Say What? A trip to the DMV, and you pay for the pleasure?

Kerry printed "Beginning Tuesday, Virginia began assessing a $5 "In Person Fee" for anyone daring to darken the doorstep of a DMV office to renew a car registration."

At first I was a bit peeved, she made it sound as if all transactions at the DMV are charged, then I actually did some research, something that Kerry should try once, just to see if she likes it.

The actual way it is written is... " Customers who renew their vehicle registrations in a CSC beginning July 1, 2008 will pay an additional $5. The fee will not apply if the registration renewal is conducted with another transaction for the same customer, and the second transaction cannot be completed online, by mail, by phone or at a DMV Select location. See a complete list of transactions that must be completed in a CSC.
Renew for two years and receive a $2 discount, regardless of the service option. The discounts awarded for Internet and two-year renewals are not prorated and are not refundable if a person cancels their registration before it expires."

Overdrama seems to be Kerry's forte, but basivcally i read that you can avoid the fee if for instance you are going there to title and register your vehicle, as t

Having lived all over the place for the past 20+ years, I can tell you that the DMV's site here in Virginia is absolutely outstanding. There is little you cannot do on-line and anything that needs to be mailed back to you is very fast.

Personally, if you procrastinate and don't handle your business in a timely manner, I don't have a lot of sympathy for you if you had to pay a $5 fee for contributing to the wait that others who HAD to go to the DMV endured.

First, the $5 is for registration renewals only, not licensing or new vehicle registrations. I'm not saying I agree with this, but it is frustrating to stand in line to renew a driver's license which I was required to do at DMV when 15 people in front of me are there to renew their registration because they procrastinated to the last minute. I have no problem "encouraging" these poeple to handle these simple transactions through the mail, online or at DMV Select offices. As I stated earlier, the DMV Select offices are the best kept secret in town, no extra $5 fee, small or no line!

and you pay for the pleasure. LOL

Perhaps DMV should have raised all transaction fees by $5 and offered a "discount" to those who do their business online.

This is terrible that we now have to pay to go to DMV. It would be one thing if all business could be conducted online, but it can't. When my DL expired last year, I wasn't allowed to renew online. I had to do another eye test and get a new picture taken (picture taking and eye tests must be those complex transactions Kerry is talking about). The 3 hours I spent in line at DMV was torture. And also, not everyone has a computer or feels comfortable conducting business online.

And I agree. I'd like to know who approved this fee.

I'm siding with Kerry on this one. Their job is to renew tags. In fact they should have an express line for renewals only. Most offices in other states do.

Tongue-in-cheek article? No? Try Community Theater. I’ve no sympathy for people forgetting to pay a bill. Don’t like paying via the web? Use a stamp. Most bills USED to be paid this way. The fee forces use of lower cost venues to reduce wait times and cut DMV costs. Franklin said it best, only two things are certain in life, death and taxes. Either run for office, elect someone new or get over it.

Hmmm... If so many people here can be so completely blase about the polticians' pick-pocketing "service-fee" scams, maybe retailers should be charging an extra $5 or $10 "service-fee" every time you go to their stores, in-person, to buy something.

I'm sure the overtly smug "ain't-no-skin-off-my-back" attitude would be replaced with howls of outrage & protest if you were to walk into the local Mini-Mart or Wal Mart store & get dinged an extra fiver for purchasing a six-pack, or a box of detergent.

A rip-off, is a rip-off... No matter whose pocket the money is going into.

Al Pacino's character in the movie "Dog Day Afternoon" said it best... "Kiss me - I like getting kissed when I'm getting..."

If you must pay your registration in person, just visit one of the area DMV Select offices such as the one at the Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue's Office as they DO NOT charge the extra $5. They do all the normal DMV services except issue Driver's Licenses and there are little if any lines.

To those who wondered where the money would come from to pay for state services when you elected Gov Gilmore on his "NO MORE CAR TAX" platform...well, now you know. Oh, you had no idea, didn't care, and voted for him anyway? In the words of Obama's "former" faith leader and mentor "the chickens have come home....to ROOST!" Think of that every time you visit the DMV or pay $6 in tolls to get to work every day. There is no free lunch.

What's the difference between this and court costs? I don't see the difference, could you explain the difference between court fees and the costs of standing before a judge? Or is that a topic you avoid over the dinner table?

"Now - thanks to those legislating geniuses in Richmond - you will pay a procrastinator's tax for the privilege of registering your car with state employees whose job it is to register your car."

Kerry, why don't you find out and let us know what genius in Ricmond thought of this idea to begin with? But as far as the aritcle, keeping the $5.00 aside, I think it's a litle over the top in the melodramatic dept.

To all the Kerry bashers, since you have been "conditioned" to DMV charging $5 for in person transactions, perhaps you should take solice in the notion that, due to tacit approval, an internet or mail charge could easily be instituted. Heck, how about a $5 fee for every time we have to deal with a state employee? VDOT flag waver on the highway? Just pull up, throw your $5 in the bucket and drive on. Write your congressman? Include your $5 and SASE for no response. Ask a state trooper for help or directions? Hey, that will cost you $10. Kerry is absolutely correct in the fact that we are getting taxed to death in the name of fees. These are taxpayer paid employees and we should not have to pay to conduct ANY business with them.

I pay my bills when they come in the mail. I never mail anything from my home, but take my bill with my enclosed check and drop it off at the Post Office. That $5.00 I save, can buy a gallon of gas.

There has to be some sort of right violation here. My mother is old school, pays ALL of her bills in person. She only has a credit card at a bank that she can go to in person. With identity theft at an all time high....it is hard to trust the internet, or the mail. We have a right as consumers to decide how we want to pay bills and who we want to trust. It would be different if this were a transaction where we had a choice to participate or not. It is not like we are ordering a pair of shoes, we are making a purchase that is required by law. If they are going to require the purchase, they need to continue to allow us to endure the lines and the wait if we so choose with out an extra fee. Will the state make full restitution and help restore our credit should our checking account info be compromised either through the mail or internet? Recently, the DMV made a HUGE mistake on a mail transaction of my husband's. He was at se

Virginians are already paying for this service in the form of TAXES. Do you think the state pulls DMVs payroll and operating expenses out of thin air? I see this as nothing more than double dipping. Unlike the city of Chesapeake that likes to charge for credit card transactions on line, I do that business in person at City Hall.

Fortunately for DMV, I do my business online. That's $5 I can save or spend elsewhere as I choose.

I see expired tags every day...doesn't seem to be a big deal, unless you try to get on a military base, which is the only place it's enforced. I'm in favor of the fees...let the people who actually use the service pay for it...what a concept. I've been renewing by mail for years...just like any other bill...it works, you should try it.

what is he point of this article? You get more than ample time to pay DMV fees, they do come by mail and like someone said months in advance. I can't tell you the last time I was at a DMV office. I wonder Kerry, if this is how you pay your MC card payment by waiting until the last minute. Gasp!

For people like you they should have actually raised prices on everything and then offered a $5 discount for completing the transaction remotely. Either way its the same thing and hopefully it will encourage people to use mail, phone and internet to complete more transactions.

"An envelope from DMV arrives weeks before your car registration expires. Plenty of time, you think. Then you forget about it."

Actually it arrives almost 2 months early. I plan my bill paying on an Excel Spreadsheet. Or you could buy a calendar.

"The day it's due, you gasp. As a law-abiding citizen, you don't want to tool around town with expired decals on your car and an Internet printout on your lap, so you head to your nearest DMV office."

So you forget for 2 months but remember the day it's due?? Selective memory? Anyway, if you choose not to exercise the technological options, you could visit one of the DMV satellite offices (one at the VB treasurers office with virtually no activity. Ever.)

Charging extra for talking face-to-face with a human is wrong. But I haven't been to a VA DMV office in over three years. I hope to keep the streak alive for many years to come.

jmo