DMV Suspends Mailing Registration Notices

Editor's note: According to DMV spokesman Mike Marando, the suspension of mailed notices lasted only about a month and the agency in late July. -- Louisa Hufstader

In May of this year, the California State Legislature passed a bill that affects the Vehicle License Fee Law for vehicle registration.

In short, the state wants more time to consider raising vehicle license registration fees, and thus will not send out the 60-day advance reminder notices required by a subsection of the law.

The applicable text of the new legislation reads:

“It is the intent of the Legislature that no inaccurate notices be sent nor incorrect payments be accepted. “

Translation: The state wants to raise vehicle license registration fees but has not decided by how much. Officials do not want to increase the renewal fee after having sent out the customary 60-day advance renewal notice that may charge the old renewal fee.

So the state Department of Motor Vehicles is simply not sending out the 60-day advance renewal notices.

The state has suspended the subsection of the law that reads:

“...the department (of Motor Vehicles) shall notify the registered owner of each vehicle of the date that the registration renewal fees for the vehicle are due, at least 60 days prior to that due date.”

Effective with vehicles with a registration renewal due on or after July 1, 2011, you will not receive an advance notice to renew your registration.

Unless you proactively renew your registration (the state has established a 30-day grace period), you will receive a Notice of Delinquent Renewal that will include a penalty fee that goes up with the delinquency period.

The bill runs through January 1, 2012 by which time presumably the state legislature will have determined how much they want to raise vehicle registration fees.

When asked why the state did not make an effort to notify residents in advance of this change so people that do not have their auto registration expiration date memorized could check their registration and proactively renew, a local DMV worker said “actually they did,” and referenced a Special Notice that came with the delinquent renewal notice.

Recognizing that notifying people of this change with a slip of paper that comes with your delinquency notice and a penalty is a bit unfair, DMV is waiving the penalty in some cases, but you need to go to the DMV office and fill out a request for waiver and plead your case.

If you want to avoid the DMV experience, check your registration expiration date, go online to the California DMV web site and renew your car. You can also do this over the phone by calling 1-800-921-1117. You will need your VIN number and in some cases a smog certificate on file with the DMV.

The text of the bill can be found here.