I believe that the CA DMV is creating an ingenius way of wiping our inept state politicians' rear end for our budget crisis.
After hearing many of my co-workers not getting their renewal notices, I acted fast a month before my registration was about to expire. And before anyone asks, no I have not moved and yes my address is up to date (the sent me my renewal notice for my driver's license earlier in the year).
I tried to reserve a visit to the DMV, but with all the budget cuts lots of offices are closed and days have been cut off. Therefore, the earliest reservation I could get was a date AFTER my registration. That didn't work.
And of course, I didn't get a registration renewal. Fine, I'll pay it on the CA DMV website.
Guess what? You can't pay your registration fees online unless you have this "Renewal Identification Number" which is written on the renewal notice that they sent out. Gee mac, that's the problem - I DIDN'T GET MY RENEWAL NOTICE!!! WTF? CA has a method where you could pay your registration fees online, but they don't allow you to can't unless you have a special reservation code which is sent via mail? How useless is this baloney!
So my next move was to call the DMV. But guess what, with all the budget cuts, you never get a live person to answer your calls. Endless mazes of telephone prompts with "you can get answers to your questions online at www.dmv.ca. Gov." Arg! There's even a telephone prompt where you can pay via the phone, but it says the same thing like the website: you need that stupid RIN to pay via the phone, which is only sent out with the renewal notices.
FINALLY, after waiting for days where a live operator was on the line, I managed to get the payment info. I asked her if she could just give me my RIN number so I can pay online and she said no, those only go out through the mail and I have to physically send a check to their Sacramento office. Arg!!!
Fine, I wrote down all my information and sent in via mail. Three weeks past and still the check hasn't cleared through my bank. I'm starting to get nervous because my registration is about to expire soon. I call again and again, no live person due to budget cuts.
I had enough. I finally took a day off of work (friggin' waste of time!) and went to the DMV without an appointment. LONG LINES, took forever to get things straightened out. "You know you could pay your fees online, right?" said the clerk. I blew off right there. I CAN'T PAY ONLINE BECAUSE YOU GUYS DIDN'T SEND ME A RENEWAL NOTICE AND THEREFORE I DIDN'T GET A RIN NUMBER TO DO SO!
In the end, I pay it off right then and there IN CASH and get it done. All this trouble just because the DMV didn't send me a renewal notice which has my RIN number to pay online.
And guess what? Two more weeks later, my check clears and takes away the amount that I already paid in person at the DMV. WTF!?
My headache continues.
My word of advice to all Californians:
1. Know in well in advance when your registration is to expire, because with all the budget cuts they're saving on stamp costs by not sending out renewal notices. And since you are only able to pay online if you have a RIN which you can only get through the renewal notice, you're pretty much left with the only option: go to the DMV, ask how much it costs and pay the fee in person.
2. Make an appoint far in advance to your local DMV office because with all the budget cuts, they have less open days during the week. Because of this, you might want to make that appointment at least one and a half month before your expiration date to leave in that cushion time.
3. Go in there, pay in person IN CASH. They don't accept credit cards (sounds stupid, they accept it online but they don't at their offices!?) Get a
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