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Putting this here for lack of knowledge of where to put this exactly. No real suckage on anybody's part, just ... stuff happened.
As my car's registration was expiring this month, it was time to renew. Except, with me now having a better job than retail hell, my folks decided it was time for me to legit own the car. (I may have been paying for gas, maintenance, all the fees, etc., but it was still in my parents' name.) So they signed the car title over to me and said to make sure I got insurance and to take it to the DMV to finalize the transfer.
I got the insurance thing taken care of, and take the day off from work on Wednesday so I can go to the DMV. I took the day because, being that the month ends next week, and the DMV is closed from Thursday through Saturday, I didn't know how busy it would get.
First Stop: DMV (9:30AM-ish)
So I get to the DMV, speak with the clerk about what I need to do. She tells me that, if my parents are gifting me the car, I need to get a sales tax exemption form notarized. As they don't have a notary at the DMV, this means I have to go to the bank. I take the form and go.
Second Stop: Bank (10AM-ish)
I get to the bank, meet with the notary. It's a relatively simple matter to get her to notarize the form after I sign it. I make sure the rest of the form is filled out, and go back to the DMV.
Third Stop: DMV (10:30AM-ish)
With the exemption form notarized and the car title filled out, I go through the line, and get called up to the window so I can get the car title transferred to me. Only hitch is that my car needs its emissions inspection done. As such, they can only register my car through the end of December. I get my plates and go to get the inspection done.
Fourth Stop: Gas Station (11:15AM-ish)
I get to the gas station, explain I need the emissions inspection done, and wait the requisite twenty minutes or so for the inspection to finish. Get the receipt and inspection report, and go back to the DMV again.
Fifth Stop: DMV (12PM-ish)
By now, the DMV is filling up. It takes a little longer than my first two trips to get called up to the window. But I pay the money to re-up my registration through next year, and while I'm there, get my driver's license renewed as well.
Sixth Stop: Home (1:30PM-ish)
Now that's all done, I go back home so I can replace the license plates. Get my dad's socket wrench, and go outside. The problem is, however, that the hex-head screws are metric, whereas my dad's wrench is US. None of the sockets fit the screws. So I head out to the hardware store.
Seventh Stop: Hardware Store A (2:15PM-ish)
I go to "Shears" Hadware, find a metric socket wrench set, and grab four metric hex-head screws to replace the old, rusted screws currently in there.
Eighth Stop: Home (2:40PM-ish)
The rear license plate comes off no problem and I'm able to put the new plate on there. The front plate, however, gave me troubles. I had it affixed by the two top holes, but one of the screws there would not come out. I worked at it, swore at it, but nothing I did could get it out. It came loose, but it was bent and stripped, so it came part-way out, and then kept sticking in mid-turn. So I left it hanging by the borked screw and headed out to find someone to remove it.
Ninth Stop: Oil Change (3:30PM-ish)
After a stop to refuel (both the car and myself), I go over to the "Lube of Jiff" to both get the oil changed (as I was overdue anyway) and ask them if they had some way of getting the screw out on that license plate. This took longer than I expected, as my serpentine belt had frayed through. (Although I gather this is a "common" "malady" at such places, I had my reasons for believing it that I won't get into here.) So I wait.
But when my car was brought out, it turned out that they'd misinterpreted my request regarding the license plate, or forgotten, because rather than remove the one screw holding that plate on, they'd stuck a new screw in to keep it on. I restated what I had asked, and so they grabbed a socket screwdriver and went to work trying to remove it. One man couldn't do it, so a second came over with a flat-head screwdriver to wedge the screw out of its hole so the other could turn it.
It didn't work. The guy suggested taking a hacksaw to it. As luck would have it, there was a hardware store nearby.
Tenth Stop: Hardware Store B (4:30PM-ish)
I go into "Bowes" Hardware in search of a small hacksaw. In my search, I find something else I did need (one of those "micro-touch" beard trimmer doohickeys) and take this and the small hacksaw I needed and buy them.
I go out to my car, get out my socket wrench... and find that the head on the screw that Lube of Jiff had put on was a smaller size than the one for the socket I had. The rest of my sockets were back at home.
Eleventh Stop: Home (5:15PM-ish)
I get the socket set, go outside and find the right-sized socket to use, and remove the offending screw (which I threw away). Then I set to work sawing through the borked screw. This takes me a little while, but finally I saw the damn thing off.
So I start to affix the new plate in place, intending to put screws in opposite corners (top left and bottom right)... except the top left hole is apparently stripped. The new screw won't stay in. So I shrug, affix the plate in place by the two bottom holes, then head back inside to put everything away.
In the end, it was good that I took the day to get it all done. Aggravating that it took so long, but it got done, and that was all well and good.
As my car's registration was expiring this month, it was time to renew. Except, with me now having a better job than retail hell, my folks decided it was time for me to legit own the car. (I may have been paying for gas, maintenance, all the fees, etc., but it was still in my parents' name.) So they signed the car title over to me and said to make sure I got insurance and to take it to the DMV to finalize the transfer.
I got the insurance thing taken care of, and take the day off from work on Wednesday so I can go to the DMV. I took the day because, being that the month ends next week, and the DMV is closed from Thursday through Saturday, I didn't know how busy it would get.
First Stop: DMV (9:30AM-ish)
So I get to the DMV, speak with the clerk about what I need to do. She tells me that, if my parents are gifting me the car, I need to get a sales tax exemption form notarized. As they don't have a notary at the DMV, this means I have to go to the bank. I take the form and go.
Second Stop: Bank (10AM-ish)
I get to the bank, meet with the notary. It's a relatively simple matter to get her to notarize the form after I sign it. I make sure the rest of the form is filled out, and go back to the DMV.
Third Stop: DMV (10:30AM-ish)
With the exemption form notarized and the car title filled out, I go through the line, and get called up to the window so I can get the car title transferred to me. Only hitch is that my car needs its emissions inspection done. As such, they can only register my car through the end of December. I get my plates and go to get the inspection done.
Fourth Stop: Gas Station (11:15AM-ish)
I get to the gas station, explain I need the emissions inspection done, and wait the requisite twenty minutes or so for the inspection to finish. Get the receipt and inspection report, and go back to the DMV again.
Fifth Stop: DMV (12PM-ish)
By now, the DMV is filling up. It takes a little longer than my first two trips to get called up to the window. But I pay the money to re-up my registration through next year, and while I'm there, get my driver's license renewed as well.
Sixth Stop: Home (1:30PM-ish)
Now that's all done, I go back home so I can replace the license plates. Get my dad's socket wrench, and go outside. The problem is, however, that the hex-head screws are metric, whereas my dad's wrench is US. None of the sockets fit the screws. So I head out to the hardware store.
Seventh Stop: Hardware Store A (2:15PM-ish)
I go to "Shears" Hadware, find a metric socket wrench set, and grab four metric hex-head screws to replace the old, rusted screws currently in there.
Eighth Stop: Home (2:40PM-ish)
The rear license plate comes off no problem and I'm able to put the new plate on there. The front plate, however, gave me troubles. I had it affixed by the two top holes, but one of the screws there would not come out. I worked at it, swore at it, but nothing I did could get it out. It came loose, but it was bent and stripped, so it came part-way out, and then kept sticking in mid-turn. So I left it hanging by the borked screw and headed out to find someone to remove it.
Ninth Stop: Oil Change (3:30PM-ish)
After a stop to refuel (both the car and myself), I go over to the "Lube of Jiff" to both get the oil changed (as I was overdue anyway) and ask them if they had some way of getting the screw out on that license plate. This took longer than I expected, as my serpentine belt had frayed through. (Although I gather this is a "common" "malady" at such places, I had my reasons for believing it that I won't get into here.) So I wait.
But when my car was brought out, it turned out that they'd misinterpreted my request regarding the license plate, or forgotten, because rather than remove the one screw holding that plate on, they'd stuck a new screw in to keep it on. I restated what I had asked, and so they grabbed a socket screwdriver and went to work trying to remove it. One man couldn't do it, so a second came over with a flat-head screwdriver to wedge the screw out of its hole so the other could turn it.
It didn't work. The guy suggested taking a hacksaw to it. As luck would have it, there was a hardware store nearby.
Tenth Stop: Hardware Store B (4:30PM-ish)
I go into "Bowes" Hardware in search of a small hacksaw. In my search, I find something else I did need (one of those "micro-touch" beard trimmer doohickeys) and take this and the small hacksaw I needed and buy them.
I go out to my car, get out my socket wrench... and find that the head on the screw that Lube of Jiff had put on was a smaller size than the one for the socket I had. The rest of my sockets were back at home.
Eleventh Stop: Home (5:15PM-ish)
I get the socket set, go outside and find the right-sized socket to use, and remove the offending screw (which I threw away). Then I set to work sawing through the borked screw. This takes me a little while, but finally I saw the damn thing off.
So I start to affix the new plate in place, intending to put screws in opposite corners (top left and bottom right)... except the top left hole is apparently stripped. The new screw won't stay in. So I shrug, affix the plate in place by the two bottom holes, then head back inside to put everything away.
In the end, it was good that I took the day to get it all done. Aggravating that it took so long, but it got done, and that was all well and good.
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