I've Got Those DMV Blues!

[Brian M. in NY]

Went to register our new ParkLiner yesterday at the local satellite DMV office which operates under the authority of the office of our County Clerk. Fully armed with the appropriate DMV vehicle registration form, which I had downloaded from the State DMV website, the Certificate of Origin for a Vehicle, Bill of Sale, and my checkbook, I joined one of the two lines at the DMV office. When I reached the service window some ten minutes later, the man behind the bars said, "And how can we help you today?" I replied, "I'd like to register my new trailer", to which he responded, "That's a real shame, because you have to take all your paperwork to the two ladies at the next window and if they say all your paperwork is in order, then you can bring it back here and we can register it." I thanked him for his time and moved to the back of the line on his right.

Five minutes later, I arrived at the head of the second line and presented my paperwork to one of the two ladies sharing that work area. The lady began reviewing my registration form, circling each pertinent item in red as she went through each field on the form and compared it to the information on my driver's license. At last, she picked up the Certificate of Origin and asked, "Are you a dealer or a distributor?", to which I responded, "No, I'm the owner. I purchased the unit directly from the manufacturer." She replied that the form was incorrectly filled out since my personal information was filled in on the front of the form rather than on the back in the block marked DISTRIBUTION-DEALER ASSIGNMENT NUMBER 1. I again pointed out that I purchased from the manufacturer, not a dealer. "Doesn't matter," she replied, turning to the lady next to her for confirmation. The lady next to her said, "I'm pretty sure we can't accept it like that but, why don't you call **** to be sure." (I didn't catch the name) but she picked up her phone and asked the question of whoever was on the other end. She turned back to me with a smile and said, "No, he said we can't accept it like that, it has to be filled out on the back. Just take it back to the dealer and have him fix it."

I quietly pointed out that we were in New York and the MANUFACTURER, not the DEALER, was in North Carolina. She agreed that that was a problem and I would probably have to mail the form back to ParkLiner, have it corrected and have them send it back to me before they would register the vehicle. I thanked her for her time and told her that I understood she was only following the rules of her particular bureaucracy. She, in turn, thanked me for not being verbally abusive as so many of her customers are, under similar circumstances.

The Happy Ending -
Not being willing to settle for a bureaucratic NO! for an answer, I looked up the number for the County Clerk at the County Seat some thirty miles away. After almost an hour of busy signals, I got through to a real live person and explained my problem. Her response? "Come up here in the morning with your paperwork and we'll take care of it for you." So, at 9:00 AM this morning I arrived at the County Seat DMV office with the exact paper work that I had brought to the satellite office the day before. After filling out one additional form for the registration of a vehicle purchased in a different state and writing out a substantial check for sales tax, registration fee, and Title fee, I walked out the door in less than fifteen minutes with my shiny new license plate.

Why do they have to make it so difficult? Are we egg owners really such a sinister bunch that we would try to put something over on the guv'mint? Or is New York so cash rich that they didn't need my money? I'm sure there are lots of other horror stories out there. What's yours?

[Francesca Knowles]

Sounds to me like you should have lodged a loud and long complaint at the (main) Clerk's office about the very poor training of their employees at their satellite office. And an additional complaint to whichever elected County Official has oversight of both.

Francesca

[Jon Vermilye]

While I suspect it is true in other states, in NY the DMV is its own kingdom within the state bureaucracy.

When I wanted to register my Escape trailer that I planned to pick up in Chilliwack, BC (3000 miles away), I visited my local DMV and asked how to do it. Their "simple solution?" When I drive the trailer across the border into Washington state, mail the paperwork to the Oswego DMV office. They will mail back to me the forms & registration fee information along with the sales tax bill. I then need to mail them a check & the signed paperwork, and they will mail me the plate for the trailer. I tried to explain that I would be touring the west for months & didn't plan is staying in one place long enough for all the back & forth mailings, didn't have a local address, etc and she smiled, shrugged, and called "Next".

My solution was to request copies of the paperwork from the manufacturer, and act dumb at a different counter at the same office, handed them the pile of documents, filled out a few, and walked out with the plate. Drove to Chilliwack from NY, bolted the plate to the trailer & continued my 111 day trip. The only problem I had the second time was the office trying to convert from kg to lbs since the NY registration fee is based on weight.

[Imo.]

So far I have had no problems with registering vehicles, trailers, whatever. Our vendors are private contractors and they bid on the job on a couple of years basis. Most are small business owners looking to make some extra money to help pay their rent, utilities, and so on. Of course, my town only has 2000 people and I think that includes people living outside town limits but within the school district. We'll see what happens when I pick up my Casita in another couple of weeks from another state....

[Brian M. in NY]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Sounds to me like you should have lodged a loud and long complaint at the (main) Clerk's office about the very poor training of their employees at their satellite office. And an additional complaint to whichever elected County Official has oversight of both.

Francesca

The woman who assisted me the second time was so kind and had obviously dealt with similar problems from the satellite office in the past, I couldn't possibly bite the hand that helped me. This is not a new problem but the Civil Service Employees union is still a force to be reckoned with in NY.

[Bobbie Mayer]

It took me ten months to get my used trailer (purchased in Washington) registered in California. I was out of state (Washington) so could not simply walk in with paperwork, which is far better as then they can tell you right off if a form is (trivially) wrong. They didn't believe the original form wasn't a photocopy because the ink was too dark, for example. Idiots. I have not yet tried to change the registration back to Washington now that I'm a resident there.

[santacruzer]

The DMV in California had a long-time record of being the most inefficient, uncoordinated, bloated, bureaucracy in the state, with the rudest employees, although it recent years it has made a sea change and is coming around splendidly. Nevertheless, in wanting to register my trailer enroute when coming into the state, I chose a small DMV office in a strip mall in Shasta, California, on the premise that small-town bureaucrats have to do business with their neighbors. Bingo! In and out in 15 minutes, of which the most time was walking out to the parking lot to verify the VIN. Handed me the plate and temporary registration and wished me a good remainder of the trip. There is hope!

[Bobbie Mayer]

Robert, that's what I would have done if I'd had current plates on the trailer- but they were outdated when I bought it. As it turned out, nobody pulled me over in the whole ten months of driving with a temporary permit and outdated plates (even though the plates were WA and my car was CA.)

[Ed Harris]

I went in to the DMV Yesterday to get new stickers for my Mother.

In the past you took a number from the little paper number machine and waited till your number was called,simple right?

Now there is a Touchscreen computer there to welcome me and a cryptic message on the screen telling me to "Sign In" to be in line?

I have no idea what it is talking about and after about 5 minutes I have entered my phone number in the thing and it assures me I am now in line and will be texted as my progress changes????????

Still not satisfied I see others getting a little paper number and I take another stab at it and I get a number too!

So we all wait while watching the "Lines" progress on 3 Flat Screens behind the counter. Of course as the line moves a scary computer voice coaches the next in line to the proper counter to be helped.

So at last I am next in the Que according to the monitors and the 8 Text Messages I have so far received and of course my excitement is almost impossible to contain!

I make it to the counter,transact my business and am on my way.

Amen!

It only took 10 Texts and 30 minutes waiting along with maybe a $10,000 system to replace the perfectly able ticket machines we are all used to and did I mention that the fee also went up to use this office as they need to pay for the new "System"?

Oh and I also had 2 places in the line,1 for the phone number 1st try I made and the other for the paper number I got on my second try.
The Computer was not happy and of course everyone else had to wait as they tried to understand what havoc I had wrought!

Me and almost everyone else had done the exact same thing of course.

The agent that helped me said it had been installed last Friday and so far there 1/2 as productive as they were last Thursday as NO ONE understands what to do or why to do it now?!?!?

If it ain't broke........

I also have the DMV Blues.

[mary and bob]

Being a New York resident and with 6 trailers and 5 vehicles currently registered I've had my share of experiences with DMV. Like Brian and Jon I've had the situation of paperwork being refused, only to return another day with the exact same paperwork to a different clerk and have them accept it. About 6 years ago I bought a pickup in Arizona and had it shipped to me. The Arizona title was from 1977 [2 owner truck] and the size of a credit card. The NY DMV had never seen a title like that and couldn't find it in their reference books. I had a couple of the ladies there trying to figure it out, and all the while another woman there that I went to school with was walking around laughing. They finally accepted it. When I tried to license our '46 teardrop that had no paperwork I got waited on by a nice clerk who asked "you've had this in your possession for more than a year, right" as she's shaking her head yes. Still had to come up with a BS story as to how I knew what year it was. When I went to license my 62 Fairlane that had been off the road for 20 years, and even though I had the last registration card, I had to take in a photo or rubbing of the VIN numbers, same with a motorcycle that hadn't been registered for years. Another time when trying to register an old car, they said the seller had to sign something, to which I replied I had bought the car some time ago and had no idea how to get ahold of the seller. The clerks answer, "he's out in the park sitting on a bench, go get him to sign it", in otherwords, get out of my sight and sign his name. So sometimes they aren't all bad. So Brian, the big question is; how did you get your Parkliner home from the factory, I hope you didn't do what I have done and used the plate off another trailer!

[Bruce Wray]

When we went to register our new 09 Escape with the CA DMV, the clerk spent 20 minutes pouring over the DMV regs and consulting with other clerks because she was sure our TRAILER with no motor of any kind needed to have a smog check. No lie. I just stood there with a gritting-my-teeth smile until she conceded defeat and finished our paperwork. Figuring karma can dish out some pretty ugly paybacks, I refrained from screaming "Moron!" on my way out.

[Bob Miller]

I don't know about other states, but in CA you can go to the AAA autoclub office for almost all vehicle transfers and registration activites. One time , when I did have to go to the DMV office to get a VIN assigned, I just made an appointment on-line and showed up on time. Took less tan 30 minutes, including making the new VIN sticker.

Best bet at DMV: Go in with a smile and be the very best customer they has all day. it helps.

[Bobbie Mayer]

My trailer had S149 as the VIN number on the trailer and the title only said 149, so that gave them fits. (I don't think they knew what to do with a small number.) I finally towed it to the DMV so they could do any necessary checks themselves (after two other attempts to verify the VIN- one by a sheriff's deputy in Washington and one by AAA in California.)

When I got my vanity plates for the car, I had to state where I would pick them up, so I said Pinedale. Well, come time to get the plates, Pinedale is on the verge of being remodeled and they had quit taking appointments. Plus they were furloughing every other Friday so were way, way behind. So I had to go get in line. Luckily it turned out the registration/license line was not very long (1 1/2 hours) compared to the 3-4 hour driver's license and ID line. I try to do everything with an appointment in California as they are SO slow if you do not have one.

[Dennis Clinton]

California-depends on the office. When I tried to get my gov't surplus Scamp registered, first office gave me nothing but trouble-inspected the trailer, looked at paperwork, then said no. Supervisor finally stating it would cost over $600 and they still wouldn't guarantee registration. Went to another office, inspector couldn't read the vin, so sent me down to Harbor Freight(even gave me directions) to get stamps and stamp the vin legibly on the trailer frame. I came back, another inspector came out(I was worried), she looked, asked who the first inspector was, then signed everything off-and only $35!

[David Tilston]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

What is sad is how much a little tiny bit of power still corrupts.

[floyd]

When we submitted our Certificate of Origin for our Scamp, they quickly and cheerfully took my $800 tax money, then refused to issue a title since I was not a dealer. After 4-5 hours of waiting in line and trying to explain our situation I said...
"OK forget it, I'll just take my money back and be on my way!...

That changed their tune, as they did not want to do a refund.
(Cash to a government is like booze to an alcoholic!)

Well, they decided to call Springfield,(Illannoy) but of course they had left early for the day!
So we came back the next day and after only another 4 hours we left relieved with title and registration in hand.
Two years later...
We had purchased a personalized plate at no extra charge (vanity plates were extra). They changed the law and started charging an extra $7 per year for the personalized plate.
I balked and asked for a regular plate.
The response was ..."Sure, that'll be $45 for the transfer...Well 7X7 still equals only $49 so we reluctantly kept the plate. Now those years have passed and we will face the issue again this fall!

[Francesca Knowles]

Good grief, David...

Dontcha think that calling this kind of ineptitude "corruption" sorta elevates it beyond its station?


Francesca

[David Tilston]

Abuse of power is corruption. Most of these stories are about people who, because they had the power to be incompetent chose to do so. I do not believe that if they were operating outside of a government agency, this level of "customer service" would be tolerated.
In fact, I think many of these stories are not about incompetence, but are about people who willfully abuse their position to annoy people. Schadenfreude.
I may be paranoid.

[Donna D.]

Bad customer service is not just religated to government. Check out big business. We're reading a current thread about a couple of manufacturers of all molded trailers for heaven sake! I work for a worldwide fortune 500 company. Some of those people should be fired... but, won't be.

I agree with Bob... go in with the biggest smile, happiest face you can put on. You might be the best thing those people have seen in days and they'll do their best to help you. Go in with a sour attitude and yes... you'll pay dearly. I wouldn't do their job on a bet. I've stood in line behind people who were rude and nasty and a general PITA and when it was my turn... at first, I suffered that consequence. But not for long. Don't blame the employees for machines that don't work and all the crap you have to put up with. It wasn't their decision to make it hard for you.

Granted it doesn't work all the time, but it's worth a try.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Bad customer service is not just religated to government. Check out big business. We're reading a current thread about a couple of manufacturers of all molded trailers for heaven sake! I work for a worldwide fortune 500 company. Some of those people should be fired... but, won't be.

I agree with Bob... go in with the biggest smile, happiest face you can put on. You might be the best thing those people have seen in days and they'll do their best to help you. Go in with a sour attitude and yes... you'll pay dearly. I wouldn't do their job on a bet. I've stood in line behind people who were rude and nasty and a general PITA and when it was my turn... at first, I suffered that consequence. But not for long. Don't blame the employees for machines that don't work and all the crap you have to put up with. It wasn't their decision to make it hard for you.

Granted it doesn't work all the time, but it's worth a try.

No big corporation has yet to force me to do business with it. No charity has forced me to donate. Neither of which has the power to punish non-compliance at gunpoint with confiscation or incarceration.
The moral is...Government should be kept small and on a short leash. It's minions must be constantly reminded of their status as public servants.
Elect only those who comprehend that role, or you will surely suffer tyranny.
Still, it helps to be nice, patient, and as prepared as possible!