Any South Carolina Cobra's out there?

[SnakeBitt]

Hello folks! I'm fairly new here and I was wondering if there were any Cobra owners in the Hilton Head / Bluffton area that belong to this forum. I've been considering a move there for quite sometime (in fact I'm in HH now looking at houses) and may just do it this time. I saw a solid Black Cobra today on HWY 278 and got me dreaming of bringing my car down here (it snowed last week in Chicago!). Sunny and warm here..........great place for a Cobra!
I'm a little concerned about the title transfer and cost of plates here, though. I have a friend that lives in SC who moved from Michigan. He said SC has a "personnal property tax" and that the cost of your plates is calculated on the value of your vehicle. He has a 1999 BMW 5 series that he paid over 600.00 for plates for (my plates in Illinois are 78.00). He said the state has a "book value" for your vehicle that they use to figure your "tax" and then you go to the DMV and pay another 40.00 or so for the plates. I'm sure they don't have a listing for "Superformance" in their book, so does anyone know what they do in those cases? Do they make you get your car appraised before taxing you? My car is titled as a "65 Ford"...........won't they ask "what KIND of Ford?" Will they want to re-title my car under the year is was built? How will they place a value on the car??
My buddy said his neighbor has a 58 Vette and that his "value" was so low according to the "book" that it is the least expensive car he has to put plates on (even though it is the highest valued car he owns). But everyone (even the morons working at the tax office and the DMV) knows what a Corvette is. What will happen when they see "65 Ford" on my title??? Has anyone in SC gone through this???

.....HELP!

[SnakeBitt]

Nobody out there from S. Carolina??

[Gregg(What's his name)?]

I guess the only way you would see any Cobras from South Carolina in Texas would be if they are moving to Texas, driving through Texas or they have been stolen and are trying to get to Mexico from Texas.

You have reached the Texas Cobra Club site. Not that you cannot be a member, but the commute would be a son of a gun.

Gregg H

[B L & sons]

SnakeBitt
I live In barnwell, It's ~60 miles south of columbia SC.Still in the build stage with my kit so can't help much,I do beleave with your title stating 65 ford you should be ok,I will look on my title of my 65 2+2 mustang to be sure but I beleave all it states is 65 ford
2 door .property tax is liss than $20 a year,tags around the same.
Mustang is appraised and insured for $20K.
You might ask this same question in the Deep South Cobra Club forum
Hope this helps.
Bill

[ENTDOC]

I just registered my cobra.Total property tax-23 dollars.It is registered as a 65 model so tax is low.Let me know if I can help. chuck

[SnakeBitt]

Gregg: How the heck did I wind up in the Texas Cobra Club section? Sorry about that........can anybody fix it, and put me in the Deep South Cobra Club?? I just "started a new thread" as I would think one normally would, so I don't know how it ended up in any "special" section. While I'm in here though, I'd like to say "hi" to Keith Craft. I'm looking for some head work and I hear he's the best. I may be sending mine in to him to have a little of his "magic" port work done!

BL&sons and ENTDOC: Thanks for the replies (glad you found my post!). I'll try and get someone to change where it is (would that be Brent?) or I'll start a new one in DSCC.
I'm hoping that the cost will be low because it's titled as a 65 Ford but I'm still thinking they will want to know "....what KIND of Ford IS it?" Then WHAT do I say??

[excelguru]

Relax, buddy...

First of all, your thread has found it's way to the DSCC forum.

Secondly, this state should be a breeze for you. Mine isn't an SPF so I can't speak from that standpoint. Mine is Unique and my title states 1965 Ford. The taxes were so low that they didn't warrant my remembering them (if you knew what a cheap-ass I was, you would understand just how low that is!). Tags are also very cheap. Again, too low to warrant allocation of memory.

Okay okay, I'll try to remember... I had to bring a Bill Of Sale to the Auditor's office to get it registered in the state of SC (no cost yet). Then I took that piece of paper 50 feet down the hall to the Treasurer's office to write a check for maybe $25 (because the car is so "old", remember). Be sure to add 100k to the mileage when they ask. You'll get a high-mileage discount (like $4 - told you I was cheap) and they'll believe it without question since it's a '65.

Then it's off to the DMV with my registration reciept. I transferred my title from GA, which was a minimal cost if any and acquired a tag based on the Bill Of Sale sales price. But even if your BOS says $50k, the tax still caps out at somewhere in the $300 range (at least it does in my DMV).

Overall, it's a cheap state to own one of these. The only drawback is that membership is spread all over the state and isn't concentrated in a small region (e.g. Atlanta). We had 7 Cobras at a weekend gathering a few weeks ago in Columbia. We need more Cobras down here! Come on down!

[SnakeBitt]

Keith:
Thanks for the help! Sounds too good to be true (or should I say "too easy") but you have to remember that I'm used to Chicago style politics, which means you have to put up with a lot of "jumping through hoops" and greasing peoples palms.
I'll bring in my bill of sale and title and go from there. Then I'll follow your advice. My wifes car is the one that will cost us. She has a Lexus GS430 with low miles. The kicker is, we paid state sales tax on the total price of the car when buying it in Illinois (about 7%) and now we will have to pay "personal property tax" in SC on TOP of the already paid for Illinois tax. Seems like we should get a credit from Illinois.........but that's a laugh! We should have waited to buy the car until we got to SC and paid the 300.00 "max" sales tax at the time of purchase. Instead it cost us thousands in sales tax in Chicago.
Oh well...........hopefully the cost of plates on the Cobra will make up for it. Thanks again!

[excelguru]

Whatever you do, DO NOT mention the words "replica" or "kit" or any variation thereof to the DMV folks. Only provide the least amount of information necessary.