My second visit to DMV

Have I already posted about my car registration? I feel like I have, but since I'm too lazy to look back through my postings to check, I'm just going to post it (possibly again). So my car has been registered in the state of Tennessee since I bought it, right? And registration in the state of Tennessee is suuuuuuuper cheap (think $30). Crazy, isn't it? So you can kind of understand my hesitation and unwillingness to register my vehicle in California when I know it is going to cost over a hundred bucks.

So basically, to solve this problem...I didn't register my vehicle. My original plan was to let my registration run out in Tennessee since that would happen in October and I was moving in December, but there was a small snafu with needing to get on post. I had ONE student teaching seminar that was being held on Fort Campbell in November of last year, and to get on post you have to have current license, registration, and insurance. Without a renewal of my registration, I would not have been able to attend my final seminar...which was kind of not possible. DARN IT. So I renewed my registration on October 31, 2009...and it would not expire until October 31, 2010. I know $30 isn't much, but on sheer principle alone I did not want to pay registration fees twice in 2 months. So I didn't.

In California, you have 20 days to register an out-of-state vehicle without getting CHP fees. And these fees are not a drop in the bucket. When I used the online fee calculator, the CHP fees alone raised my registration costs by $100! And it is not unheard of to get pulled over for having out-of-state plates if you have been seen driving around pretty often. That was my biggest fear, and I figured once I got pulled over I'd head in to register my car.

BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED. In fact, I was told on one occasion by a local police officer that he knew I was working that particular day because he saw my out-of-state plates in the parking lot. When I explained my situation and asked him if that was a problem, he said "heck no! I would hold off as long as possible to pay mine, too!" That made me feel a little better for lying to my state and depriving them the couple hundred dollars that could help pay off our $19 billion deficit. Sigh...do as I say, not as I do, right?

So I successfully spent 10 months in the state of California without having to register my vehicle until I wanted to. How lucky am I?? I realized (thankfully) at the beginning of October that I should get the ball rolling, since California requires all vehicles to be smogged and I would need to transfer my car insurance over and other such things...but at 1:00 pm yesterday afternoon, I officially received my California plates at the DMV! That's a whole 6 days before my registration expired in Tennessee!

I am totally on top of things.