# Automobile "Pink Slips" (aka Stupid DMV) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2000, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466 "2000-01-23T09:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/1 "2000-01-23T09:18:00Z")
I keep on meaning to ask this of a large group of people, so here’s my chance. How many of you are aware that the term “pink slip” can also be used to describe an automobile title? It was always called that where I am from, California, because until several years ago, CA automobile’s titles are small pink documents…“slips” of paper. You’ll see old movies (and not so old movies…like “Grease”) where drag racers will race for the “pink slips” (ownership) on their cars. I ask this because I moved out of California recently, and when I went to get my new state’s license plates, I was supposed to provide my car’s title. I did. It was small, and pink. The DMV lady said that California’s titles were green, told me that was _not_ my car’s title, and sent me away, confused. (I kept on asking “Haven’t you heard of ‘pink slips’??? from the movies”) Apparently not. I returned the next day, showed her on the document where it _said_ that it was a California title of ownership, this _still_ did not convince her. (It was supposed to be GREEN, see? See?) Finally, because I was so persistent, she went to the back room and asked some older DMV veteran if indeed this small pink slip of paper could be a title, and the other employee confirmed that it could. Much embarrassed, the DMV employee gave me my plates. (And overlooked the fact that I had waited _waaaay_ too long to get them, and should have been fined a “late fee” - so I guess there is some blessing in my whole ordeal!) So, my question is, how many of you are familiar with the term “pink slip”? I am just curious if the general public is familiar. I have no doubt that a middle-aged **DMV employee** (like this lady was) has _NO_ excuse for not knowing what one is. ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/2 "2000-01-23T09:42:00Z")
You must be unfamiliar with the standard procedure at the DMV. 1. Neglect to make an appointment 2. Show up at the busiest hour of the day i.e. anytime 3. Get in line 4. Get in correct line 5. Wait 6. Count tiles on floor, then ceiling 7. Find sucessive roots and squares of each until you are in the front of the line 8. Have someone with a pass cut in front of you 9. Finally get served 10. Find that you need extra paperwork, go home or to other line to get it 11. Start over Seriously though, my pink slip (yes, I call it that) actually goes from green to pink and has a fancy green border around it, I assume to prevent counterfeit. * * * We must blame them and cause a fuss before somebody thinks of blaming us. Sheila Broflofski ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/3 "2000-01-23T09:59:00Z")
Thank you! Even though it is green, you still call it the “pink slip”! My car is an 87 Dodge, and the slips were actually _pink_, and small - simular in size to a post card. I remember my dad’s '78 Dodge was actually made of some flimsy pink paper, not as substantial as today’s “pink slips”. I think shortly after my car came out, California changed the way the titles looked, to being green w/ pink, and somewhat larger than a post card. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/4 "2000-01-23T16:24:00Z")
You can get a new duplicate ownership certificate, if you want one of the right color. I have got many of them, they are like $7.00 [probably more today]. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/5 "2000-01-23T17:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by handy: > \*\* > You can get a new duplicate ownership certificate, if you want one of the right color. I have got many of them, they are like $7.00 [probably more today].\*\* So how like $7.00 are they today,Handy? Have you got one with my name on it for a bright red 99 dodge ram pickup? I will repost in a lil while,just so soon as I get a chance to go up the road and get the VIN and license number. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/6 "2000-01-23T22:36:00Z")
I still have a ‘pink slip’ on one of my cars. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/7 "2000-01-24T00:59:00Z")
Well “green cards” aren’t green either. Even the INS seems to be able to deal with this conundrum. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-pink-slips-aka-stupid-dmv/6466/8 "2000-01-24T02:02:00Z")
I guess it depends on the state issuing the title, but here in the Heartland (Ohio – the ‘Heart of it All, according to the tourism folks), the slips have never been pink in my lifetime. (That is, going back over roughly 30 years of owning automobiles.) Until recently, the ‘slips’ (exactly half the size of a standard sheet of typing paper, that is, 4 3/4" X 8 1/2") were yellow (watermarked with squigglies and the state seal) with green printing. Back in my drag-racing days, we talked about ‘swappin’ yellows.’ ‘Having the yellow’ meant that you owned the vehicle free and clear. If you owed money on the wheels, usually in the form of a chattel mortgage, or if someone had placed a lien on the automobile, you had the ‘white,’ which was identical to the ‘yellow,’ except it was – of course – white, and had black print. Kinda weak looking… Nowadays, Ohio gives you a much fancier piece of paper – about 7" wide by 8" high – with lots of brown gingerbread around the edges and a fade-in/fade-out blue/gray watermark-type background. BIG dedicated corner (1 1/2 X 3") for what I’m sure is a VERY important bar-code. * * * _I don’t know why fortune smiles on some and lets the rest go free…_ T