When I moved to Florida in 2007, the process was relatively easy. I stopped at the RMV office in Gainesville the day we got there. I said, "Hi. I just moved here from Massachusetts and need a license." I got my license that day. Later that day, I called State Farm and said, "Hi. I just moved to Florida from Massachusetts and need insurance." I got it that day. The next day, I went to the Tax Collector's office in Gainesville and said, "Hi. I just moved here from Massachusetts and need new plates and registration." I got everything that day. Massachusetts demanded I mail back my Massachusetts license plates, so I did.
Fast forward four-and-a-half years, and I just moved back to Massachusetts. I called State Farm and said, "Hi. I just moved from Florida to Massachusetts. I have insurance with you, but need to transfer it to Massachusetts." I got an email that day with my new policy information. That's where it stopped being easy.
Because I have a loan on the car I just bought in December, the loan company told me I needed to send them a notarized letter informing them I have moved in order to get my title transferred to Massachusetts. The letter needed to include my account number, old address, new address, and address, phone number and fax number for the Massachusetts RMV. I'm sorry - have you ever tried to call a Massachusetts RMV office? No, because you can't. So I made up a phone and fax number, drove to my dad's office, bothered his co-worker who is a notary public, and got the damn thing notarized. Then my dad faxed it for me (because who has a fax in their house? and I hadn't started work yet). I called the next day - they didn't get it. I called a week later and was told, "We don't release titles until the loan is paid off." Well, no kidding. I didn't ask for my title. I asked for it to be transferred to Massachusetts so that I can A. get my new license and B. get my new registration/plates. I called State Farm, and the nice lady tells me that the loan company is wrong. All I need is the title number when I go to the RMV, and they do all the work for me regarding the title. So I called the loan company back, explain that they are idiots (in not so many words) and get the title number.
I go to the RMV in downtown Springfield. I'm told the wait is going to be two hours and 45 minutes. Fortunately, the RMV is across the street from the Y my dad and I belong to. So I go work out for as long as I can manage, and then wait the last 45 minutes with every other sweaty, smelly person at the RMV. The only difference between them and me? I was sweaty and smelly because I was at the gym. They are sweaty and smelly because no one who goes to the downtown Springfield RMV owns soap? I don't know, that's my best guess. Then it dawns on me that my license, which is good for four years, will have a picture of me sweaty and red-faced. Wonderful!
By the time I had accepted my license photo fate, it was my turn. I gave the clerk the 2,309,785 documents from the insurance company, the car dealer and the RMV website. She wants to know what I have to prove my address is, in fact, my new address. I give her my auto insurance policy with the address, but that's not good enough. She asks for a utility bill or lease. I inform her that I'm living with my dad and not paying any utility bills or rent. I do have a cell phone, but I only changed my address the week before and thus don't have a bill with the new address. In a stroke of genius, she realizes she can process my registration/plates first, and use those as proof of my new address. Great!
Massachusetts, also known as Taxachusetts, has this crazy rule that if you bought a car in the previous six months in another state, even though you already paid that state's sales tax, you have to pay Massachusetts sales tax again in order to register your car. This is because people hate Massachusetts and its insane tax rates, so they used to cross the border to buy a car in New Hampshire and save oodles. Not anymore. However, I wasn't trying to be sneaky. I was living, working and driving in Florida, so I thought it would be convenient to buy a new car in Florida. Apparently that was my first mistake. Trying to move back to Massachusetts was my second. The clerk wanted $600-something before she'd issue my new registration. I cried, partly to make her feel bad but mostly out of sheer frustration, but it didn't work. She said either I paid the $600+, plus the $50 for my license, plus the $75 for my registration, or I could show her proof that I paid sales tax in Florida when I bought the car. I showed her every single piece of paper the dealership gave me, including the bill of sale showing I paid $600 something in sales tax. Apparently that wasn't good enough. I need an official, notarized Department of Revenue form from the dealership. So I left. Without a license, without registration, and without plates (which, by the way, are called "tags" in Florida).
I called the dealership. They knew what form the RMV lady was talking about, but they said that was only for people who are Massachusetts residents who happen to buy a car in Florida, either because they are on vacation or they are snowbirds. She said that is not for people who are Florida residents who later move to Massachusetts, but that she would go ahead and fill it out as if I was a snowbird who bought a car in Florida. Ha!
It worked. I went back a few days later with my express ticket number, waiting about five minutes and, fortunately, got a different clerk. I acted like nothing happened. I gave her everything I had given the other lady, plus this stupid form that really didn't even apply to me, and walah - I got a license, plates and registration without forking over that $600. I try to look on the bright sides of things, so I guess I'm glad I look normal in my picture and not like a heart attack victim.That was two weeks ago. Today in the mail is a letter from the State of Florida informing me that they are about to suspend my license because I canceled my Florida auto insurance. No kidding! So I called the number on the letter, was put on hold for 25 minutes during which I listened to this nice-sounding good ol' boy with a charming North Florida accent tell me what I could do online without waiting for an operator. Finally, the good ol' boy picks up and tells me his name is Mike. Well, would ya look at that! I told good ol' boy Mike about the letter and how I canceled my Florida auto insurance because I moved to Massachusetts more than a month ago was legally and officially licensed, registered and insured here, not Florida. Good ol' boy Mike says I was supposed to mail back my Florida "tag." Both RMV clerks told me that was not necessary. I lied and told Mike I threw the plate away (I paid extra for that University of Florida plate and I want to keep it!) and that the RMV took my Florida license, which he understood. So now, I have to fax a copy of my registration and a letter on State Farm letterhead with all of my policy information, to him at his office in Tallahassee. If I don't, when it comes time to renew my license (in 2016), it will show up in the national database of driver licenses that my license was suspended in Florida, regardless of the fact that it was suspended when I was no longer a resident. Ugh! Mike was nice, and very helpful, so I was nice back, but I think I need to go to yoga before I punch someone in the face.
I'm pretty sure I will never move across state lines again. If I do, it'll be because my rich husband takes a job elsewhere, and I'll just make his secretary handle all of this nonsense for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment