You'd think the government would be more organized...

[thistlechaser]

Tax season.
The time: Last week.

I kept putting off doing my taxes, then said that I'd do them on the coming weekend for sure. But it was Thursday and suddenly I felt like settling in and getting them done, and yay getting them done early, so I did them.

No surprises, owed money to federal and state.

Wrapping up them, TurboTax asked for my driver's license number and expiration date. I fetched my license. Entered the number. Checked the expiration date...

What the hell? "Why does it have 2017 as the expiration date? Isn't this 2018?"

It did. And it is.

I had been driving with an expired license for three months.

In a panic, I checked the DMV website. It let me renew it online, which I thought was odd but hey. Worried though, I kept reading.

"Licenses can only be renewed online up to 60 days after they expire." It had been 90 days on the nose, so why did the site let me do it..? I kept reading:

"Licenses can only be renewed up to 90 days after they expire, must be done in person." Bolding mine. I was reading that on the 90th day. Oh my god, was I going to have to completely retest? Take the book test? The driving test?

With a thin hope that maybe they would count it at midnight of the 90th day, I got dressed, jumped into an Uber, and went to the DMV.

The line was literally out the door. It took an hour of waiting just to get in the door, at which time they told us it would be a FIVE HOUR WAIT from that point.

But what choice did I have?

Eventually I got through the first check-in line (the line before you even get a number to wait to be served). The woman laughed at me. "People come with a ten year expired license and can renew!" What the hell? So was the website totally wrong?

I don't even know. I didn't have to retest at all (YAY). I did, however, pay twice now, once online and once in person, and I have no idea how I will get that straightened out.

Why hadn't I gotten notice about my license expiring? Because I had moved and they had an old address for me.

But the government knows where I am. I get voting registration and election mail. How does one part of the government know where I am, but not a different part?

Blah. Thankfully I hadn't gotten into an accident or anything when I hadn't had a license...

Comments

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Glad you were able to get it renewed!
Sorry for the issues.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Same! I'm going to have to set a five year out reminder on my phone or something, so I don't miss it again.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they don't make you retake the test or anything, I think after 90 days they just want to make sure it is really you and not some person who stole your information from your wallet or something. Going in person IS THE WORST. I had to go in person last year because my license had become too old and they wanted the new photo. IT TOOK SO LONG UGH! Oh well. Put that expiration date in your Google calendar now :P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to have gotten a new photo (I haven't seen it yet, but it has to be better than the old one...). I'm just so relieved that I didn't have to retest! Especially the driving part. I'm pretty confident I could pass it, but I'm sure they'd want some licensed driver to show up with me...

[quistie.livejournal.com]

I checked my driver's license right after I read this. I have until November. So thank you for the reminder :3

Well, the government is inefficient and the different parts don't exactly work well together (from the highest level to the lowest)...

And it does make some sense that there isn't overlap between DMV and voter registration. Voting is not mandatory, whereas we are required to have some type of ID from DMV even if we don't drive.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

At least in California, you can do it six months in advance, so if your state is the same, you can renew soon.

And yeah, true.