A Frustrating Consequence of pcs
I had a different post planned for today, but I just left the Macon-Bibb County
Commissioner's office crying, so let's talk about that instead. Now, I do have a lot on my plate,
so it is a lot easier to send me into tears at the moment. And crying is my response to just about
everything, so it's not that unusual to me.
That being said, this was still an incredibly frustrating experience and one that I did not
know would happen until it did. It's a scenario that is very likely to happen again, though, so let's
make sure you are prepared if and when it happens to you.
As you probably know, we moved to Georgia a little over two months ago. Prior to
moving, we were very on top of switching our homeowner's insurance and car insurance over to
Georgia. Our coverage began on the same day that our Oklahoma coverage ended, so we
never went a day without protection. Fun fact: you can do this in advance or after the fact and
get reimbursed for the coverage overlap. You definitely don't want to have a gap in coverage,
especially if you are continuing to drive the car.
So we got our coverage squared away, and while I knew we would have to change our
license plates, it definitely slipped to the back burner. Our insurance guy called us, saying that
Georgia had told the insurance company our cars didn't exist. I realized it was because we
hadn't done the registration. We had to do it by April 8, which really put a clock on us to get this
done since I am leaving town tomorrow until the end of the month. My husband can do it later
next week when he has more free time at work, but I had to take care of it today.
I especially wanted to get it done today because I wasn't sure if they would require me to
get a new driver's license. If I needed to do that, then I would need time to do that, or I would
more than likely just register my car back in North Carolina when I am home next week. So I
went to the commissioner's office with all the appropriate paperwork, a copy of my husband's
orders with my name on it, and stuff to work on since I figured it would take a couple of hours.
I was right about the wait time since there was a significant line when I got there, but
luckily, a woman checked everyone in and ensured they had the correct forms. Here's how that
conversation went:
Her: "What do you need today?"
Me: "I need to register my car in Georgia."
Her: "Great! Do you have the MV-1 form and a Georgia driver's license?"
Me: "I have the form and a North Carolina driver's license."
Her: "You need to get your Georgia license first."
Me: "We're military. Does that make a difference?"
Her: "Do you have a copy of your orders?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Okay! And you're currently active duty?"
Me: "My husband is."
Her: "Is his name on the title?"
Me: 'No."
Her: "You need a Georgia driver's license first."
So I left and felt the tears of frustration welling up in my eyes. I am frustrated that
because I am just a spouse, there can't be accomodations made. I am frustrated because as
many pros as there are to this assignment, there have been unexpected cons. I am frustrated
because time is running out to take care of this important thing, and now I have even more work
ahead of me.
These things vary from state to state. Oklahoma had no problem with our out-of-state
driver's licenses when we registered the two vehicles. And as much as I hated giving up my
North Carolina license plate, it made the most sense at the time. North Carolina is one of the
few states that requires an inspection before the registration can be renewed. Up until a few
minutes ago I thought that inspection had to be done in NC, which just wasn't going to happen
since we very rarely drove back there. It was an 18-hour drive and certainly not worth doing
once a year when I had to renew my registration. I just found out that the inspection can be
done anywhere, which made registering my car with NC an even more viable option since we
could maintain that beyond our assignment in Georgia.
While Oklahoma didn't care at all, Georgia seems to care a whole lot. Maybe I could go
back and try again at a different location or get someone who understands the situation and is
willing to let it slide just this once. I probably would have gone that route if I had more time and
patience. It also seems like my husband won't have an issue registering his car, and we wouldn't
have this problem if his name were on the title to my car (granted, they probably would have
made me come back with him, which would have been a whole other situation to figure out).
His name isn't on my title because, at the time, he had his car from his parents and I had
my car from my parents. They had both transferred the title to our name, but this happened
before we got married. Frankly, adding the other to the title never crossed either of our minds.
And from what I understand now, we would have to pay more titling fees to add his name. More
money and more paperwork is not the solution I am looking for. (I do want to add in kind of an
unrelated note that both of our names are on the new car we bought for him last year, and my
car is getting placed into a trust with our other assets so that it will transfer to him quickly and
painlessly without additional fees if I were to die).
So, I will just register my car back in North Carolina. I want to keep my NC license for
sentimental reasons since that's the state I call home. But it also makes sense for practical
reasons. My family lives there, so I have a consistent mailing address. We plan to live there
after military life. And if I change it to Georgia, I will have to change it to whatever state we are
in every single time we move over the next 15 years. I don't want to do that, so I won't. The
Georgia DMV website makes it very clear that military families do not have to register their car in
Georgia if they are registered in their home state, but honestly, even if I didn't see that, I would
still register my car in NC. Luckily, I already have a trip home planned, and it should be pretty
simple to get my car insurance switched over to NC, so I'll get this all taken care of next week.
It's just incredibly frustrating the barriers that we come up against as spouses being
forced to move, that our service members can slide right through because they have the job. We
are both uprooting our lives. We are both facing the consequences of military demands. We
both have to register our cars in new states because of the needs of the Air Force. The only
difference is my husband gets to do it twenty minutes from our house, and I have to go 6.5
hours away to take care of it.
I know there isn't a good answer to this problem. I understand why our service members
get more privileges than we do regarding things like this. I'm just frustrated and overwhelmed by
everything a PCS takes. My husband is a fantastic equal partner who takes as much off my
plate as he can, but it is still a lot of work that most people don't have to deal with and certainly
don't have to deal with every three years.