Lesson learned at DMV came with a price By MIKE BOLLINGER
As part of my relocation to North Carolina, I recently made the required trips to the driver’s license office and license tag agency. I was prepared for the worst, particularly since the first appointment I could get for a driver’s license was two months after I actually moved. Having moved from Virginia to North Carolina before, I knew I would have to take the road sign recognition test in order to get a North Carolina license. I’ve had a driver’s license since I was 16, which is … a long time. I’ve probably seen every road sign there is to see thousands of times. However, one large part of my personality is that I tend to worry about things.
Sometimes a lot. meant I didn’t So, despite my have to take the familiarity with sign test. So, every road sign I had stressed, there is, I began overthought and to study them and studied those did so for two signs for nothing. MIKE BOLLINGER days in advance of While stressing mike@johnstonnow.com my appointment. unnecessarily I went into is far from the driver’s license office something new to me, I had reasonably sure I could to laugh that I had done it yet identify the signs. again. I happened to tell the lady Now that I had my hot who was helping me I had off the press North Carolina gotten a North Carolina temporary driving certificate, license in August 2016 when I headed to the license plate I moved to Elizabeth City to agency to get tags for my cars. work at the paper there. She There was a bit of a line, but looked me up in the N.C. nothing out of the ordinary system, and my license was for a DMV agency. still in there. When it was my turn, I She said she could issue me started pulling out all the a duplicate that would still information the DMV be good for three years. Since website told me I should my license was still valid, that bring from a file folder. (Yes, I had all the information organized in a file folder. Yes, I overstress, overthink and overprepare. Please don’t judge me.) At this point, I learned that no matter how long it takes, NCDMV will find you. When I left Elizabeth City and went back to Virginia, once I had gotten insurance in Virginia I canceled my North Carolina policy. That same day, I mailed my N.C. tag back in order to get my refund, since where I moved in Virginia was more than four hours away from the nearest town in North
Carolina. When the lady at the tag agency was looking at my information on her screen, she noted I had titled that car in North Carolina before. I said I had, in fact I bought it in Elizabeth City. She then said, “You’re going to have to pay a $50 civil penalty before I can title it and issue you a tag.” I asked what for, and she explained that I was being fined for not having insurance on an active tag. Apparently, a tag is active in North Carolina until DMV receives it. Thus, because I canceled the insurance before they received the tag, I had to pay. Lesson learned. The hard way. I guess it could have been worse. A friend in Virginia who works at an insurance agency told me had I done the same thing there, the fine would have been $500 and I would have had to pay for signed risk insurance for three years to keep my license. That is not a surprise, because while I love my home state, Virginia likes to regulate everything it can as much as it can. Despite paying the extra $50, my overall experience was quite good. Everyone I encountered was pleasant and ready to help me get my business done. Once again, I had stressed out for nothing. Some things, I suppose, will never change.
CORRECTIONS In the November edition, we incorrectly identified the contributor of three recipes — the marinated beef tenderloin, coconut cake and deviled eggs. These recipes were sent in by Elizabeth Anne Temple. In addition, in the Big Boy’s 30th anniversary story, we incorrectly identified Wendi Powell. We regret the errors. 6 | [ JOHNSTON NOW ]
