For some, there is a way to avoid the long lines at the DMV
Q. Arizona is having the same problem as California with signing up all of the people who want REAL IDs, creating long waits in lines at DMV offices. I decided on an easier route: I applied for the U.S. Passport Card. The application was downloaded, printed out, a photo submitted and $30 later, by mail, I have a Passport Card the size of a credit card that will be accepted by the Transportation Security Administration. I don’t have to carry that U.S. Passport Book, either, which does not fit into a guy’s wallet. This advice doesn’t help if you need to go into a DMV office to renew your driver’s license anyway, but if more people were aware of the Passport Card, you wouldn’t have as many in line at the DMV.
– Ken Godbold, Prescott
A. Ken has a good point, but you need to be careful.
When the feds start demanding a higher level of ID to board a plane, on Oct. 1, 2020, the Passport Card will work on domestic flights just like a REAL ID. (To hop an international flight, plan on using a U.S. Passport.)
Sometimes you can indeed get a Passport Card through the mail – but sometimes you must go into an office.
To figure out if you can get one through the mail, head over to travel.state.gov – armed with a strong cup of coffee or an aspirin, as it isn’t the easiest website to understand – and figure out your game plan.
Several months back, when Honk accompanied a Little Honk who wanted a passport, he made an appointment at a U.S. Passport office – and they found zero people in line.
Q. In the past, you have written that vehicles coming from out of state must be registered in California within a certain period of time. Every year, neighbors who live out of state visit for months at a time. They rent a vehicle. For a few of the years, the vehicles were registered in Arizona. This year, the vehicle is registered in Colorado. Why are rental agencies allowed to move whole fleets of vehicles from other states, keep them here for months and not register them in California? All one has to do is drive through the rental-car lots to see this. These vehicles probably do not meet our emission standards and are beating our vehicle-registration taxes.
– Bob Coffey, Laguna Beach
A. First, Honk talked with a couple of California Highway Patrol officers to ensure the neighbors aren’t doing anything wrong – and they certainly are not.
And then he contacted officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles up in Sacramento, and they said neither are the rental agencies.
It is apparently difficult to determine where that rental BMW or Prius should be registered, as rental vehicles might hopscotch about the country.
“As long as the rental car’s registration is valid, the rental car may be operated on California roadways regardless of where it is registered,” said Cristina Valdivia, a spokeswoman for the Department of Motor Vehicles. “If the registration expires, it is subject to enforcement activity.”
Marty Greenstein, a DMV spokesman, chipped in with: “It’s really hard to track and enforce.”
Honkin’ fact: An electrical engineer by the name of Bruce Campbell paid $100,000 for a retired Boeing 727 in 1999, and then spent another $120,000 to move it from the nearby airport in Hillsboro, Ore., to a forested area to live in. He says it is a quite practical home, actually.
NBC has reported that, according to records of the ex-Olympic Airways jetliner, it carried Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1975 as they escorted the body of Aristotle Onassis to the burial site.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.