Bureaucracy
Bureaucracies are addicted to their paper, clearly.
So, we bought this van, and I think I mentioned filling out the "Electronic Sales Agreement," which was on paper.
We went today to get the tag. Turns out they won't actually give us one, we have to buy a 30-day paper tag (for $10) because we don't have the title yet. But, but... the title is electronic! We have the power-of-attorney paper that is supposed to eliminate this step!
Apparently, not quite. They will, on having the "Electronic" Sales Agreement filed with them, issue a paper "Electronic" Title. To the previous owner. Who then has to sign it over to us (in the presence of a notary public, I do not doubt). Which is exactly the same way the old-fashioned paper title works, except that they print and mail you the title at the end of your ownership instead of the beginning. Yeah.
I have this nagging feeling the truck's paper title has been invalidated, and despite having it we'll *still* have to go through this rigmarole when we sell it.
This feels to me like a two-part law that only got one part passed. The "We'll issue e-titles!" part got passed, and the "We'll accept e-titles!" part got hung up in committee.
Update: The second DMV person we talked to had an answer, but I'm still skeptical. Electronic titles are, she claims, for vehicles with liens on them. Which still doesn't make sense: we had the lien release issued *by the state of Kansas* (the seller kept hers from her bank). If you get your title when the lien is released, why did they only give her confirmation of the lien release (with instructions to attach it to a paper title, or give it to the buyer in the case of an e-title)? And why in the heck call it an "electronic" instead of something lien-related? And what was wrong with the old method where you got a paper title with a space for the lienholder's name?
So, we bought this van, and I think I mentioned filling out the "Electronic Sales Agreement," which was on paper.
We went today to get the tag. Turns out they won't actually give us one, we have to buy a 30-day paper tag (for $10) because we don't have the title yet. But, but... the title is electronic! We have the power-of-attorney paper that is supposed to eliminate this step!
Apparently, not quite. They will, on having the "Electronic" Sales Agreement filed with them, issue a paper "Electronic" Title. To the previous owner. Who then has to sign it over to us (in the presence of a notary public, I do not doubt). Which is exactly the same way the old-fashioned paper title works, except that they print and mail you the title at the end of your ownership instead of the beginning. Yeah.
I have this nagging feeling the truck's paper title has been invalidated, and despite having it we'll *still* have to go through this rigmarole when we sell it.
This feels to me like a two-part law that only got one part passed. The "We'll issue e-titles!" part got passed, and the "We'll accept e-titles!" part got hung up in committee.
Update: The second DMV person we talked to had an answer, but I'm still skeptical. Electronic titles are, she claims, for vehicles with liens on them. Which still doesn't make sense: we had the lien release issued *by the state of Kansas* (the seller kept hers from her bank). If you get your title when the lien is released, why did they only give her confirmation of the lien release (with instructions to attach it to a paper title, or give it to the buyer in the case of an e-title)? And why in the heck call it an "electronic" instead of something lien-related? And what was wrong with the old method where you got a paper title with a space for the lienholder's name?