DMV Clerk: That’s fine then. Just bring in the proof of that and pay the $500 compliance fee and you’ll be all set.
Me: What?!? If I prove I did nothing wrong I still get a $500 fine?
DMV Clerk: It’s not a fine; it’s a fee.
F these everloving f’ers and their f’ing book of regulations. This is what happens when you give a State agency enormous power over the individual but then the legislature cuts their budget year after year. After a while everyone they see is just another @$$hole who has voted in the jerks who are freezing their salaries, increasing their hours and laying off their co-workers.
I know why they hate us, and I know why we hate them. And all along, all of us should be locking arms and storming the State Senate building together.
Something similar happened to me here in Connecticut. I never got any notice that the first emissions inspection was needed for my wife’s 2013 Subaru Outback. I only found out when I was unable to renew her registration online.
I was used to registration renewal notices and emissions notices being hit-or-miss, which is why I added reminder notifications to my calendar for all of our vehicles (after being hit with a late fee a couple of years ago for a registration renewal). But emissions inspections aren’t required until a vehicle is 4 model years old (I now know). How was I supposed to know when the first inspection was due?*
Fortunately, the late fee was only $20.
*I now know you can look this up and sign up for an email reminder.
Wow, I see they also have “insurance noncompliance” for another $100. That one sounds like a fine for sure. TruCelt, is the Uninsured Motor Vehicle fee used if you want to register a vehicle that’s uninsured? I don’t get that one.
No. They accused me of not having insured a vehicle after I no longer owned it. Then they told me to prove I no longer owned it then, pay the “Compliance Fee” and they would unsuspend my license.
They are all terrible. I am in Texas. I got to our local DL office at 6:15, 75 minutes before it opened. There were only 60 or so people in line. You could tell the amateurs because we didn’t bring lawn chairs. Waited until it opened–easily 200 people in line by then. Was informed that in direct contradiction to their website and THE LETTER THEY SENT ME, I need a birth certificate or passport to renew my license. About a third of the line left, including me. I dunno when the 150 or so people behind me heard the message.
Going back Thursday, with my documents. Aiming for 5:30 in the morning.
Went to my local DPS office to renew my license (also in TX) sometime around 2:30 because I was able to get off work. I live in a small rural area, so I usually only have an hour or so wait. I go in to get a number, but before I can tear it off, a very rotund female employee tells me to “just go wait outside, you don’t need a number yet”. I looked at her befuddled, as there was plenty of room to wait inside the building. Whenever someone would leave, I would make my way inside, only to get barked at by the woman. Finally, around 4:30 she waddles to the glass door with a printed out sign that read “Customers not inside of the building by 5:00 will not be helped”. I ended up going to a different DPS office across the state while visiting family. I will never come back to my local office again.
I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I did exactly that back in 2009 and got VA DMV policy changed to allow renewed drivers licenses to be sent to APO/FPO Box addresses because deployed folks couldn’t renew online and get their license sent to them.
Until I wrote a polite email, explained the situation and asked if they could send me mine. (Which his secretary personally did, along with a nice note) and poof the policy changed.
Write him a polite email. You might be pleasantly surprised.
How long after? This happened to me in Maryland. I sold a motorcycle on a Saturday to buy a new one. I turned in the tags on Monday. I thought that was it, but they sent me something saying I didn’t have insurance on a bike I no longer owned for the time I kept the tags. I tried to tell them that I had sold the bike, to a dealer in another state, and turned in the tags.
Try getting your insurance involved. They might have records that will help you out so you don’t have to pay the fine/fee. I ended up having to do it twice even though I had sent them proof of insurance they came back a second time.
I had to renew my license with a new picture last month so I had to go in person. I got there around 2:00 expecting to spend the rest of the afternoon. There was a long line but I got to the desk after about 30 minutes. The clerk asked if I was using a credit card and when I said yes, she pointed out some kiosks I could use that would cut the wait time. Great. I spent about 15 minutes entering all my information and when it came time to pay, it wouldn’t accept American Express. Really? I walked back to the clerk and asked if they did not take AE. Oh, can’t use that with the kiosk, but you can use it in person. I guess it was too much trouble to originally say “credit cards except AE” or at least put that somewhere on the machine. So I sat down, filled out all the information again, waited for my number to be called, got my picture taken and paid with AE. It only took about 2 hours total so it could have been worse.
Wow, I’ve never experienced anything like these anecdotes at the Quebec equivalent (la Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec). I remember a long wait at a particularly busy outlet once, so I avoided that one in future, but I’m often out with my renewals or whatever in a half hour.
When I got my most recent vehicle, they entered the registration wrong (or the dealer did; I never found out) and I only learned of this when they mailed me a new one.
My driver’s license delaminated itself. No problem in Switzerland, but I’m fairly certain the rental car company in the U.S. and other countries won’t accept it.
Went to the local version of DMV, went to the information window and he told me to press 3 on the number to get a number. Different numbers are for different categories, so people getting new plates are in a different queue.
Waited 2 minutes for my number to be called. Explained my problem, she gave me a form, which was basically my name and signature and check the box for replacement license.
Told me to sit down. 5 minutes later she called me up and gave me my new license and told me the invoice would be in the mail.
That was it. And the invoice was only 26 CHF. And did i mention, that after converting my license > 15 years ago, I don’t have to renew it, or do anything else until I’m 60+? Unless I have a major accident.
My parents had a fun experience recently. My mom got pulled over for expired tabs. After looking up her registration, the officer told her she should put them on, since she already had them.
She did not. She called the DMV and they said that the tabs were there. As my parents had checked the box to pick them up, the tabs were waiting for them and the DMV never called to have them picked up.
My parents have learned their lesson. Next year’s tabs will be mailed to their home.