Letter to CA DMV

[Lowell W]

Sorry, I don't have anything constructive to add; just a few thoughts...

It's so sad that California, once the Mecca for freedom and hot rods and seemingly such a wonderful, spectacular place to live to us flatlander types apparently has become such a car-unfriendly, un-free, litigious, crime-ridden state of rigid bureaucracy. I don't say this to start a fight or wave a red flag in front of anyone, but because I remember visiting cousins there in the 1960's and friends there in the 1970's and thinking this must be about as close as possible to Heaven on earth. I'd describe my feeling now as being similar to how you'd feel seeing your favorite state park run down from neglect and littered with trash (both types).

In the event that common sense does prevail in this situation, the idea of some sort of a conditional amnesty seems to make the most sense. If California offered non-compliant vehicle owners a finite time period in which to initiate registration of the vehicles in question, with a provision that they retroactively pay all applicable taxes and fees to bring the vehicle up to date, it seems to me that this would be a great opportunity to raise much-needed revenue and send an encouraging message to what has to be a large California industry. As pointed out above, while perhaps few (heck, probably NONE) of these vehicles are economy- and smog-compliant, their toal numbers are relatively small and most of them are driven very few miles.

When I first investigated registering my car it seemed like SUCH a hassle, and so expensive that I did consider using some sort of alternative titling scheme. My big concern at that time was that the state wouldn't be so worried about what I called this car as about the fact that I didn't pay the sales tax, and how could I call this thing a "1965 Ford Convertible" and then tell them how much I paid for the car, motor, etc? That would be sure to raise a flag. Then there's also the matter of insurance: If I ever were involved in an accident, the insurance company would love to be able to point out that the car I was driving was not the same car as on the insurance policy. "Sorry, Dude..." So I decided to go legit. This was not without its own set of problems, however, as the MVD lost my paperwork, then the "Guy who handles those registrations" retired and was replaced by a "New Guy", and on and on. Three months later, they found all the stuff, called me to make an appointment for the inspector to COME TO MY HOUSE!, inspected the car, issued the title and registration and I was on my way. Fortunately, this all happened between December and March so, while frustrating, didn't keep me off the road. Oh yeah: A few months later, I received a notice from the state, informing me I owed back tax interest and a penalty, since I bought the car in December (when I sent them the paperwork AND THE CHECK), but didn't pay the sales tax until March, when they cashed the check THEY HAD MISPLACED FOR FOUR MONTHS!!! After I recovered from my initial rage attack, I politely informed them of their error and sent them copies of the applicable documents and never heard from them again. They did call the car one thing the first year and something else the second year...

OK, I'll step down now. I sure hope you folks in California get all this straightened out and the situation gets better, not worse.

Thanks for listening,

Lowell