Every year, like all of you, I get a friendly reminder from the DMV that the registration is due on my cars. This past year, I didn’t get a notification in the mail for my yellow 64 Monza convertible. I chalked it up to it either being lost in the mail or sent to a neighbor.
I have AAA and do what I can to keep my local branch with DMV services open, so I try to always pay my registration there. Not only does it give the location foot traffic, it also gives me my registration tag on the spot.
This year, not having received my notification, I go in with last years registration to renew. The lady at the counter takes my registration, ID & AAA card and starts typing away. She then proceeds to tell me, “I can’t renew your registration.”
I ask why?
“You have to take it to DMV. We can’t renew it here and I can’t tell you why.”
Hmmm… ok. As this was right around the holidays and my registration is due in Dec, I was unable to get to the real DMV to get this settled. A week ago, I was finally able to get to the DMV near my office in the North Bay. To avoid a wasted trip, I took a copy of the last two years registration, the pink slip and a copy of my insurance.
I get to the non-appointment front desk and let the rep know I want to pay my registration. Sure, no problem!
I hand over last years registration along with my ID and he starts typing away. He stops, leans back, looks at me, and asks why I want to register a stolen vehicle.
What?! I assured him that the vehicle was not only NOT stolen, but it was at home tucked away in my garage.
He then prints something up, takes my documents over to a lady at another desk and begins to talk to her. She jots something on a post-it note and he comes back to me.
“We cannot register this vehicle. You will need to call an investigator at this number.” and hands over my documents and the post-it with the phone number.
I go back to my truck, and make a call to Hagerty. I get a real person who was very helpful and sympathetic to my dilemma and let me know that there were no claims on my file. Only verification of registration payments and insurance payments. He gave me his personal number and said if anything was contested to call him and he would verify. Side note: I’m sticking with Hagerty.
Next call was to the investigator which I found out was a DMV investigator (a job I never knew existed). The first person took all of my information down and I could hear him click clacking on the keyboard. He then puts me on hold. Once off hold, he informs me that I have a flag on my registration because my car was reported “stolen and unrecoverable”. I assured him that this was not the case and that I never made that claim. Back on hold.
Who I can only assume was a superior gets on the line and we go over it all again. He seems perplexed. He then asks me to read off my “body type model” on the pink slip. I recite it back to him. “CNV967”. Back on hold.
He gets me back on the line and informs me that DMV made a mistake when they drew up my title. A “body type model” should only be TWO characters. Mine was SIX.
The icing on the cake was that the six numbers on my body type model was an exact match of a license plate of a car that had been reported stolen and unrecoverable last year. His assumption was that any document in the DMV system with these six characters would flag the stolen car. Nevermind that my license plate (which is also on the title) is completely different from this sequence.
He said in 25 years, he had never seen this happen before. He also informed me that he let the DMV branch manager know to honor my registration and removed the flag.
I go back into DMV and they process me right out. The lady helping me was even kind enough to waive the late registration fee. She mentioned that I may need to take the car back in for a VIN verification. Haven’t heard anything back about that yet.
I get home and my curiosity gets the best of me. Having two 64 Monza convertibles, I grab the pink slip for the blue one to compare. Sure enough, CV. Then I check the pink slip of my truck. PU. The Honda CRV? UT.
The number 967 may have rung a bell with some of you seasoned Corvair owners. That is the body style number for the early model Monza convertible. I am the second owner of this car and didn’t check the original pink slip when I handed it over to DMV for the title transfer.
Could the dealer have written out CNV967 when they drew up the paperwork? I still have his business card but Geer Chevrolet is long gone.
I am disappointed, but not surprised, that this slipped by DMV on the transfer.
So, if you are curious after reading my tale, go check your titles and make sure they are correct. I’d hate for you to have to explain to ad nauseam that your car isn’t stolen when you’re just trying to pay your bill!
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