Fun at the DMV

Who thought a trip to the DMV could be so exciting?  I guess if you define "exciting" as stressful and complicated.  I'll explain...

Moving to California meant that I needed to get a new California driver's license, get my car registered in the state, and register to vote.  The first two items could both be done at the DMV (department of motor vehicles.  Michigan just has Secretary of State offices, which California doesn't have), so I figured it wouldn't be too complicated.  The website was hard to completely understand, but it seemed you just had to make an appointment, fill out some forms, and you'd be all set.  It turned out to be a little bit more complicated...

We went this morning at 9am which was when I scheduled my appointment.  The appointment system is nice so you don't have to wait behind a lot of people; you get priority.  I filled out a form for my driver's license, was called up, and then got my picture taken as well as take a short 36-question written test to get my license.  The process was fairly simple, minus the written test, but it wasn't bad (as long as you know that animals must be properly restrained if you're transporting them in the back of a truck).

I went back to get my car registration, and that's when the fun happened.  First the representative was saying that my car wasn't eligible for the gift tax exemption because we had already transferred it; then I had to go get my vehicle inspected, so I went outside to get it inspected.  After coming back, since my car doesn't meet "California standards" (even new cars have a different "California" version to meet their specific requirements), and it was considered a "new car" (under 7500 miles), she was saying that my car wasn't even eligible to be driven in California.  We kept telling her that the car was a gift, so it should be exempt from that... so she finally had my dad fill out some paperwork stating that he gave me the car as a gift.  I then had to get it smog certified because it wasn't exempt.  However, she first asked me to give her my license plate, and then go out and get it checked for smog regulations. Therefore, I ended up driving a couple miles to the nearest test center,without a license plate.  My dad told me not to worry, but passing two police cars along the road didn't calm my nerves.  Luckily I wasn't pulled over even though I didn't have a license plate. The car passed the smog test, and then we went back to the DMV.

Once we got back, we finally were able to finalize everything and my car was officially registered!  The whole process took about 2.5 hours and about $300.  Thankfully, it's all done now and I now have official California license plates.  I also got to register to vote when I registered for my driver's license, which was a plus.  All that is left now is to get my stuff, which is supposed to come on Sunday!