So the notice regarding the county having my title work done came in a few weeks back, so I set up an appointment at the DMV to get my old plates switched to the new car and pay the laundry list of fees and taxes associated with doing that.
Yes, an appointment, because for government offices zombies are apparently still a thing and they don’t want anyone inside the building if at all possible. And the first available 15 minute appointment was this afternoon – a mere two weeks after the notice.
Anyway, I left work a bit early today and wandered over to the local DMV, where I once again arrived early and the robot wouldn’t let me in the building until 15 minutes before the appointment… So I hung out on a nearby bench and ogled all of the cars with temp tags – of which about a dozen were new Teslas of various flavors.
Everyone is apparently doing as instructed and buying new $70,000 electric cars. This is fine as it means more gas for my planet-destroying hemi. 🙂
I also noticed that Tesla people, by and large, are the sort who wear a mask, in the car, alone, because apparently zombies are still a thing for them too.
Eventually the appointed time arrived and the robot let me into the building, gave me a ticket, and I commenced to wait another hour and a half to talk to a human.
Said human was really very nice, probably because I had my shit together and wasn’t missing paperwork, had an expired license, didn’t have insurance, didn’t speak English, had a sketchy bill of sale, or any of the other things I saw during my 1.5 hour wait.
And this is where things got weird.
See, here in Colorado we used to be able to just transfer plates from the old car to the new car for free; we had already paid for the plates, so all we had to do was pay the taxes, fees, and have the state update the database for the new make, model, and VIN.
But now the county has determined that they weren’t making enough money on this deal, so as of January you must get new plates printed and mailed to you for the low, low fee of $65.
So, the process is now:
- Purchase car
- Get a temp tag and title
- Wait a month for the paperwork to complete
- Wait a couple of weeks for a DMV appointment
- Take some time off and go to the DMV because they are only open from 10-4 on weekdays
- Get another temp tag and title
- Wait 2-3 more weeks for plates
- And finally install plates
I’m sure it makes perfect sense to someone, but for me it’s just another example of procedural B.S. clogging up the system and yet another reason I need to get out of the Denver Metro area; the bureaucracy is getting deep.
Overall it only took about five minutes to get everything done and pay my nearly $1000 in taxes and fees for having the audacity to buy a nice car; and now I get to wait 2-3 more weeks for actual plates.
Listening to "A Million Miles Away" by FM Attack