Victory over the MVA!
Mood: accomplished
Posted on 2006-09-08 15:57:00
Words: 745

(Texas:DPS::Maryland:MVA) So today was MVA day. The hope was we could both get driver's licenses and I could get my car registered and license plates and all that. We got going a little late (*wink*) and got to the nearest (as far I as I could tell) place that did that stuff, which is 20 minutes or so away.

Back story: To get your MD driver's license (fun fact: the state tree is the White Oak!), you need, among other things, two proofs of your new address. One of these could be the leasing contract with the apartment (check!) and the only other possibility we had for the other was a bill sent to our address. Well, most of the stuff this time around is in David's name, so he was set with a Comcast bill, but I had...less good options. So, to cover my bases and give myself the best chance of getting a license today, I brought:
- A City of Austin electricity bill (sketchy because it's not a local utility. Also, when I said "Swift Stream Place" over the phone, the woman entered "Swist Stream Place" without even asking if the first word was actually any sort of English word. So the address is off by one letter.)
- A Janus notification sent to my old address that I had changed my address to the new one (sketchy because it was addressed to the old address)
- An envelope that a Bank of America statement came in that showed it had been forwarded to our new address (sketchy because nowhere on the statement does it say anything about our new address)

So I wasn't sure I would be able to get a license, but at least I would be able to get my car registered and David would get his license.

I was a little worked up and anxious on the way there when David discovered that you actually do need a Maryland driver's license to register a car. Crap! So it's possible this whole trip will be wasted for me.

We find our way there and enter the separate building where the driver's licenses are being done. We take a number (A38 and A39) and stand around, for there are no seats (seats opened up 20 minutes later or so). The MVA is not a terribly interesting place, so I'll skip the intervening 2.5 hours(!) that we waited. Oh, and we were in a hurry so forgot to bring a book or anything to do. Whee.

Anyway, so it's 12:45 or so and finally I get called, and right afterwards David gets called. The moment of truth! I explain that I need a MD license to my clerk, a lady who is kinda slow-moving and talkative, but seems friendly enough. I decided to lead off with the utility bill since it's actually a bill. She looked at it and was confused at first, but when I explained it was an electricity bill she moved on. Yay!!

So we're going through the process, and it gets to the point where she's entering my Maryland address. Since we only have one copy of the lease, we're sharing it, and David's clerk is looking at it now, so she uses the electricity bill to enter the address. Uh-oh. Decision time: should I let this go and be doomed to a driver's license that has a slightly incorrect address, or should I point out that the address on the bill is wrong and risk her rejecting it as a proof of address? Thinking that she seemed pretty laid-back, I pointed out that the address was wrong, to which she replied that she couldn't use it. Crap!

I go to my second choice of address proof - the forwarded address letter from Bank of America, which she looks at and says is fine. So disaster is averted!

Anyway, the rest of it went fine, and I have a shiny new Maryland driver's license, which is awesome. We decided that djedi would go grab lunch for us while I waited in line for the title and registration. Anyway, the rest of that was relatively uneventful - an hour and a half later we had eaten lunch and I had license plates and registration for my car. So that's what we accomplished today.

Tonight we're going to the Games Club of America meeting here. Dinner's provided, which is pretty neat. I'm excited but nervous about meeting new people. We'll see how it goes!

7 comments

Comment from medryn:
2006-09-08T15:27:56+00:00
Texas has a DMV? I thought the DPS handled all the driver's license stuff here.

Comment from gregstoll:
2006-09-08T15:31:29+00:00
Ah, good point. Two weeks out and already I'm losing my Texas-ness! Fixed.

Comment from krikwennavd:
2006-09-08T15:38:06+00:00
I had no problem at all getting a MD license. Needed one to have valid ID when I came back to the country after Ghana. They barely looked at the letter(a bank statement also), and didn't care about anything else other than confiscating my TX ID.

Comment from onefishclappin:
2006-09-08T15:42:58+00:00
Just a minute - are you telling me I married someone who once held something besides a Texas State Drivers License!!?!!
I think that's grounds for an annulment... :)

Comment from krikwennavd:
2006-09-08T15:44:48+00:00
Of course it's not. You just finally found someone with taste.

Comment from onefishclappin:
2006-09-08T15:50:48+00:00
Ok, if you had had a Oregon license maybe, but come on, Maryland??
(Me, I've never had anything but Texas. Speaking of which, we need to get our addresses changed...)

Comment from anonymous:
2006-09-14T11:27:02+00:00
Ask Jessica about our experience registering her car in NY - similar experience b/c we thought she may need to switch her license to register her car which either she didn't or they let that pass. Then we weren't sure she had enough proofs of identity (need six points which if she had had birth certificate or passport would have been easy but those were in safe deposit in Houston). We dug up five but six relied on an expired student id without the requisite transcript - luckily they took it. I hope it taught Jessica a valuable lesson that you try - you don't start out by saying " I know it says you need a transcript and I don't have one with me but....". Also, luckily I had my check book b/c she didn't and she didn't have enough cash. We both breathed a sigh of relief after getting through that ordeal.

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