We have to keep on top of the equivalent here in the UK,too; but with significant differences..
Annual "Road Fund Licence" tax for using the roads - based on vehicle type, fuel and emission-control class. If you can afford one of those fashionable, galumping great luxury pick-ups or panel-vans... you can afford its galumping great RFL!
Annual Ministry of Transport (MoT) Test of roadworthiness on vehicles over three years old from registration date. The fee is set by the Government, not desperately expensive.Some garages offer lower fees to attrcat having the car serviced at the same time. As I do, in fact.
That's the vehicle's side.
The motorist's side:
Compulsory third-party insurance to drive on public roads - given how insurance-companies work, that can be anything but low-cost.
Breakdown / recovery services via motoring-association membership: not compulsory but I have been glad I pay for them!
The one thing we do not do, is register the vehicle.
All powered vehicles to be used on public roads are registered new: the numbers on the plates front and rear. (With the strange exception so far at least, of electric motorcyles and scooters.)
The same type of number works right across the board. Ordinary saloon-car or luxury coach, moped or farm-tractor, Army battle-tank or miniature traction-engine, motorhome or street-sweeping machine, minibus or 40-tonne lorry: all one method. Special arrangements cover owner-built (e.g.kit-cars, large miniature traction-engines) or private imports; and DVLA has a flourishing side-trade in "custom" or "individual" numbers, with certain conditions.
The registration stays with its vehicle for life, irrespective of ownership, recorded along with the vehicle's basic details. Electric vehicles are signified by green rectangles on the number plates.
The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency issues the registrations and the driving-licences, and record all these, the MoT status and driver's insurance. Its website is easy to use; likely most motorists now pay the RFL through it. (The MoT and insurance are paid to their suppliers.) It lets you verify your own legality, and that of a vehicle you want to buy - though the "registered keeper" personal details are kept confidential. The Police have special access.
We no longer need display the tax-disc in the windscreen or a special holder. They are no longer issued!
