Me & DMV

I was lucky when we moved to Albany, NY in October of 2021. There were so many people to notify or not of our move and it all fell into place. Resulting in little or no stress. Yeah!

Not so when trying to register our car. Little did I know that it was going to take weeks. The staff at DMV were extremely kind to me. You would be too after seeing me on five different occasions. Unfortunately, the rules within the system were not flexible and that is where things became dicey.

In New York State, a car owner physically possesses their car’s title, even though they may have a loan out on it. In New Hampshire, you don’t get the title unless you have paid off the loan. Which makes sense. The title becomes a type of collateral, so the bank is assured that their loan will be re-paid. Obviously, that’s not how it works in New York State.

I was told to contact the bank holding our loan and have them send a certified copy of title and a letter of permission faxed to the New York State DMV. I was given a fax number to use.

My first problem was reaching the appropriate person at my credit union in New Hampshire who could send the documents to New York State. Getting to a Customer Service Representative was a real challenge.

The first time I called, I was number 37 in the holding queue. I thought I’d call later. And I did. At that point, I was number 132 in line. Yes, you did not misread what I wrote. One hundred and thirty-one people were ahead of me. What?!?!?!

I needed those documents, so I put the phone on speaker for two hours and six minutes and played computer games. And, then voila - I got my first human. I explained the situation and what I needed to get our car registered in New York State. I was forwarded to a wonderful young woman (I’ll call her Jane) in their records department.

Jane gathered the information needed and I gave her the fax number to send the documents to. Two days later I started calling DMV to find out the status. They had not received the documents. The number I was given by DMV was not an active number.

I emailed Jane. She resent the documents to the new DMV fax number I was given. Two days later, I checked on the status of the second sent fax and that one couldn’t be found either.

At this point, I’m wondering if I would always be driving with New Hampshire plates. BTW, the clock was ticking. New York State has a deadline for vehicle registration for residents.

Good news. While checking on the status of the second fax, I found a person who stated that the department needed notarized certified copy of the documents. The faxed ones wouldn’t count. Why was I even given a fax number if that was the case?

I emailed Jane again. On October 25th, she sent the certified originals to me at our new address in Albany. Ten days later, they still had not arrived.

I emailed Jane again. She got permission from her supervisor to FedEx the two originals to me. With them in hand, I went back to DMV for my fifth and final visit.

Goodbye New Hampshire! Hello New York State!