Registration

I'm not great about getting my car registration renewed in a timely fashion. I drove in California for almost three years with Utah registration. The last two years it was expired Utah registration. Finally my mom came to town to visit, and when I told her that we couldn't really drive down PCH in my car because there are too many cops she flatly refused to go anywhere with me until I had cleared the up the issue. Too bad she hasn't been out to visit more recently.

When I walked out the door yesterday morning to go to class I found out that my car was gone. I figured it had probably been towed because the registration is more than 6 months overdue, so I was immediately very upset. I said a few words that I probably shouldn't have said and wasn't particularly polite to the lady at the police station who told me that I'd have to go get a release form at the DMV to get my car out of impound to have the smog test done.

Thankfully my roommate lent me her car so I could make the trip to the DMV. The guy at the counter refused to give me the form I needed though because I didn't have the license plate number. I had to call my roommate and have her rifle through some paperwork until she could find it. Then I had to stand around for 45 minutes before they could give me the release form. I had to take that back to the HB police department who fined me an arm and a leg, and then take their paperwork and the release form to the tow yard. The tow yard people pretty much just robbed me, and at that point I became so frustrated that I broke down and started crying. Not sobbing, but there were tears, and the tow yard man behind the counter couldn't stop staring at me, which did not help.

After I left the tow yard company, I took my car to get smogged. At first I went to the mechanic I used to go to back when I had a Chrysler. He doesn't do smog tests, but he referred me to his friend who does. The friend worked in an alley a few blocks away, and I never would have found the place if someone hadn't told me it was there. I was kind of a mess when I got there and I just handed the man all the papers I had and told him I needed my car smogged. He started sorting through the various papers and found the receipt from the towing company. He put all the others down and in a very heavy accent gave me a sincere apology for "having had the misfortune of dealing with those people." We started chatting while he was filling out the paperwork. When he saw my address he noted outloud that my neighbor had been in to see him earlier that morning for the same thing, and that also he has cousins that own a liquor store a few blocks over. That's right, he's cousins with the guys who own the Mafia Market. I think he kept me there a good 40 minutes after the test was complete just shooting the breeze.

After that was done I took a trip back to the DMV. I was in there for at least another hour, and met some middle-aged man wearing a lot of gold jewelry who works for a motor racing company. I know this because when they finally called his number he shoved a business card in my hand and told me to please give him a call. My unfortunate familialarity with the DMV has led me to the conclusion that normal people don't drive, so there's no way I'm calling someone I met there. Still it was nice to have someone to commiserate with about the DMV employee who didn't seem to be doing anything but wandering around aimlessly amongst cubicles while there was a big line of people there waiting to be helped.

So after seven hours, and many dollars, my car is at last registered...until October. At least I was not jailed over this like someone else I know, or pulled over and left at the side of the road while the police impounded the car on the spot by another person I know. It could have been a lot worse.