The BMV and me

At the beginning of summer this year I was pulled over by the police while leaving the bank. Didn't rob the bank. Not going the speed limit yet so not speeding. What in the world?

I have been pulled over a total of three times in my many years of driving so it's safe to say I'm not usually doing anything to warrant a ticket. I even joked with the officer that I couldn't have been speeding because I had, as I mentioned, just pulled out of a parking lot. He said, "No, not speeding yet." Why exactly did he feel he needed to add the "yet" to that statement. I felt like he might follow me home just to be sure that I didn't start. Anyhow...

Turns out that my plates were expired and had been since the previous October. In the past I have always gotten a friendly reminder in the mail or more recently in e-mail telling me that renewal was coming up so I could stay on top of things but it seems these notifications are a courtesy of the BMV (Let me restate, I have ALWAYS gotten them) and they are under no obligation to remind me of anything. Fair enough. Not happy about it but okay.

I paid the $116.00 ticket. Yikes! Wrote the renewal date in this year's calendar, added a reminder to my phone and just for good measure stuck post-it notes in my car and on my computer screen.

About a month later I received mail informing me of the new renewal changes. Another month and I received an e-mail reminding me that my plates would expire in October. Then I received one telling me that my license would expire this year and that I could renew any time after July. A  whole year ahead of time. Just last week I received yet another e-mail reminding me about the plates.

Sheesh...