Bureaucracy and DMV

I don't know of anyone that enjoys going to DMV, but I think it's safe to say, hubby and I now DESPISE going to DMV.  Between the two of us, hubby and I have gone to DMV 4 times over the last 2 months (and there is at least one more trip necessary).  We've also made numerous phone calls to DMV as well as Virginia state police and spent hours doing on-line research.

You see, back in December, we traded in our car for a pickup truck, sold an RV, and purchased a travel trailer.  That means dealing with tags, titling, and registration for each item (4 "vehicles" in total). We were not supposed to need to go to DMV for the pickup truck because the dealer was going to do that for us.  Unfortunately, two of our trips thus far have involved correcting a mistake the dealer made with the pickup truck.

We have been learning over the last week or so that tagging a pickup in the state of Virginia is a very unique task.  Personal property taxes are assessed on vehicles based on their value, weight, or a combination of the two.  I get that and have no problem with it.  My new truck puts more stress and strain on the roads than a Prius, so I pay more. I'm cool with that.

The problem we are encountering is that the field VA uses for tax purposes is also the field they use to specify how much a truck is allowed to tow.  Our current problem lies in the fact that when registering our truck, they skipped the field that all the OTHER states use to determine how much a truck is allowed to tow legally.   Keep in mind that Virginia does not use that field, so everyone we're talking to (including the state police) says that we will have no problem if we get pulled over.  And you know what... that's true in Virginia.  Not only that, but DMV claims they cannot put anything in that field.

But, we're not planning on driving in just Virginia.  All the other states want that one specific field filled in (you know the one that is blank and DMV says they can't fix).  Why's it a big deal to us?  Because if we get pulled over and that field is empty, we can be (and probably will be) given a ticket for somewhere in the realm of $3000 - $5000.  Can you say OUCH!?!

We were finally able to get someone to agree to redo the title and registration if we can prove that it was done incorrectly.  We've gathered the proof and we are hopeful that when we leave DMV next time, that things will be in order. 

We will be SO happy when this is all over.