karenintx
Senior Nomad
Posts: 540
Registered: 3-16-2008
Location: CSL
Member Is Offline
Mood: Living The Dream
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Renewing SD License Plate Sticker
Our renewal is for the month of September. I called Clay County about a week ago to ask how early can I pay. Like other Nomads have said they (Clay
County office) are always helpful and pleasant to deal with. I was told I could pay as early as 90 days and I could do that online. I said to the
lady "but your website said I would need a SD drivers license." She agreed but then said there is a different website address, which she gave me.
Sure enough I paid via a Master Card...there was a $3.58 service charge. Today I received a phone call from a friend back in Houston saying "your SD
sticker arrived yesterday."
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Bill Collector
Nomad
Posts: 374
Registered: 1-13-2004
Location: Buena Vista, BCS
Member Is Offline
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Can you give us the web site?
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karenintx
Senior Nomad
Posts: 540
Registered: 3-16-2008
Location: CSL
Member Is Offline
Mood: Living The Dream
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https://www.govteller.com/
Bill, use the box on the bottom right, that way you do not have to set-up an account. Make sure you know the exact amount of your renewal...that is
the amount you will enter. It is about a four or five procedure and toward the end is when they advise you of the $3.58 service charge.
I will do it this way from now on...worth the service charge for me.
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bajabk
Newbie
Posts: 22
Registered: 3-23-2004
Location: Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
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My registration was near due last month and I didn't have the renewal notice so I entered all the info and included the fee from last year and it went
on it's way. About 15 minutes later I received an email from SD apologizing that they had to increase the fees this year. She advised that I go back
on govteller and submit the balance due, approximately $6.00. I did and when I got home to the states two weeks later, the new sticker was waiting in
the mail for me. Can't beat SD for service! Also, the fee charged is a flat percentage of the fee submitted so I would have had to pay that amount
for renewal through govteller anyway.
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
Member Is Offline
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For what it is worth, under certain circumstances, if you are resident of California and you have a California drivers license and you own a
California registered vehicle, it is possible to get out of both the requirement for bi-annual smog check and the insurance requirement to have
insurance coverage for driving your California registered vehicle on California streets while your vehicle is to be used exclusively in (and
exclusively located in) Baja.
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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I suspected that MitchMan, but HOW? The lady at the DMV office in Rohnert Park CA. said "no". How does a person go about negating an annual emissions
test and liability insurance on a California registered motor vehicle. Thank you. This is not an idle question, so please feel free to elaborate.
Thank you.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
Member Is Offline
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First of all, the people that man any desk or window at any government office, in USA or in Mexico, often do not know the letter of their own law, and
that often goes for their managers as well. You have to go to the DMV website and look at their code and published code sections and published
policy. Not too hard to find on the internet.
In such publications you will find that there is written policy that specifically and expressly states that you can be relieved from the bi-annual
smog check if your California registered vehicle resides and is located south of the border beyond a certain specified distance from the border.
Secondly, you need to get a Mexican auto insurance policy that states on the face of the Mexican policy that the policy is for a RESIDENT of Mexico,
the California DMV will wave the requirement for insurance coverage for driving said vehicle on California streets and that said Mexican policy will
be considered legally suffcient to meet the California vehicle registration vehicle insurance requirement.
The stupid thing about California's ins requirement is that they insist and require ins coverage on "California streets", even if you can prove that
the vehicle will not be in California at all should you not be able to present the DMV with a "Mexican Resident Policy". That's just punitive and
illogical.
Having said that, be aware that real life comes into the equation. In tax law and research, we used to refer to the following as the difference
between codified written statutory law (the letter of the law) and 'administrative law'. In other words, there's the written law, and then there's
what is actually enforced policy. Be aware that there is, in the real world, often a difference.
If you take copies of the written policy with you to the DMV and stand your ground, you can get the relief we are talking about here. Often, you will
find a big difference between the treatment you get from different California DMV offices. Some offices will know the law and you won't have any
problems at all, others will be ignorant of their own written policy and you have to smack them in the face with the copies.
With regard to the fixed distance from the border limit, some offices will 'administratively' be very lenient and will not question you on the actual
distance your vehicle may be and simply take your word for it that you have met the distance requirement, and they won't go thru the trouble of
verifying the distance. You may be unlucky and find a person who chooses to be a stickler on this point and may verify the distance and deny you if
they find that your vehicle does not meet the distance requirement. In that case, simply go to a different DMV office until you find one that is not
so detail oriented. I am quite sure you will find one.
With regard to the strictly MEXICAN RESIDENT insurance policy that you need to provide the California DMV, what that technically entails is that you
are supposed to have an acutal residence in Baja (Mexico), rented or owned by you and you may need the documents to prove it (lease agreement or
ownership documents) provided to the Mexican insurance company (or Mexican ins agent) so that they will sell you that insurance policy. I don't think
that you need to provide that proof to the DMV, they just need to see the Mexican Resident insurance policy with the words Mexican Resident Policy (or
something to that effect) on the insurance policy document. The
DMV policy on this, to my recollection, merely requires the presentation to the
DMV of such a policy, not that you have to prove to the DMV with documents that you actually have such a residence. If you run into rank ignorance of
their own law at the DMV, take the written policy with you and smack them in the face with it until you get them to comply with their own written
policy. Or, find a DMV office that is easier to work with. You will find one.
Hope that helps, but you do need to do the internet research.
[Edited on 7-16-2012 by MitchMan]
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