Cost of owning a vehicle in Oregon to soar

José Pinomesa, President
Oregon Independent Auto Dealers Association

It is a fact that it is going to cost more to own a vehicle in Oregon.  During this past legislative session Oregon passed a bill that would increase the vehicle fuel tax.  Even currently at $2.89 a gallon for regular unleaded it will soon jump up for the added tax.  Over time a gallon of fuel will soon go to $3.50 and then to $4.00 when the economy gets better.  A big increase in fuel taxes is not such a good thing when we are not that far away from people wondering whether they can afford to actually fill their tank or just put in a few bucks.

The Oregon legislature also passed a bill that would increase DMV fees.  Fees such as title, registration, regular plate and custom plate are all going up including trip permits.  Title will go from $55 to $77.  Vehicle registrations will go from $54 to $86 for two years.  Plates go from $5 to $23.  Custom plates go from $50 to $100 for two years.  Trip permits go from $20 to $30. 

This is just a sample and there are other increases too.  These fees are actually far less than what was originally proposed otherwise I am sure many would have called it quits for good!

The Cash for Clunkers program here in Oregon took about 9000 vehicles off the road.  Since those vehicles had to all be crushed trying to find an inexpensive car is not that easy.  Now that there are less of them demand is higher so prices are up.  To get something decent you will have to spend more money than what you might have before CFC.  Since new car inventories were quickly depleted many customers paid top dollar towards the end of the program for their new vehicle.  Even late model used vehicles went up since there were hardly any new vehicles available for purchase.

Increases and government programs such as these will definitely make your cost of ownership higher than what you have seen in the past.  Vehicles will always be needed even though costs are going up.  So don’t think that people will throw in the keys just yet but those on budgets will just have to do some more planning.

This article was written by José Pinomesa who is the President of the Oregon Independent Automobile Dealers Association in Salem and the owner of José Mesa Auto Wholesale, LLC in Portland.

Web Links: oiada.com & josemesa.com

Thanks, José

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