Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to increase fees beginning July 1 [View all]

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140328/NEWS/140325862/1994/NEWS



Norton resident Chris Barrows, of Barrows Insurance Agency, Mansfield, holds new plates and paperwork outside the Taunton Registry of Motor Vehicles Friday. Barrows says increasing fees at the RMV will also force insurance providers like himself to increase fees they charge customers.

Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to increase fees beginning July 1

TAUNTON — Owning a car is about to get more expensive in Massachusetts. The Registry of Motor Vehicles recently announced that it is raising registration and inspection fees effective July 1. The new registration fee will be $60, up from $50. The inspection fee is increasing to $35, up from $29. The road test fee for first-time drivers will increase to $35, up from $20. Department of Transportation officials have said the new fees will generate between $55 and $63 million in revenue and help close a $55 million budget gap.

Chris Barrows, of Barrows Insurance Agency, Mansfield, walked out of the Taunton RMV holding new plates and paperwork for a customer Friday afternoon.

He said the fee increase will require insurance providers like himself pass fee increases onto customers. He paid $50 for a new registration. After July 1, that transaction will cost $10 more.

"It's going to hurt our clients," said Barrows, of Norton. "Everything's always going up. And in the insurance business, we will have to counteract these fees going up. We won't be able to save people as much money."