Category Archives: Automotive

Stupid >:XX Secretary of State.

I wanted to change my registration from North Carolina to Michigan so I could use my old personalized plates. The first phone call—five weeks ago—went perfect.

I mailed in the $8 check and the necessary form (which the lady walked me through completely) and waited. And waited. And waited. And forgot about it for a bit. And waited. Then noticed that the check had been cashed—yet I was still waiting and waiting and waiting for the new registration to appear in the mailbox.

Three weeks—THREE!—after the check was cashed, and two weeks after I sent the check in, I finally called. I was ready to pitch a fit because I was POSITIVE they had mailed it to the wrong address (either address on my license), even though I know I put our current address on there.

“Oh, your husband needs to sign the form since the North Carolina registration is in his name.”

SERIOUSLY?

And it took five weeks to tell me this? Oh wait, they didn’t tell me anything, I had to call and get the information myself after waiting for FIVE WEEKS. And it obviously didn’t hamper them CASHING THE CHECK.

And why yes, of course it makes sense since the current registration was in his name…but the nice lady who originally walked me through every single box on the stupid form never once specified that he had to sign it (and stupid me, obviously, didn’t even think about it since I’d never done this before).

GRRRRRR.

Parents, if your kids are old enough to be playing in the street without your supervision, they’d better damn well know to get out of the street when cars are coming instead of looking at them and then darting in front of them. Ugh. He got a loud and long honk.

Six days. SIX DAYS is all it took to get the first ding on our new car, thanks to some asshat in a white vehicle. Ugh.

I was able to rub the paint off, but there’s a definite tiny ding in the passenger side. GRRRR.

We are starting to think and plan for a new car minivan [Toyota Sienna]. Shoot me. Yeah, I know people love them and I am sure I will come to love it…but I just love my Toyota Highlander SO much I don’t ever want to get rid of it. It’s nine years old and would likely last a lot more years…but if we want to have a second kid, a minivan is definitely in our future.

Anyway.

What really annoys me about buying a new car is all the really blah colors offered. I hate HATE blah colors. Really, these are it? /gag XX(

What happened to green? Turquoise? Orange? Purple? Give me one of those and I’d buy one ASAP. (As a point of reference, my first car was gold, my second car was bright purple, and my current car is a deep/bright green.) I actually like the black the best, but I would never get a black car. The second closest would be the South Pacific Pearl, but it’s still too muted for me.

Maybe we can hold out another year and the 2012 colors will be better. 😐

P.S. Here are the color choices I had in 2001—soooooo much better.

>:XX

What the hell is the point of offering traffic ticket recipients the option to write a letter of explanation for a possible reduced ticket … if you don’t even read the letter and just charge me regardless? At least pretend to care, bastards.

Yes, I know it was my fault in the end (god forbid the Secretary of State be partially to blame!), but don’t give me an option and then ignore it entirely.

And really? $125 for expired tags? What a crock. My speeding ticket [seven years ago] was $125. I think speeding is a bit more reckless than expired tags.

>:XX

So I got pulled over today. >:XX In the end, it’s a good thing, but in the meantime, it’s a big pain in the ass.

I honestly had NO idea why I got pulled over since I had been at a red light then turned on a green arrow—and I was a bit worried when I saw the cop nose into the turn lane ahead of someone [but behind me] so I watched my speed, etc. So imagine my complete and utter SHOCK when she told me I had expired tags.

Wait, what? Expired CAR tags? No way. Not possible.

I distinctly remembered going to get them. I remembered having parents here babysitting so I didn’t have to drag Owen. I remembered being at the counter and changing my address. But hmmm, I couldn’t find my registration, which was odd—not even an OLD registration. And then I was ticked at myself because I remembered pulling up TO the white line instead of staying back where the cop was (a good car length behind the line—so she was able to see my plates).

So I never found a registration, and she came back and said they were definitely expired and I had no registration on file at the Secretary of State. 88| I actually asked if I could get out and look—saying that I believed her, but I had to see it for myself. Yep, they were 2009 tags. >:XX

When I got home I started to dig through records trying to find any info—my best bet would be the check I know I paid with. I had a voters registration card with a date of June 22, 2009, so I know that’s the date I was in the DMV and would have written the check. (There was a slight chance I only did hubby’s that day but I KNOW I would have done mine via the internet had I been sent the forms in the mail.) But I got nothing—online banking only goes back three months, and this would have been in the June-September 2009 time frame.

I called my credit union, told them what I was looking for, and they actually searched a YEAR’S WORTH of checks and didn’t find anything. I know I paid by check, but I checked credit card statements, too (thinking maybe I was misremembering and did the renewal online) but there wasn’t anything there, either. >:XX Then I remembered another checking account that is barely used because I have been planning on canceling the account, but I didn’t have any account numbers (I recently deleted the online account AND the mint.com connection because I was going to delete the account). GRRRR. I did end up finding account numbers so I called, they found the check, but it was only for a small amount—the amount of Tom’s registration, as it turned out.

I called the Secretary of State to see if they could help me figure out what happened—and they were no big help. They did tell me, though, that the address on file was my Grayling address (even though I changed my license address) for whatever reason. Which means my renewal info went there…except my mom never got it. She got my LICENSE renewal, though. ❓

The most baffling part, really, is that my expired registration was not in the car. I only take it out when I replace it with the new one (just like proof of insurance)…so where did it go? I haven’t needed it for anything else that I can remember…

GRRRRR.

So Tom has to change license plates. Well, let me rephrase. He wants to go back to his Michigan State University license plate vs. the North Carolina license plate he got when he bought the car.

Of course, it’s a total PITA to get to the SOS with his schedule, so I figured that I would just call the out-of-state military resident line to hopefully just change our address (which is what we did to change us to an out-of-state address) but noooooooooo…since we are in the state we have to go in and fill out paperwork. :crazy:

I should have just lied and said we were moving back soon and here’s our new address. But then with my luck, she would have just said “Well just wait until you actually move here and come into the office.”

I know if you could just change you address on the phone, everyone would do it. But we’re not everyone, we are military. Cut us some freaking slack.

>:XX

I know you can turn right on red (unless marked otherwise). However, I was recently stopped at an intersection in the right-hand lane at a red light. I wanted to go straight. A car pulled up on my left, stopped, and then turned right–crossing in front of me. Sorry, but that cannot be legal.

I hate stupid drivers.