How vehicle registration works

tl;dr If you drive a 10+ year old vehicle, expect a vehicle registration/renewal to cost roughly $30-$50. Your registration cost is largely based on the age of your vehicle and its MSRP.

In a few posts somewhat recently, I’ve seen people post about the exorbitant cost associated with registering your car in this state. While they can be incredibly expensive (I’ve seen ONE over $10,000), there are a few factors that go into the cost that I want to share, and hopefully it will encourage some people who don’t register to register, as there’s an incredibly high unregistered driver population.

1. Age of the vehicle - this is far and away the largest contributing factor to the cost of your registration. MS uses a depreciation rate that will gradually decrease your vehicles “value” until the vehicle is 10+ years old. The age of your vehicle “increases” in July. Every vehicle depreciates to a minimum “value” of $100 at 10+ years.

Let’s say you bought a 2022 Ford in July 2022. Even though the model year is a 2022 (perhaps indicating the vehicle is 0 years old), the registration calculates it as being 1 year old. If you had bought the vehicle one month earlier in June 2022, it would calculate as 0 years old, and your registration would be more expensive. When you renew the registration in July 2023, the registration will calculate it as 2 years old, and the renewal cost will be even lower than the previous year.

1. MSRP of the vehicle - this is the second most important factor for the cost, though once the vehicle is a few years old, especially as it gets down to 6 or 7 years old, the depreciation is such that the “value” of the vehicle starts becoming negligible. If you register a $25,000 MSRP vehicle, it’s calculated value will be significantly less than a $75,000 MSRP vehicle.

As stated in the first point though, it doesn’t matter how expensive the MSRP of the vehicle is once the vehicle is 10+ years old. The calculated value always goes to $100.

1. Where you live - In September each year, every county comes up with their own tax rates for each tax district in the county for the next 12 months. These are referred to as Millage rates and are used to calculate your Ad Valorem. They are applicable starting October 1 through Sept 30 of the following year, when the new millage rates are determined.

The millage rate is broken up into three parts, being School District, County, and Municipal rates. These will change depending on the taxing district you live in, and will change each year. These are usually only a couple percent of the value of your car. So if you have a 10 year old car, you can expect $8 or so for Ad Valorem, depending on your county and taxing district.

1. License Plate, or Tag - MS has SO MANY different tags available. Their standard license plate is included in the cost of the registration, but if you want a specialty tag or vanity tag, expect to pay an additional $33 for the tag. If you want one of the new blackout vanity tags, those cost over $50.

The different tags, while I would argue are a total waste of money, remit a portion of the cost to various organizations and funds. For example, the blackout vanity tag remits a little more than $30 of the $50+ cost to the fallen officer fund.

IF YOU HAVE A CAR 25+ YEARS OLD you qualify for the antique car tag. This is a non-expiring registration, meaning you NEVER have to renew your registration again. One cost, never to pay again for that vehicle.

1. Legislative Tag Credit - Referred to as LTC, this is a state incentive given to taxpayers for being good citizens and registering/renewing their vehicle on-time. The state will pay a portion of your registration to the county on your behalf, thus lowering the amount you have to pay.

To qualify, you must register/renew on-time. It’s as easy as that. The was one vehicle I saw that had over $10,000 in LTC because they registered their ridiculously expensive car on-time.

1. Electric/Hybrid Tax - if you drive a fully electric or hybrid vehicle, you’re required to pay an additional tax. The idea behind this fee is to contribute to funds that gas-powered vehicles pay into at the pump.

If I remember correctly, I believe it is $82/year for hybrid vehicles, and $165/year for fully electric, though I don’t remember off the top of my head. The rate changes from year to year.

1. Late Fees - If you are late on registering your vehicle, you will incur late fees. I believe these start after 10 business days of the expiration of your existing registration and increase every 15 business days after, though I don’t remember for sure. The important things to note are that the fee starts at 5%, increments by 5% each interval, and caps at 25%.

Hopefully this sheds some light on the registration situation and you feel more knowledgeable on the inner workings. There is a chance I am missing something, but this is the jist of how it works. Let me know if you have other questions or insight!