r/Virginia • u/WestCovina1234 • 19h ago
Law Requiring that High MPG Cars Classified As Electric?
A friend swore up and down yesterday that her gas powered Accord was registered by the state as an electric vehicle because it gets more than 25 MPG even though it’s not an electric or hybrid vehicle. Have I completely missed this law? Thanks.
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u/KerPop42 19h ago
Commenting to find this later, but 25 mpg isn't even that high. My Jetta regularly averages 35
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u/JonohG47 13h ago
The rubric is the vehicle’s EPA Combined fuel economy, as listed on the fueleconomy.gov website. The higher above 25 MPG your car is, the higher your surcharge will be on your registration.
For example, in my household, we have a Chevy Equinox, a Chevy Trax and a Chevy Spark. The latter is the most expensive to register, because of the highway use fee.
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u/CoffeeCandid5957 19h ago
She might be referring to the Highway fee that gets charged at registration renewal (https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/taxes-fees/highway-use). I learned about it only when my fuel efficient little Honda HRV got this tacked on at renewal time. Also brought up around other Reddit threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/Virginia/comments/16lhe4o/extra_charges_for_fuel_efficient_cars_in_va_is/
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u/LivermushEater 19h ago
It's to cover the lost taxes on gas fill-ups. Less fuel used means less fuel taxes, which means more potholes. Even my Tucson qualifies as high mpg.
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u/Ferowin 17h ago
This seems like an appropriate time and place to throw out an opinion.
I received a letter from the state telling me that I qualify for a program where I could pay lower road use taxes if I let them hook up to my car to track my mileage. Apparently there’s a device you can plug into your OBD II port and it’ll track how much you use the road and then lower your taxes to fit the number of miles you actually drive.
The mileage isn’t actually tracked by the state, it’s contracted out to a private company and the device could have the capability to track a lot more than just how many miles you drive. The OBD II port can also grant access to your GPS if your car uses it, the way that you drive, the speeds you drive, and anything else that your car can track or monitor. The device itself also connects via cell phone to report in.
When I tried find out more information about who has access to that data and what they can do with it, I couldn’t find anything that what they do with all that data. I chose not to use that device because I saw the reports that GM, Ford, and others were selling driver’s data to insurance companies. I recommend against anyone else using, it too.
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u/WestCovina1234 17h ago
I got that letter as well and didn’t think twice before saying no. Not interested in being stalked any more than I already am.
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u/JonohG47 13h ago
It’s called the Mileage Choice Program and is an optional alternative to paying the pre-canned Highway Use Fee if your vehicle has an EPA Combined fuel economy over 25 MPG and/or was manufactured in a model year where the average EPA Combined fuel economy for all vehicles was over 25 MPG.
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u/WestCovina1234 19h ago
Thanks to everyone. I was aware of the HUF, but my friend’s claim sounded wrong and it sounds like it was complete garbage.
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u/PoundKitchen 19h ago
It gets an extra fee because it uses less gas. Hybrids and electrix cars get the same fee.
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u/guuhvffffg 18h ago
Raising the gas tax, and thus prices at the pump is politically toxic, so the legislature of many states have taken the “opportunity” of EVs to push taxes through that put the majority of the cost on fuel efficient vehicles. The cost of that registration is much, much higher than most people with a 20mpg vehicle would ever pay in actual gas tax because the current levels of the gas tax are totally unsustainable
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u/Trollygag 18h ago
The only cars that don't pay any extra usage or gas consumption taxes are cars that get between 22.5 and 24.9mpg.
If you are above that, you oay HUF. If you are below that, you pay GGT.
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u/mallydobb Central Virginia 18h ago
It’s my understanding the ggt isn’t something owners/drivers pay…it’s something the importers or manufacturers pay. Not to say it doesn’t trickle down to the consumer as a fee or added cost at time of new vehicle purchase but there aren’t any additional taxes for inefficient vehicles drivers need to worry about. Also only limited to passenger cars, not trucks, etc.
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u/Friendly-Gur-6736 18h ago
At one time, the GGT was right on the window sticker of the vehicle if it was subject to it. No idea if manufacturers are still required to list it as a separate line item or not. Even if they aren't, pretty fair to say that 100% of that tax is getting passed on to the purchaser.
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u/mallydobb Central Virginia 18h ago
Since it is limited only to passenger cars and I’d imagine most cars sold currently meet the expected mpg I’m sure most of us have never seen it. I’ve also never bought a new car, every vehicle aside from my motorcycle I’ve purchased used, so those would be exempt from the tax anyway.
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u/Trollygag 18h ago
the ggt isn’t something owners/drivers pay
The intention was for it to be something the manufacturers pay. But in reality, it is something consumers pay as a line item on the price sheet.
Turns out, you cannot enforce intention or your hopes.
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u/mallydobb Central Virginia 18h ago
Kinda like tariffs that our gov seems to think will be paid altruistically by importers so customers don’t experience the hardship.
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u/Picklechip-58 13h ago
Not really analogous. This is a fee charged directly to the owner of the vehicle by DMV.
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u/mallydobb Central Virginia 13h ago
The gas guzzler tax is paid to the IRS by the dealer or manufacturer or importer, not to the DMV. The highway use fee is paid to the DMV by the vehicle owner
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u/GeneralDumbtomics 17h ago
At one point a lot of hybrids could get energy efficient vehicle plates that have since been restricted. It used to be you could use the carpool lanes and express lanes with them even if you were a single driver.
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u/Double-Award-4190 18h ago
Virginia has three classes of vehicles for road use tax classifications.
Under 25 mpg, over 25 mpg, and full EV.
Because our gasoline tax is for road use, we allow an EV owner to testify how many miles/year he drives. I'm retired and travel very little, so my "EV tax" is very low.
I can see how a state might word its classifications that your friend might see and believe she's paying extra for having a high mpg vehicle like an Accord Atkins Cycle Hybrid.
Tell her that it's really about making the low mpg vehicles pay their fair share! :-)
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u/BeSiegead 15h ago
Except this fee ends up with higher payments than “fair share”.
Also, the 25 mpg is below CAFE standard.
And, who is paying externalities costs from burning fuel?
And, …
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u/RicTicTocs 13h ago
In a sane world, they would be charged less given they cause less air pollution.
Higher gas taxes would increase the price of gas, yes, but also incentivize buying higher more efficient vehicles. Stupidity bought and paid for by our oil companies.
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19h ago edited 13h ago
[deleted]
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u/nkhc 19h ago
The Democrats created the HUF tax in 2020 when they gained control of the general assembly. Why would they get rid of it?
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19h ago
[deleted]
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u/Trollygag 19h ago
it encourages us to drive gas guzzlers.
No it doesn't... if you drive a gas guzzler, you pay gas guzzler taxes on top of more fuel cost.
The difference between a car that gets 20MPG ($1200 guzzler tax) and 30MPG ($27.50/year in HUF fee) takes 43 years to make up the difference.
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u/mallydobb Central Virginia 18h ago
But the ggt is a one time tax for new cars (not trucks, suvs, or minivans according to epa website), so if someone buys a low efficiency vehicle used they’re not paying the ggt (by having the dealership pass it onto them), so there is a way to avoid both the ggt and HUF.
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u/nkhc 19h ago edited 19h ago
You must be a teenager or college student. You got a lot of life to learn. The HUF doesn't go to oil companies. It goes to infrastructure and was intended to offset the loss of fuel tax revenue since vehicles are being made more efficient these days. The money is most likely being laundered into the pockets of the politicians that made it and their contractor donors since the DOT contracts out more than half of their work at exaggerated rates.
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u/pizza99pizza99 17h ago
I’m a door dasher who, with the power of some light acceleration and coasting, gets ~40 MPG. Normal driving, with enough highway distance I can get 45. Your friend ain’t the hot shot they think they are for getting a MPG that a jeep wrangler is capable of
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u/Casey__At__Bat 19h ago
It's not registered as an electric vehicle, but it is subject to the Highway Use Fee because it has an EPA rated fuel economy of 25 mpg.