In Florida, the state requires you to replace the vehicle tags (a.k.a. "license plates" in most states) every five years. (You have to love a vendor — in this case, 3M — who manages to get planned obselence and required repurchase of their product written into state statutes.) If you want to keep the same type of tag you already have, you can do it by mail. If you want a different tag (given Florida's ever-multiplying choices), you must visit a tag office in person. Five years ago, I switched from the standard, county-name-bearing tag (making my car at the time a Florida Orange) to Florida State Of The Arts. This round, I decided I wanted to Conserve Wildlife, also known as "the Bear tag," which actually made my registration $5 less than last year.
In my experience, any visit to a governmental agency is cause for dread. When I last did this (in another county), I waited nearly an hour in queue, and once I had paid my money, waited another 15 minutes for paperwork to be completed. In this instance, the local tag agency for our county is some 15 miles north of our house. I called ahead last week to verify what I would need to bring with (just the renewal notice and my checkbook), and then tried to time my arrival to 5 minutes before they opened. I made sure not to go on a Monday, not go the first or last weeks of the month, and planned to avoid the holiday week coming up (Presidents' Day) — all of which I figured would make the wait even longer. I blocked my calendar at work for the entire morning and braced myself for the worst as I left the house this morning.
I got there just as they were unlocking the doors, and I was seventh in line. They were operating with all five workstations open, and no one ahead of me had a complex transaction. Everyone I saw just walked up, handed over paperwork and money, and got back the item they requested. It was as if they'd transformed a government office into a service-oriented location (gasp!). Amazingly, I was in and out, complete with wait time, in less than 15 minutes.
Of course, now that I have a new car tag, maybe I need a new car to go under it. <grin>
Ahh new tag :-) cool can't wait to see in on your car. Yes a new car is needed and should be in the works already for you, it's your turn :-)
ReplyDeleteDid you go to the one on 27 next to the South Lake Feed store? Yes. I, too, went there a few years ago dreading the wait and lack of polite employees, but was pleasantly surprised at how great an experience it turned out to be.
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