DMV Rant
 

I just finished a phone hearing to see if my license will be suspended. The judge said she would need to review the relevant laws and issue a determination by Nov 13th.

Last January I received notification from the Oregon DMV that one of my vehicles was randomly selected to require proof of liability insurance during a specific date range. I glossed over the details of the letter and just thought they wanted proof of insurance, so I had my dad submit a copy of his current insurance which covers the vehicle.

Then I received a letter saying the proof of insurance was denied because it didn't cover the vehicle during the specific dates in January, and that my license would be suspended until I could provide proof of insurance during that date for that vehicle OR submit a written request for a hearing.

I submitted a request for a hearing and then called the DMV to get more details as to what this was about. Adam answered the phone said I must provide proof of insurance for the previous date, or my license would be suspended. I explained that the vehicle was parked on the family farm and was not being driven during that time, and that later my dad insured the vehicle when he began driving it. Adam just reiterated what the letter said, that my license would be suspended until I provided proof of coverage during this time frame. I asked to speak to his manager, and he said he didn't have one. Then I said something snarky like "wow, I"m speaking to the director of the DMV directly", and he hung up. I called back, and upon asking why he hung up on me, he hung up again. He then refused to answer the phone for at least the next 5 minutes that I tried.

Next I went online to find out more about this new to me law that randomly selects people to require proof of insurance for specific vehicles, but didn't find anything. Instead I found a complaint form and commented about Adam hanging up on me twice instead of being helpful. I got a call back very quickly from a manager (Adam's manager?) saying not to make a big deal out of this, that I didn't need an attorney or a hearing, and all I needed to do was download a form that isn't readily available to the public, give a written reason why the vehicle didn't have insurance, and then mail it in.

Well, I did all that. I submitted the form saying that the vehicle wasn't being driven on public roads, wasn't in my possession, and that the vehicles I had been driving were all insured.

The next communication I received was a notice of a phone hearing by judge.

Don't you feel good knowing your DMV fees are making a real difference at keeping you safe? We need to remove insured drivers with clean driving records from the roadways to make room for the other 20% of drivers that don't have insurance, or the 15% that are not licensed to drive.

No, what makes me feel safe is knowing that they're finally cracking down on terrorists who fail to insure cars that aren't being used. What if I were innocently doing donuts in somebody's lawn and get hit by a car you've recklessly parked there... and it isn't insured? Who am I going to turn to to be made whole again?

It's about time.

Well, you're the one who chooses to stay in a state run by those people. Vote with your feet :-)

Isn’t Oregon a wonderful place?

We've doubled down on our commitment to live in Oregon. My wife had $35k of her tuition paid in return for agreeing to work in a rural town in Oregon for 1 year. It seems Canby is in our very near future.

As crazy as Oregon can be, there is absurdity to be found anywhere humans inhabit. I'll take these 1st world problems over fear of drug cartels, or government agencies that accept overt bribes.

Need to start doing that here.

Oregon DMV once suspended my license without notifying me. This was due to having 2 speeding tickets in a 3 year timeframe. I found out my license had been suspended when I was pulled over for running a yellow light when I could have stopped. Officer said my car legally had to be towed, and that another licensed driver was not permitted to drive it home. He cited me for driving without a valid license (although I presented what I thought was a valid license at the time). This was a Friday night.

The impound is not "open" on the weekend, although they impound cars all weekend long. By Monday morning, my bill to get the car back was $500 (in 2003). You get billed $200/day for every day the car is parked in the outdoor gravel pit, including the days they are "closed" and you cannot retrieve the vehicle.

Appearing before the judge to explain why I was driving with an invalid license, he threw out the case saying DMV needed to notify me. I asked what can be done about the $500 tow fee, and he said the best I could do is present the dismissal of my infraction to them and see if they would waive their "services" or give me a reduced rate. Essentially, what's done is done.

So what would have cost me $80 to reinstate my license had I been notified, turned into a $500 impound fee. Crazy that the state is in bed with the impound crooks.

Sucks of course, but sometimes you can let the quirks in the law work for you.

In the 90s it was legal in Canby to live in your place of business. If it's still that way, you could put an Airstream in a concrete tilt-up, and run a motorcycle shop out of your living room.

And show me the state with an Okay DMV.

Dealing with most public servants is usually a PITA.


It's simply ridiculous to make it illegal to live in oneself's place of business, though it should be quite easy to overcome it. Why not claim to have a "break room" in the workplace as an excuse to actually live there? :D

Well, Nevada's not half bad these days. I can do a registration renewal in 5 minutes, on line, while I was in Europe. (Had the neighbor drive it in for the smog,) Registering a new (to me) car did mean an in-person visit. About a 2-hour delay, but their system sends you text messages on wait status, so you can go do other stuff instead of standing in line.