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.

So, despite my familiarity with every road sign there is, I began to study them and did so for two days in advance of my appointment. I went into the driver’s license office reasonably sure I could identify the signs.

I happened to tell the lady who was helping me I had gotten a North Carolina license in August 2016 when I moved to Elizabeth City to work at the paper there. She looked me up in the N.C. system, and my license was still in there.

She said she could issue me a duplicate that would still be good for three years. Since my license was still valid, that meant I didn’t have to take the sign test. So, I had stressed, overthought and studied those signs for nothing. While stressing unnecessarily is far from something new to me, I had to laugh that I had done it yet again.

Now that I had my hot off the press North Carolina temporary driving certificate, I headed to the license plate agency to get tags for my cars. There was a bit of a line, but nothing out of the ordinary for a DMV agency.

When it was my turn, I started pulling out all the information the DMV website told me I should 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.