Initiative is good, BUT

We've been working on getting the new car registered in New York. We were issued a 30-day temporary tag by the dealer in OH.

Shortly after we got home from Ohio with the car, I went to the DMV to register the car. I had the forms I thought I would need as well as the Memo certificate of title that the dealership sent us. I had authorization from Mike to register the car in his absence, I had snacks for the girls. I was all set.

Yeah, not so much.

It turns out, because we bought the car from an out-of-state dealer, and because we have a loan on the car, we have to have a letter from the lienholder (their name is synonymous with being followed. It also rhymes with "base") stating that they are aware we are registering the car in another state. There were several other things, but that was basically the gist.

I call the car loan company and they won't talk to me. Because my name isn't on the loan. The woman assures me that it's a two-minute conversation for Mike to call in and give me permisison to speak with them. I respond that it's not the two-minute conversation that's the problem, it's the 30 minutes I spent on hold before the two-minute conversation.

Mike calls and gets persmission for me to speak with the lovely folks at our loan company. He also asks them to write us this letter and fax it to his work number. They respond that the request for this letter needs to be written, not spoken.

Mike asks me to write the letter. I write it and email it to him. I didn't write it properly, so he re-writes it and faxes it over.

Several days pass.

No fax.

I call back to find out what the status on the letter is. I am assured by a lovely person named Mike that the title will be mailed on June 4. Awesome, I reply, but my registration expires on the 11th and I can't guarantee that the title will be here by then. Can you please fax me the letter?

Mike puts me on hold and is gone a very long time. And then, I hear the phone prompts again.

I have been transferred BACK to the queue.

You can just imagine how thrilled I was about that, given that I had just waited on hold for 30 minutes to talk with Mike AND Mike (theoretically) knew my whole story.

I wait another 30 minutes and finally get another person. His name is Nick. Nick turns out to be AWESOME. He assures me that the letter will be faxed by Friday. If I haven't gotten anything by Friday, I should call back.

Perfect.

Friday comes and goes.

No fax.

I call Mike when he gets to work this morning and ask him if the fax magically appeared over the weekend.

It hasn't.

I call the loan company again and go through all the prompts and speak with someone else. My fervent wkishes for Nick to answer the phone are dashed. She tells me the letter was faxed.

To the New York State Licensing Bureau.

Fabulous, I say. Can you fax it to me, too?

Well, she says, it was also mailed. Why don't you wait for it to arrive in the mail?

Because, I reply, the temporary registration is expiring this Thursday and I really don't want to drive THEIR car illegally.

After some discussion, she agrees to fax it.

And five minutes later, someone else calls me. She can't fax me the letter because the title and the letter have been mailed. They don't allow me to register the car without the title certificate. I explain (AGAIN) that the registration expires on June 11. That's THURSDAY. I don't want a ticket and I can't afford a ticket. I can't be sure that the title is going to show up in time, so I would like them to just FAX ME THE DAMN LETTER ALREADY. Like I asked. A week and a half ago.

It's fabulous that they took the initiative to fax the letter to the Licensing Bureau. But we didn't ask them to do that. The Licensing Bureau's possession of the letter won't do me any good when I try to register the car at the DMV.

This second woman (she said her name was Hazel) finally agrees to fax the letter, but strongly suggests that I wait for the title. Because it was mailed. And I really should have that when I register the car. I should receive the fax by the end of the day. (Seriously - I know how a printer works and I know how a fax machine works. Neither the act of printing the letter or faxing it is an all day proposition.)

Five minutes later, Mike calls. He has the fax.

This afternoon, I got the mail. There was no letter from the loan company.

Tomorrow? The DMV. Wish me luck, I'll have two kids under 4 with me. Oh, and if you are in my area? You might want to avoid the DMV tomorrow. There will be 2 kids there. We'll have snacks and books, though.