West Virginia Vehicle Registration Fee Exemption

West Virginia Code 17A-10-8 lists the vehicles exempt from registration fees. Four of its categories are military, and the differences between them are worth reading because one is materially more generous than the others. Subdivision (4) exempts any vehicle owned by a disabled veteran as defined by three named federal acts, Public Law 663 of the 79th Congress, Public Law 187 of the 82nd, and Public Law 77 of the 90th. Those are the federal automobile grant statutes, so this is the category for a veteran who received Department of Veterans Affairs assistance to buy or adapt a vehicle. It says "any vehicle," with no numerical limit, and the only carve-out is vehicles used for hire. A veteran in this category can exempt more than one vehicle. Subdivision (5) exempts not more than one vehicle owned by a veteran with a one hundred percent total and permanent service-connected disability, not used for commercial purposes. The certification here is unusual and catches people: it is made by the Director of the Department of Veterans' Affairs of West Virginia, not by a federal VA letter alone. Go through a state benefits office. Subdivision (6) exempts not more than one Class A or Class G vehicle owned by a former prisoner of war, not used commercially. The definition is broad and specific at once. It covers any member of the Armed Forces, including the Coast Guard and National Guard, held by a hostile force with which the United States was actually engaged in armed conflict during any period of the incarceration. It then names, separately, any person, military or civilian, assigned to duty on the USS Pueblo who was captured by North Korea on January 23, 1968 and thereafter held. And it excludes anyone who at any time voluntarily, knowingly, and without duress gave aid to or collaborated with a hostile force. Subdivision (7) exempts not more than one Class A or Class G vehicle owned by a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, not used commercially. The class limits in (6) and (7) matter. Class A and Class G are passenger vehicle classes; a former prisoner of war exempting a heavier truck may be outside the subdivision even though a one hundred percent veteran under subdivision (5), which has no class limit, would not be. This exemption is worth more than the fee it saves, because two other benefits key off it. Eligibility for this exemption is one of the two statutory routes to free hunting, trapping, and fishing under West Virginia Code 20-2-28(h). And the honorary military license plates under 17A-3-14d, which carry their own exemption from registration fees, cover an overlapping but not identical set of people. Apply through the Division of Motor Vehicles, with the state Department of Veterans Assistance handling the certification for subdivision (5).