Car Fees: Pay Now or Pay Lots More Later : DMV: A new state law doubles the penalties for late auto registration. Fees for unpaid parking tickets also will be tacked on to the renewal costs.

California motorists who don’t renew auto registrations on time face double penalties this year under a new state law. And officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles say there’s no grace period before the increased late fees kick in.

“If you’re late, you’re late, whether you mail it or walk it in (to a local DMV office),” says DMV representative William Gangler.

The agency has always charged late fees, but the penalty has increased from 20% to 40% of the original fees if the vehicle is registered up to one year after the due date. Penalties are even stiffer if registration lapses beyond a year: 80% for the second year and 160% for the third.

For example, the yearly state license and registration fee for a new $15,000 car is $280--$257 for license tags and $23 for registration. Failure to renew license and registration on time would cost an additional $112 during the first year; for late years two and three, the penalty would climb to $224 and $448, respectively. (Depending on the county in which you live, there may be additional basic fees, such as those for extra freeway call boxes or smog abatement.)

California has 25,496,135 legally registered vehicles, the most in the nation and double that of second-ranked Texas. Almost 6.5 million are registered in Los Angeles County, and slightly more than 2 million are registered in Orange County. Registration fees ($23 per vehicle, regardless of cost or age) go to the DMV and the California Highway Patrol, says Gangler, and counties and cities divide the license fees.

In the case of Los Angeles and Orange counties, it’s a sizable amount of money. In 1989-90, Los Angeles County received almost $382.5 million and Orange County took in a little more than $90 million. Through the first nine months of this fiscal year, Los Angeles County got a little less than $300 million, and Orange netted almost $69 million.

DMV officials estimate, however, that 1 million vehicles are operated in California either without registration or with expired registration; 250,000 of those are in Los Angeles County.

If you are ticketed for driving with an expired registration, you can expect a fine of up to $250, depending on the court judgment. Plus, you’ll still be responsible for license and registration fees--and penalties. If you continue to use the car without registering it, you risk losing it. The department will send three notices, 30 days apart, requesting registration renewal.

“The third letter says you have ignored us twice and are in danger of the DMV coming to seize your vehicle and sell it,” advises Gangler. “We don’t do that very often, but we have the authority to. And the authority for immediate sale.”

Better pay your parking tickets too, or those fees will be tacked onto the registration bill, and you won’t be able to get a renewal without paying your ticket tab.

For example, a $23 parking ticket becomes a $53 ticket if it is not paid on time. That unpaid ticket then is turned into the DMV, and the fee goes on your registration record. When it is time for your registration renewal, the total for the ticket will be added to your fees.

It is possible that motorists who already have paid a parking ticket will be billed again by the DMV.

The county in which you received the ticket submits your name to the DMV at the end of every month, says Gangler. Even if you paid the ticket, the “lag time between that information being fed to the DMV can be well over a month. That happens more often than not, especially with Los Angeles County. We hope in the future that L.A. County will have a computer that hooks directly into ours so we won’t have that problem.”

If your registration notice includes a bill for a ticket you’ve already paid, start looking for your canceled check. You’ll need to give the DMV a copy of the front and back of the check, showing the court name, ticket number and date it was paid.

It also would be wise to take the proper information to your local DMV office rather than mailing it. Call first for an appointment to save time.

THE FEE SCHEDULE

The Department of Motor Vehicles depreciates your car as it ages, so your vehicle license fee will be reduced each year, beginning the third year after purchase. The registration fee remains the same each year--$23. For example, the vehicle license fee on a $15,000 Ford Taurus (pictured), one of the most popular domestic cars sold in California, would be:

1st year: $257

2nd: $257

3rd: $211

4th: $166

5th: $121

6th: $91

7th: $75

8th: $45

9th: $30

10th: $15