in New Jersey is about to become $1000.00 more expensive unless you were able to negotiate a similar discount to compensate for that. Depending on how deep a dealer is already going, that may not be possible. Does this fee change your urgency when it comes to shopping for a new EV? Personally I’m not thrilled about waiting to get another vehicle if I have a good offer on the table and I know that it will evaporate if I wait too long. Perhaps automakers may respond with enhanced incentives in the affected zip codes but who knows? Charge Up NJ should be returning around July but that’s now effectively been reduced by $1,000 and many cars won’t qualify thanks to current MSRPs. Just thought I’d open up some dialogue on a very region specific issue since I’m having some issues making a decision in light of this. I’m also curious how dealers in the region are preparing to administer this and deal with pushback.
IMHO it’s about time NJ did this. EVs weigh more than their ICE counterparts and thus cause more damage to the roads. EVs haven’t been paying their fair share of road maintenance and this is absolutely necessary to ensure our roads don’t end up looking like Upstate NY’s roads. People complain about NJ road quality, but it is fantastic along the coast.
NC and VA already charge EV and PHEV drivers an additional fee to make up for the fact that little, if any in the case of EVs, gas is consumed (and thus gas tax paid).
Seeing as it’s a fee charged by the state, there is nothing dealers can do. It will just get passed along to the consumer (which I think is the right thing to do).
My parents are the perfect candidates for EVs, but neither will even consider it. My mom will likely get an XC60 PHEV when her XC40 ICE lease is up next year. Until then, she will savor her $345 a month payment.
I don’t necessarily disagree with there being some kind of mechanism to deal with the loss of gas revenue but I’m not sure that this is it. To me, the state is talking out of both sides of their mouth on this. Do EVs do more harm than good and need a punitive fee imposed on them, or are they great and we should give customers $4,000.00 to get one ~6 months out of the year (and grab back $1,000 of it simultaneously)? Which one is it? And why not reduce Charge Up by a commiserate amount to bridge the gap, especially since you are also talking about increasing funding and expanding the program to make the available funds last longer? There’s also the issue of constitutionality re: Ex Post Facto laws but I’m admittedly getting deep into the weeds with that. My main reason for bringing this up is whether or not it makes someone more likely to close a deal on an EV and avoid getting hammered on the registration.
My last 2 EV’s were only registered for 1 year at a time by the dealership. Not sure if this was state imposed for the upcoming change or an option I’m unaware of.
This rains on the ev parade that NJ was known for especially with that tax that will be implemented again a few years from now. Regardless, folks get your EV by June 15th if you’re on the fence about a deal.
The question is should I wait for July to get the CUNJ $4k credit on a 36 month lease and pay an extra $750 for ev reg fee or grab a deal now on a 24 month term and I’ll be better off?
Plus CUNJ credit is for cars with MSRP under 45k so think standard range Ioniq 5/6 Kona Equinox
See, that’s my thought… Although I can’t convince the other members of the board of directors in my household of this… yet. The Blazer EV I want (but don’t really NEED, yet) gets $1,000 more expensive soon which makes it a hard no. It seems silly to wait and get banged for $1,000 in fees, especially for a 24 month lease.
They were new plates. Makes me think the state imposed it to get the fee on renewals as well when they decide to reword the blurb above to “all ev registrations”
That’s good to know but it’s still an extra $500 in fees id rather avoid if possible. Plus I think a lot of dealers just crank the 4 years out as a matter of course. I just checked my Jeep registration and they did it right so maybe I’m overreacting but I’ve also received inspection stickers on my EVs before.
I don’t think it really makes sense to wait if you’re eyeing something that doesn’t qualify for Charge Up, which has turned into a majority of the market. They should just call it the “Base trim Model 3/Y” rebate at this point.
Not to mention the “temporary” tolls that were supposed to fund certain projects like the George Washington Bridge that never went away and increased exponentially over the years… It just burns my ass that the same people who incentivized citizen’s adoption of EVs now want to have it both ways and make them pay fees for doing what they were incentivized to do. They literally created their own gas tax shortage and now want to fix that by siphoning money from a fund that the utility companies paid into (and charged customers for) to encourage the adoption of the vehicles they now want to punish. Please make any of this make sense.
Even still, the sales tax exemption benefit still greatly outweighs the extra registration costs. Especially when compared to some neighboring states/regions, like Philadelphia, where they have 11% tax. I just try not to put it too far under a microscope, net NJ is still a good place to buy an EV. They could have rolled it back much faster. My real question is when I bail out of a lease early, can I recover the extra years registration I had to pre-pay. Because when have I ever held a lease to completion.
To me, charging extra registration for EVs is like putting a punitive tax on nicotine cessation aids like nicotine patches or chewing gum. You know, to replace all the tax you’re selfishly depriving the state of when you decided to quit smoking.
Anyway, let’s just call it what it is a not-using-enough-gas tax. The govt decided to fund road tax based on fuel consumption (as if a Lamborghini super car wears on the road the same as a like fuel consuming truck like an F-250 superduty), and now they’re mad that folks don’t want to consume gasoline.
Bullshit. Gas drivers aren’t taxed upfront on potential miles they may or may not drive, they’re taxed based on actual usage. Use the roads more, damage the roads more, the heavier your gas car is, the more tax you pay. That’s fair. What’s not fair is taxing someone who drive 3,000 miles/year occasionally just to run to the store the same as a driver doing 20k/year.
This is a really good tax for any EV delivery fleets, since the road tax you’ll pay as an EV owner for driving daily will be the same as an EV owner driving 5000 miles a year. Oh and requiring 4 years’ tax upfront (via registration) is also idiotic. Paying $80/year upfront ($320) for a gas car is extremely different compared to $290/year upfront ($1200), which is what this fee is legally mandated to rise to.
Flat taxes are the dumbest type of taxation there is. Also, EVs aren’t damaging the roads… it’s the heavy trucks, trailers, and containers that pass NJ on the way to NYC!
No one is debating whether EVs should pay their fair share. What’s clear here is that the implementation of this tax is completely idiotic and anticonsumer. I’ve sent messages to my local elected NJ senator, who unfortunately sponsored this bill, and told him I am voting him the hell out on Tuesday.
TCO
