04-12-2023, 12:29 AM
This has to be some kind of record:
First trip to safety inspection: Closed that week.
Second trip: Network down, closed for the day.
Third trip: Failed inspection (window tint).
Fourth trip: Closed during business hours, no explanation (somebody sick?)
Fifth trip: Vehicle passed inspection but failed due to not having plates and registration. (Kind of a chicken/egg thing, can't get registration without a safety, and can't get a safety without a registration).
With "failed" safety in hand I prepare to go to Pahoa DMV.... first appointment available is 2 weeks out. So I wait 2 weeks... and then off to DMV to get plates and registration and... failed! No documentation of the sedan's weight. I've never heard of such a requirement and never had to produce one before. I briefly tried reasoning with them (Look up the VIN#. The information contains the vehicle's weight. That is how I was able to put the weight on the registration application). Nope. Manufacturer information attested to the DOT is irrelevant. Ever so helpful, the lady at the DMV suggested I have the car "towed or trailered" to the weigh station of my choice so I don't get a ticket for driving without the plates and registration she was the gatekeeper to. I don't know if the vein that popped in my head was visible or not, but it certainly felt like it.
This is how I learned that for $15 Puna Rock's "weight master" can generate a piece of paper with the vehicle's weight on it the DMV will accept. By some amazing coincidence, it was within a few pounds of what the information the VIN # decodes to!
Second trip to DMV... Guy in front of me is also drowning in a pool of bureaucratic nightmares and loses his shit. It was his third trip there, apparently each time he goes they come up some additional requirement they never told him about on previous trips. I feel his pain, I really do, but no need to yell and carry on for 10 minutes, especially when it's holding the line up. His rant eventually drifts away from his specific problem to the state of our government as a whole, says something about how he better leave before he becomes violent (Yes, please leave now) and he grabs his stuff and storms out. Finally, my turn. The lady who sent me to the weigh station looks at me, smiles, says somebody will be right with you, closes her window, grabs lunchbox, and leaves. The timing was impeccable, like the bureaucracy wanted to give me one more middle finger. After some additional waiting I eventually walk out of there with plates and registration.
Sixth trip to safety check... teeth practically grinding, afraid I'm going to lose it like the guy at the DMV if they are closed again. They're open! And the line is short!
After investing about 5 hours into the bureaucracy (I'm not counting the time spent removing window tint) the car is finally street legal.
I feel bad for the guy who will be going back to the DMV for the 4th time because the lady told him to bring his dad in to sign an affidavit, but she never told him the documentation his dad has to bring. So I'm pretty sure there is a 5th trip in his future.
First trip to safety inspection: Closed that week.
Second trip: Network down, closed for the day.
Third trip: Failed inspection (window tint).
Fourth trip: Closed during business hours, no explanation (somebody sick?)
Fifth trip: Vehicle passed inspection but failed due to not having plates and registration. (Kind of a chicken/egg thing, can't get registration without a safety, and can't get a safety without a registration).
With "failed" safety in hand I prepare to go to Pahoa DMV.... first appointment available is 2 weeks out. So I wait 2 weeks... and then off to DMV to get plates and registration and... failed! No documentation of the sedan's weight. I've never heard of such a requirement and never had to produce one before. I briefly tried reasoning with them (Look up the VIN#. The information contains the vehicle's weight. That is how I was able to put the weight on the registration application). Nope. Manufacturer information attested to the DOT is irrelevant. Ever so helpful, the lady at the DMV suggested I have the car "towed or trailered" to the weigh station of my choice so I don't get a ticket for driving without the plates and registration she was the gatekeeper to. I don't know if the vein that popped in my head was visible or not, but it certainly felt like it.
This is how I learned that for $15 Puna Rock's "weight master" can generate a piece of paper with the vehicle's weight on it the DMV will accept. By some amazing coincidence, it was within a few pounds of what the information the VIN # decodes to!
Second trip to DMV... Guy in front of me is also drowning in a pool of bureaucratic nightmares and loses his shit. It was his third trip there, apparently each time he goes they come up some additional requirement they never told him about on previous trips. I feel his pain, I really do, but no need to yell and carry on for 10 minutes, especially when it's holding the line up. His rant eventually drifts away from his specific problem to the state of our government as a whole, says something about how he better leave before he becomes violent (Yes, please leave now) and he grabs his stuff and storms out. Finally, my turn. The lady who sent me to the weigh station looks at me, smiles, says somebody will be right with you, closes her window, grabs lunchbox, and leaves. The timing was impeccable, like the bureaucracy wanted to give me one more middle finger. After some additional waiting I eventually walk out of there with plates and registration.
Sixth trip to safety check... teeth practically grinding, afraid I'm going to lose it like the guy at the DMV if they are closed again. They're open! And the line is short!
After investing about 5 hours into the bureaucracy (I'm not counting the time spent removing window tint) the car is finally street legal.
I feel bad for the guy who will be going back to the DMV for the 4th time because the lady told him to bring his dad in to sign an affidavit, but she never told him the documentation his dad has to bring. So I'm pretty sure there is a 5th trip in his future.