I Love the DMV!

Oh Yeah!  You heard me correctly. 

I, myself, never thought those words would come out of my mouth!!!!     

You never appreciate what you have… until you have something much worse!  LOL 

As you probably guessed, I have not got the riteve (smog) done yet on my car… but it is not for lack of trying on my part.  I was a good girl and marched straight down to the Registro, well it was more like I took a bus to Heredia, then a bus to San José, then a bus to Zapote and then I marched straight down to the Registro.  The Registro is a building where you register:  man, auto, marriages, death and I don’t know what else. 

This was the process to get my new plates:

• When I first walked in I had to find the department for license plates and vehicle registry.
• I had to get a form and ticket to go pay for my plates at the bank (because you can’t pay for it there)
•  Bring the yellow receipt back to the plate place
• Trade the yellow receipt that says that I paid for the plates for a green receipt
• Wait 3o minutes and come back with my green receipt and pick up my plates.  That only took 2 hours.

Getting my certificate of ownership (pretty much the same process)

Now you say… “Okay, 2 hours, I have waited longer at the DMV!”  Oh, I too, have had to wait, but this was just for license plates.  I had to get a lawyer to change the title or “certificate” on the car… BTW I bought this car in April… you do the math. 

Now I have to get a riteve, which is like a smog, but they check other things too, like how readable your license plates are, thus the need to get new ones!  But I can’t go to the riteve place myself.  My mechanic has to take it in, but he can’t do it because the machine is broken.  He told me to come back Tuesday! 

Also, I would pay for my insurance (I have had the quote for almost 2 weeks now), but you can’t insure your car until it is has a riteve done! 

So on the whole the DMV is a dream!  DMV protocol:

• You purchase your insurance (you can even do it online!)
• Get your car smogged within 1/2 hour
• Go to the DMV , show them your insurance info, smog certificate and pay RIGHT THERE for you registration and your done!

Now that I have had my little rant… okay BIG rant… the car is a blessing and even though the process is stressful, expensive and time consuming, God has provided for me and I AM really grateful.  Next time I will be wiser and maybe able to help the next guy!