Scott and I have lived in Ohio for almost 7 1/2 years now. He worked in New York City for 2 1/2 years before that, living in New Jersey and commuting into the city. Almost from Day One, he realized that NJ is a nightmare. (Our sympathies to any readers who are still unfortunate enough to reside in NJ - cough Annie cough. ;-) )
We thought that the hassles of living in the lovely garden state (can you believe that is actually the motto on their license plates?) had long since disappeared from the rearview mirror of our lives. After all, it HAS been 7 1/2 years since Scott moved away!
Until yesterday.
Scott's driver's license is up for renewal this month. Being a responsible citizen and attempting to turn over a new leaf by not waiting til the last day, he decided to go a couple weeks early to take care of it. The clerk at the BMV typed in his stuff and proceeded to inform him that another state had suspended his license and registration! She couldn't tell him anything else - just gave him a phone number to call.
He called me when he got back to the office. We knew it had to be Dirty Jersey's doing - he hasn't lived in any other states. He knew he didn't have any outstanding tickets or violations.
Suddenly I remembered.
When Scott transfered his vehicle registration to Ohio, he got a letter from New Jersey stating that he was required to "surrender" his license plates. Scott blew them off. No other state he knew of required you to send the plates back and he wasn't about to! A month later we got another letter. This one was worded more strongly. Again he said no way. Finally, they sent a third letter saying that if he didn't send them in, they would fine him a couple hundred dollars. I can't remember the exact details, but I remember that they mentioned $200 and we decided that since we didn't live there any more, whatever the consequence was didn't matter. He finally mailed the plates back. We washed our hands of the whole matter.
Guess what. They suspended his license and registration either because they didn't get the plates back by their deadline, or because we didn't pay that fee!
Soooo.... Scott has been driving illegally for 7 years! But yet he was able to get his Ohio license and then renew it once, and register multiple vehicles. Apparently, sometime in the last few months, Ohio joined a nationwide database in which states can post these types of things, so that's why we've just now learned about it.
In a phone conversation with someone in New Jersey (someone who was actually very helpful and nice - she must not be originally from there) today, he mentioned that we were able to rent a car in his name in Newark just a couple months ago. She was floored. That should not have been possible. I'm really glad we didn't find out then - that would have put a real damper on our trip.
So today we paid the state of New Jersey $200 in fines to restore Scott's driving and vehicle registration privileges. So much for redecorating our bedroom this month!
Unbelievable.
