why people hate PENNDOT

[michael]

I've heard people say they hate Penndot and never known why until now. Late november I applied for a modified title for my vw rabbit. You need one of these if you change fuel types for an inspection station to give you an emissions exhempt sticker. "I" put a diesel motor in a gas car, so it has no catalytic converter. I sent the forms in late nov. and a "month" later they came back. You need to provide a reciept for the engine. Well the car I got the engine from was given to me because it was ready to break in half because it was 26 years old with more rust than metal. So I sent them the reciept for the title transfer. A "month" later it came back. Must provide a reciept for engine, I called and they said get a fake reciept. What! So I did. A month later it comes back. Must provide a reciept for labor. I even included a note that all labor was done by myself. It is now March and I'm ready to tear someones head off. They are sadistic. Will a 10 hour drive to the DMV cure this. How could it possibly take a month to process a form. This is what my tax dollars pay for? I picture them with their feet on the desk shoveling powdered donuts in their mouths while surfing the net occasionally doing work as thier boss walks by. I think this is the longest post I have ever made. Sorry for the rant.

[Royal Tiger]

Why are you doing everything by mail? I would go to one of the regional DMV sites and complete the paperwork there. We have 3 that I know of close to the Lehigh Valley. Are you using a Tag and Notary place? Some of those places are shady at best. I'm sure you can find a site on their website. The address is on the blue, white, and yellow plates, but not any of the specialty tags. My wife has the Tiger plate and I have the Train one, so I can look out and get it for you.

Use a local 'eMessenger' service. They'll transmit the documentation to pendot electronically. It shaves weeks off of the time required to receive your stuff.

That being said, I deal with pendot on a regular basis, and they're just out of control! My favorite pendot bit is how the directions for replacing a lost title are printed on the title. "If this title is lost, file form blah blah blah for a replacment" Then, you go to fill out the form, and you have to have the title number! If I had the title number, that would mean i have the title, so why would i be filing or a replacment?

Ever try to title a vehicle you purchased out of state? That's a great one. You have to physically take the car to the DMV to get it registered. But wait, you can't drive the car until it's registered!

I could go on and on.

[Royal Tiger]

If you buy a car from out of state, you are required to get a transit plate from that state unless you have the vehicle towed. You can drive in PA on that transit plate for up to 60 days. The replacement title story sounds about right. I'm not defending PennDOT, but answering your questions.

[Manarius]

PennDOT is pretty damn near useless. I mean, I can go to the physical PennDOT building if I want to jack them up for being stupid, but I just stay away..it's a waste of my time.

Don't even get my started on the obnoxious amount of PotHoles we have here in the greater Harrisburg area.

[Royal Tiger]

One thing I will give them credit for, is the online change of address on my license and plate. Easy to use and the new cards were at the house in 3 days.

[michael]

Originally Posted by Tigershark

Why are you doing everything by mail? I would go to one of the regional DMV sites and complete the paperwork there. We have 3 that I know of close to the Lehigh Valley. Are you using a Tag and Notary place? Some of those places are shady at best. I'm sure you can find a site on their website. The address is on the blue, white, and yellow plates, but not any of the specialty tags. My wife has the Tiger plate and I have the Train one, so I can look out and get it for you.

Oh oh! You don't work for penndot do you? Sorry if I offended you If you could get me the address for a regional office that would be awesome. I just can't believe this, if you try to use the web for this they ask for a title #. They have my Title! If you call them, they can do NOTHING over the phone! On top of that they take a month to get your stuff back to you. I swear it's a conspiracy against people who want to save a few bucks doing something for themselves. I'm ready to throw in the towel but this car runs great and gets 45mpg highway. Even if I give up on it I can't sell it because it can't be inspected If I knew this I would have bought that SVX in lancaster but now it's too late. Thanks for any help.

[Royal Tiger]

Here you go:
AAA - North Penn
Address:
1035 North Washington Avenue
Scranton, PA 18509
County:
Lackawanna
Phone:
(570) 348-2511

And

Leonard's Auto Tag Service LLC
Address:
635 Luzerne Street
Scranton, PA 18504
County:
Lackawanna
Phone:
(570) 347-TAGS
(570) 347-5873 Fax

[michael]

Update: Penndot lost my title! I called and they said they lost it but today in the mail I got my modified title! Yea, I have a smile from ear to ear. I figure they sent me that because they couldn't find my original. So now right in time for another gas crunch I can drive my veggie powered diesel while others are paying 50 bucks a tank Thanks for all the help regarding this matter.

[subeman90]

Originally Posted by Green1995SVX

Ever try to title a vehicle you purchased out of state? That's a great one. You have to physically take the car to the DMV to get it registered. But wait, you can't drive the car until it's registered!

I could go on and on.

I had this happen to me once in your neck of the woods... I bought a beetle (1970) out there and wanted to do the title work before I brought it back to Lancaster co. I had to tow the car from where it was on a dolly (seagertown area) to my ex-inlaws place. A few weekends later I was going to change the title and when I called them about it (some notary in the plaza by the KFC) they said I had to bring it in....I said "you mean I have to tow the damn thing back to m-ville just so you can see it?" Yep! OR you can take a traceing of the vin into them and that is supposidly good enough. (you know kinda like where you put a credit card on a table and put a piece of paper over it and lightly scratch a pencil over it) FYI, a pic of the vin plate is not good enough either.

I have the ultimate solution though now....IF you have an inspection license (or a friend) all they have to do is verify it and sign a paper for you. All I do now is take a title into a notary and when they ask to see the car I just whip out the inspection license and tell them...its all good.


You know i hear that Maryland sucks really bad too.

[CigarJohnny]

Wow. Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I bought my SVX from Huck (Tennessee car) I had zero issues registering it. In fact, I had it registered and insured before I even picked it up. It left Huck's driveway as an official PA car and I drove it home from there.

Originally Posted by subeman90

I had this happen to me once in your neck of the woods... I bought a beetle (1970) out there and wanted to do the title work before I brought it back to Lancaster co. I had to tow the car from where it was on a dolly (seagertown area) to my ex-inlaws place. A few weekends later I was going to change the title and when I called them about it (some notary in the plaza by the KFC) they said I had to bring it in....I said "you mean I have to tow the damn thing back to m-ville just so you can see it?" Yep! OR you can take a traceing of the vin into them and that is supposidly good enough. (you know kinda like where you put a credit card on a table and put a piece of paper over it and lightly scratch a pencil over it) FYI, a pic of the vin plate is not good enough either.

I have the ultimate solution though now....IF you have an inspection license (or a friend) all they have to do is verify it and sign a paper for you. All I do now is take a title into a notary and when they ask to see the car I just whip out the inspection license and tell them...its all good.


You know i hear that Maryland sucks really bad too.

Funny, I deal with the same notary office! I ended up going the inspection mechanic route. I've got a buddy with an inspection license who will take care of stuff for me.

Mike

[DarknessofDeath]

get your gun out and bring it along