It's Official!

Well, we are officially Texans. At least our car is. I am an ardent admirer of the efficiency of the Texan government, but even I have to admit that their car registration/licensing process is at best primitive.

The first step in the process is to transfer your auto insurance policy so that your insurance is registered as being in the state of Texas. The second step is to have an emissions test by one of the many private companies that offer the service. There is a nominal fee ($15) for this service. The third step is to go down to the county tax office and pay your new residents tax ($90), the license plate fee ($27), a title transfer fee, and a couple of other state mandated fees (total bill: $176). The fourth and last step is to find the Department of Public Safety office and take a vision test and basic driving test. At which point I assume they will give you a Texas license to drive after you can prove that you are indeed a US citizen and a Texas resident. On the plus side, I think it's a great innovation that your tags are placed in the windshield, so stolen plates aren't a problem.

We're still working on the fourth and final phase of the process. The emissions process only took 15 minutes, but the line to transfer title and get the plates took almost 2 hours. Since we have to take all 3 kids with us wherever we go (no free babysitting here), we're only good for one government regulated line. So, hopefully next week we'll be able to finish this up and get our drivers licenses. I'm a little sad about that, cuz I have the best ODL number ever. At least I don't have to ever change my social security number; I like that one, too.