Thumper Thinks Out Loud

Oh, How I Wanna Go Home…

Holy fricking guacamole…I’m not sure the bureaucracy of Ohio could be any more screwed up. Who makes the laws here anyway? Especially the laws pertaining to the Motor Vehicle Department?

Here’s the thing…we traded our truck in when we bought the car, and the dealer took our vanity plates and put them on the car—we were told that when we got the Nonengotiable Title in the mail to just take it to the BMV, pay $4.50, and they would transfer those plates to the new car.

To be sure, the Spouse Thingy called the BMV before we left the house this morning to be sure. Yep, bring the title and $4.50.

Spiffy.

So we get the title and head to the BMV. The lady there starts to make the transfer and then says she can’t, because the plates was registered to a truck and can’t be transferred to a car. We have to call the main BMV in Columbus. They won’t do it—we have to. So home we go, where the Spouse Thingy gets on the phone and tries to cut through all the busy signals. He finally gets a person—well, it can be done, but first he needs me to write some kind of letter stating I give up my half of the personalized plates (evidently I was part owner…whoda thunk?) and he needs a Power of Attorney; send that with $4.50, a pint of blood, and our firstborn child, and they’ll get back to us.

Holy crap. All we wanted was to keep our vanity plates.

After 4 freaking hours of dealing with it, we said the hell with it and went back to get generic plates. Screw the vanity plates, as nifty as they were.

So…we’re back at the BMV, getting the plates. Ohio has this screwed up thing where every damned thing you’re registered for is tied to your birth date. It’s February. The Spouse Thingy’s birthday is in April. So, we paid registration for a full year, and had to go ahead and pay anotheryear’s registration since the first “year” expires in April.

WTF?

Today, we just wanted to go back to CA, where the DMV might take forever to get through, but at least it makes some kind of sense.