It finally happened. I have discovered something more onerous, more outrageous and frustrating than opening a bank account in England. This something takes the form of the Department of Motor Vehicles, lovingly referred to hereafter as the DMV, in Missouri (and in the city of Saint Louis in particular).
I challenge you to go search for how to go about registering your car, and obtaining Missouri license plates (which are of course, mandatory on all vehicles). One of the first things you might notice is how difficult it is to find 1) where to go to pursue this activity, and 2) what particular documents and bits of lifeblood you might need to produce once you get to the appropriate office. Now this would all be relatively normal (!) for most DMVs that i've ever done business with - in an of itself a sorry statement. However, i would be extremely more forgiving, understanding even, and exceedingly patient, if there weren't an absolutely astronomical fee attached to providing this (dis-)service.
I discovered yesterday, on my 5th (FIFTH!) attempt at obtaining license plates, having been turned away each previous time after waiting in a queue for up to 2 hours, that i needed more documentation - that i would be asked to pay a small fortune - MORE than the price of a plane ticket to the Philippines - to the city of Saint Louis, and the State of Missouri in order to gain the incredible service of being allowed to operate my vehicle here. The woman who was helping me with my extraordinary task of registering my vehicle, after handing me the list of fees associated with my registration, then politely informed me that i would owe another $50 as a penalty fee for being late in registering the car. I burst into tears - and i don't remember any of my dealings in England being so stressful as to reduce me to a sobbing heap - so this event (required by law, i remind you) suddenly gained new position on the list of Most Frustrating Attempts at Trying to Conduct Normal Legal Business. It wasn't enough that i had paid for and carried out express return shipping on my car title back to the seller to obtain his signature, or that i had already taken what amounted to two days off work to try to acquire the papers? No, instead, they would like to PENALIZE me! Fortunately, the woman who was helping me, albeit in her scattered way, took pity on me and my blubbering and helped me submit the paperwork (MORE paperwork) to waive the penalty. One point for me, one thousand for the City State.
In conclusion, you see my sincere and utter frustration with the DMV, and their new honorary role as top of my List, but there is a bigger issue at work here. I can't imagine what the city (or the State) thinks they are doing by charging such exorbitant rates for new vehicle registration. Since the city has a significantly lower standard of living than Denver, shouldn't the taxes and fees associated with that location reflect that? And the money CLEARLY doesn't go into streamlining or usability of the registration system. So, my question is, where is all that money going? Mayor Slay, care to respond?
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