Vermont Motor Vehicle Fee Exemptions for a VA Automobile Grant

Vermont gives no registration break for a high disability rating. What it gives a break for is the federal automobile grant, and the gate everywhere is a copy of an approved VA Form 21-4502 certifying the veteran's entitlement to the financial assistance. The Office of Veterans Affairs says it plainly: all other veterans are not exempt, including veterans who may be 100 percent disabled. The exemptions live in four different places and a veteran who claims only the one their agency mentioned will leave money behind. Title 23, section 378 exempts a veteran from all fees for the registration of a motor vehicle acquired with VA financial assistance, and names two fees that are easy to forget: the annual emissions fee required under 3 V.S.A. 2822(m)(1) and the electric vehicle infrastructure fees under 23 V.S.A. 361. An exempt veteran driving an electric vehicle does not pay the EV fee. Title 23, section 2002(a)(11) sets the fee for a certificate of title for a motor vehicle acquired by a veteran with VA financial assistance and exempt from registration fees under section 378 at no fee. The ordinary title fee is $42.00. Title 32, section 8911(14) exempts from the motor vehicle purchase and use tax a vehicle acquired by a veteran with financial assistance from VA, or a vehicle obtained as a replacement to one acquired with that assistance. The replacement clause matters: the exemption is not spent on the first car. Title 23, section 609 charges no fee for a license to operate a motor vehicle to a veteran who has acquired a motor vehicle with VA financial assistance and is otherwise eligible for the license. The discharge test is not the same in all four, which is worth knowing before an application is refused. Section 378 asks for a veteran who received a discharge under other than dishonorable conditions. Section 609 says an honorably discharged veteran. Sections 2002 and 8911 name no characterization at all and hang on the form. A veteran with a general discharge who is refused under one section should point at the wording of the others. All four require Vermont residency except the two that hang purely on the form, and all four are satisfied by the same document, so ask for several certified copies of the 21-4502 rather than one. This is not the disability plate or placard. That is section 304a and it runs on a physician's certification of a mobility disability, independent of VA. Section 8911 separately exempts, at subdivision (12), a vehicle whose controls have been altered to enable a person with a permanent disability to drive, or one fitted with a mechanical lifting device, where the person has been certified exempt by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under section 8901. A veteran whose adaptations were not paid for by VA should look at that subdivision instead.