Hundreds of California drivers believe they were misled into paying extra fees on websites they thought were the DMV.
Seven On Your Side has tracked hundreds of complaints about one company in particular — NeedTags.com.
The company was buying Google ads that took it to the top of Google search results seeking DMV car registration, leading many to believe NeedTags was the real DMV.
Manuella Raquelle of Santa Cruz, who thought she was renewing her registration on the DMV website, said “I didn’t read the fine print” and “I got taken in somehow and ended up paying $90 more than I needed to.”
Raquelle owed the DMV $612 to register her car, but NeedTags charged $702 — adding $90 in extra fees.
Leen Alleart of Corte Madera made the same mistake and was hit with $90 in added fees, saying “And it’s like fee after fee after fee,” rattling off the charges including “a service fee of $49 a $7 BPA fee, a super high fee for paying by credit card, $25, plus $7 shipping.
NeedTags is a third party website that is authorized by the DMV to sell DMV services as a so-called “delegated provider.”
NeedTags and other companies are authorized by the DMV to register your car and charge unlimited extra fees — and the DMV gets a cut.
The NeedTags website says “California DMV registration renewal” in large type, but it’s not until checkout that consumers see the extra fees tacked onto their bills.
Allyn Peterson of San Jose said “It has all the appearance of the DMV,” and Peterson went to the DMV website to renew his car registration, or so he thought.
His DMV registration fee was $231, so why was he charged $303?
“We feel we’re being, if you will, ripped off,” Peterson said.
It turned out he’d mistakenly clicked on the third-party website NeedTags.com, which provides DMV services but tacks on extra fees at checkout, and when he realized his mistake, he called to cancel the order.
He was shocked at the response: “‘If you dispute this transaction we will take legal action immediately,’ which is not what I would expect from a reputable company,” he said.
Additionally, the company threatened multiple customers who disputed charges.
81-year-old Allan Jensen of Richmond just wanted to renew his car registration, but the simple task was anything but, as Jensen wound up buried in paperwork and facing legal threats.
“I don’t want to go to court. I’m not a criminal,” Jensen said. “I trust the state of California… It’s not about the money.”
His ordeal began when he went online to register his two vehicles by Googling “California Department of Motor Vehicles.”
He said tearfully: “I’m not a criminal, I’ve never been to jail…It’s not about the money. Why is my state doing this?”
In one case documented in legislation, an elderly customer seeking to renew their vehicle registration — a service that should have cost $221 — was charged $303 by a deceptive website, and in another case, a consumer renewing two cars paid $956 after being hit with more than $150 in hidden fees — and only one registration was completed, with both consumers threatened with legal action when they challenged the charges.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have attempted to rein in the practice.
State Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) sponsored the bill in 2025 after seeing reports about NeedTags complaints, saying “You can find yourself accessing services that you can get through the DMV through these online vendors and being charged huge markups on those services.”
Haney called the practice “a predatory practice in my view. It’s tricking California drivers, over 30 million of them.”
“Charging 37% premium to register my car is not fair,” Peterson said.
Peterson said the company even threatened him if he stopped payment.
AB 1190 caps fees at no more than 5% above what the DMV charges for the same service and also requires websites to prominently display a link to the official DMV website and disclose that DMV services can be accessed directly with no additional cost.
The bill won overwhelming committee support — but never reached a floor vote.
A second bill introduced by Haney and Assemblymember Phillip Chen (R – Yorba Linda) in 2026 also cleared committee with overwhelming support, but it, too, has stalled and is expected to fizzle out.
Consumer advocate Robert Herrell, the Consumer Federation of California director, believes part of the reason is the money these companies bring to the DMV coffers.
NeedTags owner Eddy Asmerian declined to comment on recent complaints.
In the past, Asmerian has told 7 On Your Side his company is “committed to transparency,” and the website does include a message saying NeedTags is not a government agency and charges extra fees for services the DMV provides at no charge.
However, many consumers say that disclaimer is in fine print that is not noticeable.
Meanwhile,
Google has taken action: ads for private companies offering government services now carry a warning: “Not a government website,” with the warning affixed with a yellow-triangle “warning” icon appearing on advertisements by private companies offering government services like titling, passport applications and DMV services.
It’s unclear if that warning has had an impact, but a check reveals the NeedTags ad appears less often in a search, with Peterson saying “So what I learned is that…Google did something for the people of California while their public servants say ‘give me the money.'”
Peterson stated about the bills: “From my point of view, NeedTags has been cheating people for 10 years. What this bill does is reduce the amount that they can cheat on. It’s an improvement. That’s why if you will, I’ll support this, but it’s not the perfect solution from my point of view. This should be ended.”
In the viral moment triggering widespread outrage, ABC7’s investigation uncovered how dozens of California drivers clicked on search results they believed led to the official DMV website, only to discover they’d been routed to NeedTags and hit with substantial surprise fees at checkout. Many drivers reported the site’s appearance and layout mimicked the genuine DMV website so closely that they had no reason to suspect foul play until the payment screen revealed dozens of hidden charges. When some customers attempted to dispute or reverse these charges on their credit cards, NeedTags responded with threatening letters claiming fraud or promising legal action, leaving elderly customers in tears and fearful they might face arrest. The company’s authorization by the state DMV itself made the deception even more infuriating — the government was essentially enabling and profiting from what consumers felt was outright scamming.
California legislation protecting drivers from exorbitant fees by third-party vendors for renewals is advancing to an Assembly floor vote.